Matthew Crawford

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The Case for Working with Your Hands

The World Beyond Your Head

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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.

From 'one of the most influential thinkers of our time' (Sunday Times): how to respond to today's demands on our attention 
 
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 is a philosopher and mechanic. He has a PhD in political philosophy from the University of Chicago and served as a postdoctoral fellow on its Committee on Social Thought. Currently a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, he also runs Shockoe Moto, a motorcycle repair shop.

The World Beyond Your Head

How to Flourish in an Age of Distraction

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

Both impassioned and profound

Very entertaining . . . [with] many interesting insights

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

About Matthew Crawford

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