Craig Lambert
Teoksen Mind Over Water: Lessons on Life from the Art of Rowing tekijä
Tietoja tekijästä
Craig Lambert is the author of Mind Over Water: Lessons on Life from the Art of Rowing. He is a former staff writer and editor at Harvard Magazine and has also written for Sports Illustrated and Town Country. Learn more at www.craiglambert.net.
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Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
Bit of a stretch
Craig Lambert likes being served. From banking to department stores to rental cars, he’d much rather have a human deal with it than do it himself with a machine. It’s a wonder he doesn’t have a chauffeur, because driving himself deprives someone of a job. The central conceit of Shadow Work is that we provide our labor free to our own detriment. We pump our own gas, assemble our own furniture, and do our banking online. People lose jobs by this, and we consume our own precious time with it.
On the other hand, we spend less time at the pump than we would if we had to wait for the attendant, as he spilled gas on the ground overfilling the tank to reach the nearest dollar. Anyone can purchase fully assembled furniture if they want to spend the money and save time. I have not set foot in my bank branch since they gave me an ATM card in 1980. This shadow work I do “for” them has saved me untold hours of aggravation and driving, because in the old days, you could only bank at your branch, weekdays 10-3, stand in line, and eventually have a clerk enter a new line in your bankbook by hand. If the ATM network is shadow work, bring it on. In Lambert’s view, taking a half hour to drive to the bank to deposit a check with the teller is not shadow work. Paying bills online in ten minutes is.
Society is constantly evolving. There is no static reference point. Most of us no longer chop down trees to fire up the kitchen stove. On the other hand, labor saving processed foods are declining as more families go back to actually cooking. I no longer change the oil in my car myself, but it doesn’t need it every thousand miles like it used to, either. So there’s movement both ways. Lambert shows this in the ubiquitous mobile phone: kids text parents all day long asking advice. This means parents are doing shadow work for their kids, who apparently should be learning the hard way. On the other hand, they communicate regularly and are a closer family for it. There is flux and there are tradeoffs.
The book smacks of maudlin nostalgia. It is not scientific, rigorous, thorough or fair. Lambert waxes longingly for the bank teller making his life a pleasure, for the grocery clerk picking and packing requested items, and the gas pump jockey whose smile made his day. But a salad bar is shadow work.
Lambert seems to pine for the drugstores of France, where almost nothing is available on the shelves. You have to go to the counter and ask for essentially anything. And unless you ask to see all the possible products, you can’t compare prices or ingredients, because you can’t get to the shelves. And people are waiting behind you. But the interaction with the clerk makes it all worthwhile for Lambert, who wonders why anyone would use an ATM during banking hours.
What we call modern convenience, Lambert calls shadow work. He doesn’t make the case that this is a valuable or necessary distinction.
David Wineberg… (lisätietoja)
Craig Lambert likes being served. From banking to department stores to rental cars, he’d much rather have a human deal with it than do it himself with a machine. It’s a wonder he doesn’t have a chauffeur, because driving himself deprives someone of a job. The central conceit of Shadow Work is that we provide our labor free to our own detriment. We pump our own gas, assemble our own furniture, and do our banking online. People lose jobs by this, and we consume our own precious time with it.
On the other hand, we spend less time at the pump than we would if we had to wait for the attendant, as he spilled gas on the ground overfilling the tank to reach the nearest dollar. Anyone can purchase fully assembled furniture if they want to spend the money and save time. I have not set foot in my bank branch since they gave me an ATM card in 1980. This shadow work I do “for” them has saved me untold hours of aggravation and driving, because in the old days, you could only bank at your branch, weekdays 10-3, stand in line, and eventually have a clerk enter a new line in your bankbook by hand. If the ATM network is shadow work, bring it on. In Lambert’s view, taking a half hour to drive to the bank to deposit a check with the teller is not shadow work. Paying bills online in ten minutes is.
Society is constantly evolving. There is no static reference point. Most of us no longer chop down trees to fire up the kitchen stove. On the other hand, labor saving processed foods are declining as more families go back to actually cooking. I no longer change the oil in my car myself, but it doesn’t need it every thousand miles like it used to, either. So there’s movement both ways. Lambert shows this in the ubiquitous mobile phone: kids text parents all day long asking advice. This means parents are doing shadow work for their kids, who apparently should be learning the hard way. On the other hand, they communicate regularly and are a closer family for it. There is flux and there are tradeoffs.
The book smacks of maudlin nostalgia. It is not scientific, rigorous, thorough or fair. Lambert waxes longingly for the bank teller making his life a pleasure, for the grocery clerk picking and packing requested items, and the gas pump jockey whose smile made his day. But a salad bar is shadow work.
Lambert seems to pine for the drugstores of France, where almost nothing is available on the shelves. You have to go to the counter and ask for essentially anything. And unless you ask to see all the possible products, you can’t compare prices or ingredients, because you can’t get to the shelves. And people are waiting behind you. But the interaction with the clerk makes it all worthwhile for Lambert, who wonders why anyone would use an ATM during banking hours.
What we call modern convenience, Lambert calls shadow work. He doesn’t make the case that this is a valuable or necessary distinction.
David Wineberg… (lisätietoja)
Tilastot
- Teokset
- 6
- Jäseniä
- 149
- Suosituimmuussija
- #139,413
- Arvio (tähdet)
- 3.5
- Kirja-arvosteluja
- 2
- ISBN:t
- 19
- Kielet
- 2
By: Craig Lambert
Counter Point Press; 2015
Have you ever wondered why your day is so full - and yet you just don't seem to get anything done? Well, Craig Lambert's startling new book, "Shadow Work" will open your eyes to all the "Shadow Work" filling your days!
"Shadow Work" is all of the self- serve and automatons affecting your own life. From self-serve gas to researching and booking your own fabulous vacation, "Shadow Work" takes the responsibilities of business - and you do it - for free!
As Craig Lambert clearly warns, "Shadow Work" is taking away entry level jobs and decreasing the overall amount of paid work out there - even as we speak.
"Shadow Work" unravels its own hidden nature and clearly sets out both its advantages and disadvantages.
I received this book for free to review. I am a member of NetGalley, GoodReads, Librarything and maintain a book blog at dbettenson.wordpress.com.… (lisätietoja)