Craftsman, the - Hardcover

Richard Sennett

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300119097 ISBN 13: 9780300119091

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Craftsmanship, says Richard Sennett, names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, and good craftsmanship involves developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. The computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen all engage in a craftsman s work. In this thought-provoking book, Sennett 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."

About this title

Review:

"A far-roving intellectual adventure." Julian Bell, "New York Review of Books"--Julian Bell"New York Review of Books" (10/23/2008)"

From the Back Cover:

'A masterpiece' Boyd Tonkin, Independent

Most of us have to work. But is work just a means to an end? In trying to make a living, have we lost touch with the idea of making things well?

In this provocative and enlightening book, Richard Sennett explores the idea of craftsmanship - the desire to do a job well for its own sake - as a template for living. Pure competition, he shows, will never produce good work. Instead, the values of the craftsman, whether in a Stradivari violin workshop or a modern laboratory, can enrich our lives and change the way we anchor ourselves in the world around us.

'Lively, engaging and pertinent ... a lifetime's learning has gone into the writing of this book' Roger Scruton, Sunday Times

'An enchanting writer with important things to say' Fiona MacCarthy, Guardian

'Enthralling ... Sennett is keen to reconnect thinking with making, to revive the simple pleasure in the everyday object and the useful task. There is something here for all of us' Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times

'A thoughtful and lovingly detailed assessment of what goes on when a person learns a craft ... he writes with perception and real feeling' Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0300119097
• ISBN 13: 9780300119091
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 326