Shop Class as Soulcraft

I stumbled across this thought-provoking book in an airport book store. I intend to forward it to BitMonkey and Grandpa Ed when I finish it. It's a philosophical treatise on why modern society has swallowed the lie that working a trade is inferior to doing "knowledge work", and why shop classes need to be reinstated. For now, just a taste:

"Riding an early motorcycle entailed a certain preparation that went like this: Set the throttle at a very small opening (there would likely be no return spring returning the throttle to the idle position), set the choke at a position judged the appropriate one for the ambient temperature, and retard the spark manually. Then approach the kick-starter with due apprehension, bracing yourself for yet enother blow to your chronically bruised shin.

The thing about kick-starters is, they tend to kick back. This is especially likely if you don't retard the timing far enough, as then the motor backfires mechanically, as it were, through the kick-starter, sending your shin to its fated meeting with the foot peg. With the bike balanced on the center stand, and you on one foot, use your whole weight on the kick-starter to ease the motor over slowly through its power stroke and well into its exhaust stroke, judged by listening for air escaping from the open exhaust valve. Having positioned the piston at the start of it's intake stroke, you are ready to kick-start the bike. But first check to make sure there are no attractive women present to witness your display, nor any of your rivals, for it is likely to be a drama of strenuous impotence.

Before taking that first kick, it is traditional to light a cigarette and set it dangling at an angle that suggests nonchalance. While you're at it, send up a little prayer for fuel atomization. You wouldn't be riding a motorcycle if you weren't an optimist.

Ten or twelve kicks later, sweat dripping from your brow, you might get to ride the motorcycle..."

from Shop Class as Soulcraft - an Inquiry into the Value of Work, by Matthew B. Crawford