User Profile

Sam

sam@books.theunseen.city

Joined 1 year, 10 months ago

Cooperator, luddite, and Atlantan. Solidarity forever 🌹. When not reading 📚 probably wants to be out swing or blues dancing 🕺, backpacking ⛺🥾, climbing 🧗, or mountain biking 🚵.

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Sam's books

Currently Reading

2024 Reading Goal

56% complete! Sam has read 42 of 75 books.

Matthew B. Crawford: Shop Class as Soulcraft (Hardcover, 2009, Penguin USA, Inc.) 3 stars

In this wise and often funny book, a philosopher/mechanic systematically destroys the pretensions of the …

Uneven philosophical discourse ruined further by a persecution complex

3 stars

Let me start by saying that I do think this is a book worth reading in some regards (or perhaps someone can recommend a better book that expresses similar ideas), although the rest of this review is largely going to focus on how bad it was. There are some interesting ideas here, even if Crawford often draws the wrong conclusions from them, and I do recommend reading it, despite the low rating. I'm about as confused about this book as Crawford is about his politics.

The opening few chapters of this book immediately made me think it would become one of my favorites. I think a lot about work and the value of trades, and Crawford is clearly smarter than I am and introduced me to several new ideas that I'd never quite made the leap to before. But it really goes down hill from there. I remember writing something …