See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Craftsman, the
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

Craftsman, the (Hardcover)

by Richard Sennett (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


10 used from £12.99

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
Recommended Craftsmen
   www.RatedPeople.com    Find Recommended Local Craftsmen. Rated by other Customers near You! 
  
 

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Thinking Through Craft

Thinking Through Craft

by Glenn Adamson
£15.19
The Corrosion of Character: Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism

The Corrosion of Character: Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism

by R Sennett
3.1 out of 5 stars (17)  £12.34
We-Think: Mass innovation, not mass production: Mass Innovation Not Mass Production

We-Think: Mass innovation, not mass production: Mass Innovation Not Mass Production

by Charles Leadbeater
3.9 out of 5 stars (8)  £6.29
The Fall of Public Man

The Fall of Public Man

by Richard Sennett
3.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £10.49
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century

The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century

by Alex Ross
4.4 out of 5 stars (30)  £7.49
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Yale University Press; 1 edition (1 Mar 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0300119097
  • ISBN-13: 978-0300119091
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.3 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 473,320 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
craftsman
writing
tools
skill
problem-solving
problem-finding
planning
okay
mateerials
improvisation
human resources

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Craftsman, the
93% buy the item featured on this page:
Craftsman, the 3.8 out of 5 stars (5)
The Corrosion of Character: Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism
2% buy
The Corrosion of Character: Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism 3.1 out of 5 stars (17)
£12.34
The Fall of Public Man
2% buy
The Fall of Public Man 3.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£10.49
By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art
2% buy
By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£13.34
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
52 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Less than the sum of its parts--but what parts!, 7 Mar 2008
By jsa (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Craftsman (Hardcover)
I really wanted to like this book more than I did in the end. I had heard Sennett talking about it on Radio 4 ("Thinking Allowed" 6 February) and was fascinated. It is a topic which usually is only addressed in passing, but worthy of a serious treatment of its own. I started to read with enthusiasm, but eventually it became harder and harder work and I almost gave up.
It has to be said that the parts are fascinating, and Sennett the musician and even the cook are as much in evidence as Sennett the sociologist; substantial sections stand alone as engaging examples of original and stimulating reflection and insight. And one cannot deny the amazing range of Sennett's erudition, the disciplines over which he ranges, the forms of craft about which he writes. (Strangely, the discipline to which he pays least attention is the substantial body of psychological research on skill acquisition.) But the result is sprawling and disorientating; his attempts to summarise chapters and stages in the argument just draw attention to the problem of fitting them all together. Perhaps it would have made more sense to publish as a collection of essays without any attempt to impose an overall structure.
Although Sennett can hark back to Homer and Hesiod, and more recently to Ruskin and Morris, he is to the best of my knowledge effectively inventing the modern study of craft as a discipline. So he is not writing within a tradition; he does not have prior work with which to argue, and even the methodology of study is vague.
Incidentally, although I have nowhere near the range of scholarship that Sennett displays, there are places where he deals with writers with whom I am quite familiar, and I did not always recognise his treatment of their ideas. And although he acknowledges assistance with proof-reading, there is a substantial number of errors. There are just eighteen pages of notes and no separate bibliography; given that no reader is likely to match Sennett's range of background reading, it would have been useful to trace more material back to its source.

Comment Comments (3) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Better to listen to than to read., 21 Nov 2008
This review is from: The Craftsman (Hardcover)
Like the previous reviewer I heard Richard Sennett talk eloquently about his ideas and so I really wanted to like this book.

But part way through I found myself floundering. To me, the book began to feel slightly disjointed and difficult to follow and then I began to lose interest.

- great ideas and a beautiful cover.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2.0 out of 5 stars stimulating but ultimately disappointing, 28 Jun 2009
By C. W. Robbins (Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Craftsman (Paperback)
This book could have met a clear need: a work explaining clearly what craftsmen have to offer in a post-industrial age would have been welcome. Also,we could use a book explaining why so many of us rush to buy objects at "craft fairs" etc. even when they may be of lower quality than their industrial equivalents.
Sennett rightly stresses the (good) craftsman's commitment to quality and the involvement in craftsmanship of implicit knowledge (in industry, there can also be a commitment to quality, but only on the basis of explicit knowledge). But he says little about the expression of personality, flair or even a certain Weltanschauung through craftwork. (Sennett seems to assume that artists are not craftsmen but surely the two categories overlap considerably.) He includes an essay on the hand but is less clear on whether craftworks are necessarily handmade. (I believe not necessarily: poets and composers are craftsmen without needing to exercise any special manual dexterity.)
I agree with the other reviewers that (i)Sennett does not lay down a clear line of argument and gets bogged down in examples and byways, not all of which are strictly relevant; (ii) the book is shoddy: Penguin should be particularly ashamed of the paperback edition which contains all the typos of the hardback edition uncorrected and is produced meanly with tiny margins; so much for craftsmanship!
Again, like other reviewers I have reservations about Sennett's use of his sources. I'll give one example: his references to Adam Smith. He says (a) that the "Wealth of Nations" (1776) was published a generation after the "Encyclopédie"(1751-1772) [!] and that Smith asserted that "machines would end the project of enlightenment"; but Smith says no such thing: he recognises that the repetitive work entailed by the division of labour (not necessarily involving machines) may dull people's minds but proposes a remedy for this (adult education). Smith argued - surely plausibly - that mechanisation increased productivity to society's general benefit, making inter alia education available to a wider range of people.
Moreover (b) Sennett ignores Smith's admiration for the intelligence of agricultural craftsmen: in agriculture division of labour may be compatible with the preservation of some crafts, e.g. animal husbandry. Then (c) Sennett says that in "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" Smith "asked his readers to enter into the misfortunes and limits of other human beings" but he did no such thing: he clearly asserts that "sympathy" is a part of human nature; it does not "instruct ethically" as Sennett says but is the meaning of ethics.
These examples raise doubts in my mind about Sennett's use of e.g. Plato or Kant and his references to the scientific revolution (which all seem to be based on secondary sources).
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating detail of all kinds of craft but lacking cohesion
This book is very interesting but not at all what I was expecting - which was a more historical account of craftsmanship. It is in fact quite philosophical. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Esmeralda Hugo

5.0 out of 5 stars The Craftsman
Excellent book; well thought out and researched. There has been little data or intuitive insight about the constellation of factors that go into the making of a craftsman,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Truth seeker

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

Health & Beauty at Amazon.co.uk

Elemis Resurface and Renew Skin Care Gift Set of 4 Products
From soap to shavers, massagers to mascara, stock up on your daily essentials or truly pamper yourself.

›Discover Health & Beauty

  

More From Richard Sennett

The Fall of...

The Fall of Public Man

Richard Sennett now works at the LSE where he runs their Cities... Read more
£14.99 £10.49

 

Up to 53% off Braun Series Shavers

Braun Series 3 390cc Clean & Renew System Rechargeable Foil Electric Shaver
Get in touch with your smooth side with Braun Series shavers, now with Gillette blade technology.

›Discover Braun Series at Amazon.co.uk

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates