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"Gary Rogowski leads us gently but surely upon the path to a type of success we may not have previously considered. (Hint: it involves blisters)." --Nick Offerman
In an era when there are countless competing claims on one's attention, how does one find the internal focus to be creative? For master furniture craftsman Gary Rogowski, the answer is in the act of creative work itself. The discipline of working with one's hands to create unnecessarily beautiful things shapes the builder into a more complete human being.
In the tradition of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Shop Class as Soulcraft, Rogowski's Handmade is a profound meditation on the eternal value of manual work, creativity, human fallibility, and the stubborn pursuit of quality work. Rogowski tells his life story of how he became a craftsman and how years of persistent work have taught him patience, resilience, tolerance for failure, and a love of pursuing beauty and mastery for its own sake.
Part autobiography, part guide to creativity, and part guide to living, Handmade is a book for craftspeople, artists, and anyone who seeks clarity, purpose, and creativity in their work -- and it's the perfect antidote to a modern world that thinks human labor is obsolete.
PREAMBLE
Introduction
Education Works!
Beliefs
ACT ONE: DISCOVERY AND SURPRISE
CHAPTER ONE: The Smell of Sawdust
Abner Ridge
CHAPTER TWO: The Scientists
Snow Camping
CHAPTER THREE: Jake the Mechanic
Lost at the Bench
CHAPTER FOUR: Something Useless and Beautiful
Pine Mt. Trail
CHAPTER FIVE: Beginner's Mind
Choosing a Route
CHAPTER SIX: Learning Curve
Humility and Arrogance
CHAPTER SEVEN: The Valiant Plywood Rack
Rooster Rock
CHAPTER EIGHT: Expectations
Mountain Side
CHAPTER NINE: The Magician Distracts
The Pencil
ACT TWO: PRACTICE
CHAPTER TEN: A Hundred Shoes a Day
Daisy Plain
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Don't Do It!
Angels Rest
CHAPTER TWELVE: Discipline and Practice
Thinking by Walking
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: You See It?
Birthday Hike
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: What We Can Agree Upon No quote
Bench Mark
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The Psychic Network
Pacific Heights Library
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Ruby's Knees
Sur Mt.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: The Center of the Universe
Backside Trail
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: The Oak Beams of New College
Damn Right, A Prayer
ACT THREE: MASTERY AND FORGIVENESS
CHAPTER NINETEEN: The Problem at the Bench
Pete French Round Barn
CHAPTER TWENTY: Letters to Molly
The Road to Mastery
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: Don't Think
Abner Ridge
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO: Tools Have Magic
Borrowing My Chisel
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: Forgiveness
Shadows
Letter to Wheaton