The Case for Working with Your Hands

[Farang]

This is more off topic but I figured you those here might more appreciate the message:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05...agazine/24labor-t.html

guy with a phd in politics who runs a motorcycle shop an talks about the benefits

 

[Zenmervolt]

Holy rip-off of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" Batman! Even down to the same conversation about how loose tappets sound similar to piston slap.

ZV

 

[AdamK47]

I share the same ideas and thoughts as the author of the article. I enjoy working on my cars and building/tweaking my computers. It's tangible and there is far more gratification in it than what I could get out of my day job. One day, when I have enough money built up, I too will be going down the same path as the author.

 

[AdamK47]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Holy rip-off of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" Batman! Even down to the same conversation about how loose tappets sound similar to piston slap.

ZV

It's a good read either way from whoever wrote it.

 

[evident]

Originally posted by: AdamK47
I share the same ideas and thoughts as the author of the article. I enjoy working on my cars and building/tweaking my computers. It's tangible and there is far more gratification in it than what I could get out of my day job. One day, when I have enough money built up, I too will be going down the same path as the author.

I feel the same goes with alot of hobbies that we desk jockeys like to pick up. I too get alot of satisfaction of building my own computer, doing maintenance on my car and even detailing it (which i've just gotten into last year). I am looking forward to getting back into aquariums as well. some jobs no matter how cushy are just impossible to get satisfaction out of.

 

[StageLeft]

Gonna read it. The first paragraph is 100% on the money.

 

[Farang]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Holy rip-off of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" Batman! Even down to the same conversation about how loose tappets sound similar to piston slap.

ZV

That's true but it doesn't seem like the author just read that book one day and decided to copy it, he mentions having worked in shops all through college. Seems like a coincidence, but by now he has had to have read the book and probably should've mentioned it somewhere (I didn't see it brought up)

and IIRC the author of Zen and the Art had a dayjob as a technical writer, he probably would have liked to do what this guy is doing

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: AdamK47

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Holy rip-off of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" Batman! Even down to the same conversation about how loose tappets sound similar to piston slap.

ZV

It's a good read either way from whoever wrote it.

Would have been nice to see some acknowledgment on the part of the author though. Especially since the "article" is an excerpt from a soon-to-be-published book. Even moreso given that the very title of that book apes Pirsig's work. Crawford's book will be titled, "Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work", the full title of ZMM is "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values", and the full title of Pirsig's follow-up to ZMM is, "Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals."

This isn't just similar, it's borderline plagiarism unless the book contains an acknowledgment that the excerpt omits. While Crawford does have a slightly different focus (Pirsig sought to illuminate what he termed the "classic/romantic split" while Crawford seems to be aiming at more mundane matters), the fact is that he owes the majority of his foundation to Pirsig's earlier work. His comments about a mechanic internalizing, "the healthy functioning of the motorcycle as an object of passionate concern" might as well be lifted directly from Pirsig's work and Pirsig's drive to eliminate the classic subject/object duality that leads to low-quality work.

On the whole, I get the idea that Crawford doesn't so much want to be a mechanic as he wants to be someone who writes about being a mechanic. He's not really working with his hands as an end in itself, but rather as a means to be just another one of the "knowledge workers" he talks about in the beginning of the excerpt. There's something in Crawford's writing that strikes me as vaguely disingenuous and I can't put my finger on it more solidly than that.

ZV

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: evident

Originally posted by: AdamK47
I share the same ideas and thoughts as the author of the article. I enjoy working on my cars and building/tweaking my computers. It's tangible and there is far more gratification in it than what I could get out of my day job. One day, when I have enough money built up, I too will be going down the same path as the author.

I feel the same goes with alot of hobbies that we desk jockeys like to pick up. I too get alot of satisfaction of building my own computer, doing maintenance on my car and even detailing it (which i've just gotten into last year). I am looking forward to getting back into aquariums as well. some jobs no matter how cushy are just impossible to get satisfaction out of.

I would have to say that depends entirely on the person. We don't all derive satisfaction from the same thing.