Friday, April 06, 2007

I was just telling my wife that I've heard from the agent interested in the Wisdom of the Hands that their review of the materials I sent may take another week or so. If they like it they will offer a contract and then attempt to sell the book to a publisher.

Jean was reflecting on the kinds of books she's seen in a similar format, usually a series of essays taking a view of scientific phenomena and building a broader framework of human philosophy and understanding from that view. As a librarian, she mentioned several examples.

I suggested that it might be interesting for some to see things from a craftsman's perspective. "It won't work," she said. "Those others were scientists... who would think a craftsman might have anything significant to say?" "Maybe you should call yourself a teacher. That might work. Or maybe you should call yourself an artist."

It is funny, that most makers of things (craftsmen) aren't suspected of having anything meaningful to say. People tend to think that those who aren't good with their heads must be skilled with their hands instead, and those who lack hand skills obviously have sufficient intellect to make up for it. The divide between hand skills and head skills provides justification for social class distinctions and income disparity. But they are wrong. Without the hand to test the waters of thought, you can go off the deep end and drown in your own idiocy while basking in the false glow of your misperceived intelligence. In other words, you can be stupid and not even know it.

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