The Case for Working with Your Hands

The Case for Working with your hands is a manifesto for everything working in an office is not. 

An explanation about how people work with their hands, tacit knowledge, and the benefits of that activity. A “beautiful little book about human excellence”, a philosophical take explaining how and why using our hands is a route to a self-sufficient, fulfilled, working society. 

Crawford, an American writer (and self-taught motorcycle mechanic) looks at the value of manual labour for the soul. He questions how we ended up with employment that is so often mundane and knowledge based. He investigates why generations of people unable to fix, repair or understand objects around them - and why this is a loss to humanity.  

Far from bearded, artisan bread makers - Crawford bases his argument in relatable, recent examples. He speaks with people out there committed to doing this work - welders, joiners, electricians - the real makers of the world.   

Of particular interest, is where he explains the recent history of our education systems. From the decline of workshops in the 1990’s, to the rise of computer literacy classes. He goes on to explain how as humans, we will need both to survive in the future. In other words - learn how to code, and at the same time, learn how to use a band saw. 

For me, this is the book that finally put into words that feeling of satisfaction when making something. What it feels like when you make something from a visualisation in your head into a physical object - and why that feeling is important; even when media, government, education and society might suggest it is no longer valuable. 

It is difficult to read this book, without exclaiming “yes!” every twenty minutes or so - especially as the writing echoes so many of the conversations we have had with those listed on Make Works. There is a familiarity to that story - the one where an individual is stuck in 9-5 job, realising “what am I doing this for?” - before turning their hobby into self-employed manual or making-orientated work. 

What Crawford is ultimately questioning, is how humans can feel useful and passionate in the world. How people can reconnect to work, and how economies might be run if that were the case.

If nothing else, the book is an uplifting reminder about the value of using your hands, reminding you of the millions of other people around the world who are committed to a life of doing just that same thing.  

Related titles

The Craftsman - Richard Sennet

The Art of the Maker -  Peter Dormer

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig