The Craftsman
4 journalers for this copy...
Most of us have to work. But is work just a means to an end? In trying to make a living, have we lost touch with the idea of making things well?
Pure competition, Sennett shows, will never produce good work. Instead, the values of the craftsman, whether in a Stradivari violin workshop or a modern laboratory, can enrich our lives and change the way we anchor ourselves in the world around us.
The past lives of crafts and craftsmen show us ways of working - using tools, acquiring skills, thinking about materials - which provide rewarding alternative ways for people to utilise their talents. We need to recognize this if motivations are to be understood and lives made as fulfilling as possible.
'Lively, engaging and pertinent ... a lifetime's learning has gone into the writing of this book'
Roger Scruton, Sunday Times
'An enchanting writer with important things to say'
Fiona MacCarthy, Guardian
'Enthralling ... Sennett is keen to reconnect thinking with making, to revive the simple pleasure in the everyday object and the useful task. There is something here for all of us'
Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times
Pure competition, Sennett shows, will never produce good work. Instead, the values of the craftsman, whether in a Stradivari violin workshop or a modern laboratory, can enrich our lives and change the way we anchor ourselves in the world around us.
The past lives of crafts and craftsmen show us ways of working - using tools, acquiring skills, thinking about materials - which provide rewarding alternative ways for people to utilise their talents. We need to recognize this if motivations are to be understood and lives made as fulfilling as possible.
'Lively, engaging and pertinent ... a lifetime's learning has gone into the writing of this book'
Roger Scruton, Sunday Times
'An enchanting writer with important things to say'
Fiona MacCarthy, Guardian
'Enthralling ... Sennett is keen to reconnect thinking with making, to revive the simple pleasure in the everyday object and the useful task. There is something here for all of us'
Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times
Journal Entry 2 by Athensbc2016 at BookCrossing Anniversary Convention 22-24 April 2016 in Athens - Αθήνα, Attica Greece on Saturday, March 26, 2016
Released 7 yrs ago (4/22/2016 UTC) at BookCrossing Anniversary Convention 22-24 April 2016 in Athens - Αθήνα, Attica Greece
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I've been to many places and now I am visiting the
BookCrossing Anniversary Convention in Athens.
Take me with you, read me and then please release me again, so that I can make new friends and continue my journey.
For some reason it seemed appealing to me so I took it from the May meet-up at Homesick Cafe.
Arrived today! Thank you! And thank you for the postcard too. I like it too.
Saving for bookstogive's general lit book box. I might get it read before someone requests it.
What is a craftsman? Sennett goes some distance to explain what it is for a man or woman to become very good at one thing. He argues that such people are not mindless laborers, as some have suggested (particularly Hannah Arendt), but rather persons who have worked thoughtfully to become very good, questioning, exploring, being open to change and particular about detail.
One major question Sennett explores is if craftsmen tend to be aware of the wider implications of what they do. There are often ethical consequences of the work we do, and Sennett makes the case that we are indeed aware, to a greater or lesser degree.
Sennett also asks the question, Can everyone be a craftsperson? For the answer he looks at education, heredity, other circumstances in a person's life, and draws what may be a surprising conclusion.
I found the book at times a bit heavy to get through but that may have been simply because I was in a rush to finish it so I could mail it to the person who requested it.
One major question Sennett explores is if craftsmen tend to be aware of the wider implications of what they do. There are often ethical consequences of the work we do, and Sennett makes the case that we are indeed aware, to a greater or lesser degree.
Sennett also asks the question, Can everyone be a craftsperson? For the answer he looks at education, heredity, other circumstances in a person's life, and draws what may be a surprising conclusion.
I found the book at times a bit heavy to get through but that may have been simply because I was in a rush to finish it so I could mail it to the person who requested it.
Mailed to fellow bookcrosser. She chose it from bookstogive's general lit book box.
Arrived today! Looks fascinating!
