The Case for Working with Your Hands

This book challenges the modern cultural bias that values office work over manual labor, arguing that skilled manual work offers meaningful, intellectually engaging, and rewarding experiences.

Drawing on philosophical insights from thinkers like Aristotle, Heidegger, Karl Marx, and Iris Murdoch, as well as his own practical experience as an electrician and motorcycle mechanic, Crawford critiques the dehumanizing effects of office and factory work.

He calls for a rediscovery of pride, excellence, and agency in working with one's hands, highlighting the importance of craftsmanship and self-reliance in a consumerist and throwaway culture.