Or Why Office Work is Bad for Us and Fixing Things Feels Good

The Case for Working with Your Hands

One of the most influential thinkers of our time

The best book I have read for ages ... a profound exploration of modern education, work and capitalism ... I happen to know it is in [Education Secretary] Mr Gove's in-tray ... its analysis applies with horrible precision to our education system

A philosophy of how life should be lived, how children should be educated and how economies should be run ... Full of interesting stories and thought-provoking aperçus enlivened with humour ... Important, memorable and enjoyable

A next-generation Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to rally the millions who feel emotionally disconnected from work

David Willetts, Universities and Science Minister

A deep exploration of craftsmanship by someone with real hands-on knowledge. Quirky, surprising and moving

A stunning indictment of the modern workplace ... Crawford points in the direction of a richer, more fulfilling way of life. This is a book that will endure

A beautiful little book about human excellence

A superb combination of testimony and reflection, and you can't put it down

Harvey Mansfield, Professor of Government at Harvard

A bestseller in the United States, but its critique of 'post-industrial' capitalism is equally pertinent here ... Will be enjoyed for its iconoclasm, swagger and dry humour

No one who cares about the future of human work can afford to ignore this book

The best self-help book that I've ever read. Kind of like Heidegger and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

A breakout success ... touched a big nerve, quickly becoming a national best seller and generating widespread publicity

A surprise hit ... Americans, perhaps, have found their guide

While the specifics come from American experience, almost everything in the book also holds true for Britain

May upend your preconceptions about labour and, just maybe, cause you to rethink your career (or how you spend your weekends) ... Impassioned and profound

[A] tender, wise little volume ... Crawford is a kindred spirit

A short book that punches hard and deserves to spark off a wide debate

Matthew Crawford is a philosopher and mechanic. He has a Ph.D. in political philosophy from the University of Chicago and served as a postdoctoral fellow on its Committee on Social Thought. Currently a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, he also runs Shockoe Moto, an independent motorcycle repair shop.

It's time to rethink our attitudes to work. 
 
For too long we have convinced ourselves that the only jobs worth doing involve sitting at a desk. Generations of school-leavers head for university lacking the skills to fix or even understand the most basic technology. And yet many of us are not suited to office life, while skilled manual work provides one of the few and most rewarding paths to a secure living. 
 
Drawing on the work of our greatest thinkers, from Aristotle to Heidegger, from Karl Marx to Iris Murdoch, as well as on his own experiences as an electrician and motorcycle mechanic, Matthew Crawford's irreverent and inspiring manifesto will change the way you think about work forever.

Matthew Crawford

Absolutely superb: elegant, surprising, hard-hitting and very important

Guy Claxton, author of 'Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind'

Very entertaining . . . [with] many interesting insights

Crawford makes the crucial point that this is a political problem. The creators of smartphones, social networks designed to hook us, the firms buying ads on escalator handrails and media organizations desperate for your clicks and shares are all helping themselves to something that's ours - the limited resource of our attention - to try to turn a profit

There are now many books reminding us to pay attention but Crawford also reminds us of how we lost attention in the first place - and putting the problem in its historical context makes the case more compelling

Michael Foley, author of 'The Age of Absurdity'

How to Flourish in an Age of Distraction

In this brilliant follow-up to The Case for Working with Your Hands, Matthew Crawford investigates the challenge of mastering one's own mind. With ever-increasing demands on our attention, and with capitalism increasingly invading every space, how do we focus on what's really important in our lives? 
 
Exploring the intense focus of ice-hockey players, the flow of a cook in their element, and the inherited craft of building pipe organs, Crawford argues that in order to flourish, we need to return to lives where we establish meaningful connections with objects and the people around us.

Matthew Crawford

Praise for The World Beyond Your Head

Absolutely superb: elegant, surprising, hard-hitting and very important

Both impassioned and profound

Very entertaining . . . [with] many interesting insights

Absolutely superb: elegant, surprising, hard-hitting and very important

Both impassioned and profound

Very entertaining . . . [with] many interesting insights

Absolutely superb: elegant, surprising, hard-hitting and very important

Both impassioned and profound

Very entertaining . . . [with] many interesting insights

Books by Matthew Crawford

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