The Craftsman | 
| Author: Richard Sennett
Publisher: Yale University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
Buy New: $16.93
You Save: $10.57 (38%)
New (34) Used (7) from $16.93
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 4917
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2
ISBN: 0300119097
Dewey Decimal Number: 601
EAN: 9780300119091
ASIN: 0300119097
Publication Date: March 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Defining craftsmanship far more broadly than “skilled manual labor,” Richard Sennett maintains that the computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen engage in a craftsman’s work. Craftsmanship names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, says the author, and good craftsmanship involves developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. In this thought-provoking book, one of our most distinguished public intellectuals explores the work of craftsmen past and present, identifies deep connections between material consciousness and ethical values, and challenges received ideas about what constitutes good work in today’s world. The Craftsman engages the many dimensions of skill—from the technical demands to the obsessive energy required to do good work. Craftsmanship leads Sennett across time and space, from ancient Roman brickmakers to Renaissance goldsmiths to the printing presses of Enlightenment Paris and the factories of industrial London; in the modern world he explores what experiences of good work are shared by computer programmers, nurses and doctors, musicians, glassblowers, and cooks. Unique in the scope of his thinking, Sennett expands previous notions of crafts and craftsmen and apprises us of the surprising extent to which we can learn about ourselves through the labor of making physical things.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Too much theory, too little fact June 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
There is quite a bit of sociological theory in this book, but that's been discussed by other reviewers, so I'll not go into detail here, but I'll just discuss my gripe: data.
I expected to see some real data to corroborate Sennett's beliefs, but he offers mainly anecdotes, with lots of literary references (e.g. Homer and Wittgenstein). I can't shake the feeling that the author just used any odd example that popped into his head: he talks about conversations with his teacher, tours his friends gave him of bad Soviet architecture, a badly designed conference center he visited in Atlanta, his experiences learning to play music, and so on. The author just doesn't strike me as being very systematic, his examples seem like they were chosen more because they were convenient than because they were representative. Maybe this is standard practice for sociology books (I don't read too many from this genre) but The Craftsman certainly presents an unfavourable comparison to "Bowling Alone" by Putnam, which is a sociological text that makes an absolutely masterly use of data.
As I said, Sennett's inability or unwillingness to confront data is my biggest gripe with the book. I cannot remember any point at which Sennett had a piece of information that was hard to square with his beliefs; anything contradictory seems to have been ignored. Even when Sennet does mention any data, it is done in little snippets, and it is often wrong. In chapter one alone, Sennet claims that Wikipedia is a Linux application (?), that the British National Health Service spends about 2/3 as much as the US (in fact, the British spend less than half as much as a % of GDP, and even less than that in absolute terms), and that US median earnings rose only 4% between 1973 and 2003 (in fact median real gdp per capita is up about 20% over that time period).
There are other problems (and some good points) but for me the big let-down of the book was that it felt too much like an informal chat (albeit with a very intelligent man). Maybe I just went in with the wrong expectations, but if I could read it again, I wouldn't.
Practice What You Preach June 21, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
You name it; Richard Sennett breaks it down. Metamorphosis provoking material consciousness? (three ways: internal evolution of a type-form, judgment about mixture and synthesis, domain shift). Mirror tools? (two types: replicant and robot). Sennett combines this penchant for analytic break-down with a treasure trove of stories, examples, and experiences, drilling into craft through the finger movements of pianists, the methodology of cookbook Instructions, and much, much more. The Craftsman isn't proof as much as exploration, the perfect platform for a widely read and experienced scholar to play with a vast and varied data set. Even with all that information, The Craftsman comes down to a belief: that craft isn't about things but about values, not about superior skill but about doing a job well for its own sake. Think of it as a theory of sustainable labor in the age of hyper-capitalism.
My BIG GRIPE with this book is that if Richard Sennett believes so much in craftsmanship, why are there so many typos? DOZENS OF TYPOS. Misspellings. Extra words. Here's the end of the second to the last sentence in the book: "the denouement of this narrative is often marked by marked by bitterness and regret." Ya think? If this book was a car, the dealer would be forced by law to replace it. I'm sure Sennett had nothing to do with this, and that he is mortified that his faith in the practice of craft (proofreading, book-making) has been so blatantly betrayed by his publisher (Yale University Press, of the billions in endowment fame), but frankly, reading this book was to experience cynicism of the highest order: A terrible fate for a story so tied to a job well done.
 'Why are we just getting-by?'-An Anthology on the Craftsman (not Tradesman) June 3, 2008
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
First of all, it is exceedingly unfair to write a short, impressionistic review for a book that is meant to be the first of a three volume critique and analysis on material culture intended by Richard Sennett.
