Matthew Crawford is a philosopher-mechanic.  This book arises out of his reflection on his own academic and career history.  His journey has taken him from being an electrician's apprentice, to a Ph.D. in political philosophy from University of Chicago, to leading a Washington think tank, to being the proprietor of an independent motorcycle repair shop.  As a result, Crawford is in a position to ask some important economic and psychological questions and offer answers grounded in both personal experience and a solid grasp of others' thinking on the topics.

Crawford begins with an exploration of why shop class has nearly vanished in America.  In contrast to the idealism of a post-industrial America where everyone must go to college, he points us to the reality of economic dislocation of knowledge workers and the rising supply-demand gap for skilled tradesmen.  At the same time, he avoids a sentimental approach to craftsmanship, in favor of a pragmatic, earthy point of view.

One of the most important cultural conceits that Crawford argues against is the idea that the skilled trades are not intellectually challenging.  As anyone who has messed about with mechanical contrivances knows, there can be a great deal of puzzle working and problem solving involved with completing a task.  He contrasts this to a job he had writing abstracts of academic articles, which was almost entirely formulaic and mindless.

Instead, Crawford argues that the intellectual orientation of mechanical competency differs from the current approach of schools.  Schools tend to emphasize the universal over the particular, facts over skills.  For Crawford, this is a contrast between "knowing how" and "knowing that".

In addition, Crawford suggests that a person who has learned a skill has an entirely different approach to life.  The skilled individual is simultaneously more aware of the external constraints that affect his desires and more capable of transcending those that are artificial.  The mechanical individual learns attentiveness, patience, and respect for his work.  Crawford correctly identifies work as a factor in our moral education.

Despite his assurance in an end note that he has no desire to idealize the trades, I think he does go a bit overboard.  There are types of knowledge work that do provide some of the same opportunities for positive psychological development and useful productivity.  Likewise, there are plenty of folks who fail to achieve the character benefits that working in a useful trade ought to engender.

Even with that caveat, this one goes on the recommended reading list.