But being one of the rare books out there--and I can remember only Donald Schon's 'The Reflective Practitioner' as the last word out there outlining an epistemology of practice--Sennett's new book still warrants a few exciting words despite the caveat as stated. And like Schon's 'The Reflective Practitioner' with a lasting appeal precisely because it straddles multiple domains of practice such as design, management and education to name three, Sennett's work should also share this boon of longevity if synthetic works of such records are any form of indication.
Truly, Sennett's total project is an ambitious one; and 'The Craftsman' here represents a powerful but nevertheless, a perplexing beginning to his critique of material culture. Why? While Sennett's powerful introductory delineation of a specific type of humanity in practice (i.e. the craftsman) is as comprehensive as it gets, but it may also strike many readers as a diffused analysis: an account that straddles one too many lessons to get the point across; an account that constantly runs the risk of losing its focus.
For example, Sennett begins heroically through the narrative of meeting Arendt (which I thought is Sennett's ultimate strength as a writer, thinker and philosopher of the concrete) which then tacitly promises to continue from the premise in Arendt's Human Condition on the dangers of design and technology. But the book then took a turn into an account of skill development, which only serve to further constrained the narrative into a more developed account on the various aspects and contentions of skills. But in the last chapter Sennett returns to his initial premise on the ethics of design via craftmanship, thus showing that the ride between introduction and conclusion has been a less than focused one. But to the extent that this entire book can be seen as the grand introduction to an upcoming epic of critical commentary, then this criticism founded more on coherent argumentation and less on a journey of musing should also realistically be a less trenchant one.
I found the book to be as uplifting as it was in parts, frustrating. On one end, the uplifting portions speak to absolve all who engage in some form of practical craftsmanship from the Arendtian charge of being engaged in mindless labor. On the other end, they inspire nearly all human activities and actions charged with the same Arendtian powers of natality to take on the virtues of craftsmanship. It is as if Sennett is interested to level the great disparity set between the mind and the hands instituted by the long line of thinkers from Plato to Arendt in the midst of the great nihilism of Tradesmanship today. If there is any covert political message that can rescue the current crisis of 'getting by' or 'value relativism', then Sennett here may possess the promise of a good chance.
But the frustrating segments are quite something else. Fundamentally, the frustrating bit is Sennett's reluctance to outline and provide the premise where the intrinsic, non-teleological and practical virtues but also merits of craftsmanship are found to be relevant. A reader who is familiar with Sennett's previous work may have some clues to this reluctant and tacit premise--a society weaned on mindless commercialism, mindless pace and crass improvisations to the ultimate detriment of the society as a whole--that the values argued in this book seem relatively powerful and appropriate today. Thus if this was a piece of political philosophy masquerading as an epistemological account of craftsmanship in practice--which I read as it is--then it is also an unwilling one.
Another frustrating bit comes from the uneven juxtaposition of Sennett's substantiations on his claims. Overall, Sennett furnished excellent examples to make his claims both clear and strong. But there are lesser notes in his symphony as well. For example, Sennett decisively claimed that it is easier to retrain a plumber than a salesman to become a computer programmer given the plumber's material focus and craft habits. While it is less clear that Sennett is exhorting a society where plumbers are given the same consideration as philosophers, it is however quite clear that Sennett believes that the ideal type salesman are certainly less than a plumber as far as retraining as re-skilling goes. As a reader who has a fair share of experience with plumbers and salesmen (and saleswomen) in a society that values philosophy over plumbing but which also worships commercialism, I find this claim somewhat specious.
In the end, it is Sennett's quilting that earned the extra *star* in this book review. Sennett's comprehensive synthetic quilting of bits from computer programming, to violin making, to architectural practice stitched with snippets of his own insightful social commentary of how bad planning practices make unlivable cities, and the devaluation of human beings in new capitalism all make this book a rewarding tract for unbridled musings across historical time and intellectual space.
For readers who want to know more about the theme of craftsmanship--a certainly underappreciated theme neglected by those who think and ironically despised by those who do--then this book is a real gem. But for a reader who seeks a deliberate piece of political philosophy improvised as an epistemological account of practice in a leveled world of commercialism, then this book, at least for now, still falls short of this wish.
Poorly Edited May 28, 2008
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
Surprising number of typos and syntactical mistakes for Yale University Press, sometimes making it difficult to understand.
gift May 15, 2008
0 out of 25 found this review helpful
This was purchased as a gift for my daughter. She is currently reading & absorbing it. It's probably worth more than 3 stars, but haven't received her final verdict.
|
|
|
