The Wisdom of Our Hands - by Doug Stowe (Paperback)

About the Book

"A guide to living fully and humanely by learning the wisdom of authentic manual work. Many of us live in a world of constant abstraction, immersed in our heads and our screens. But there is a deeper wisdom to be found in working with our hands in the real world. In The Wisdom of Our Hands, craftsman and educator Doug Stowe shows how working with our hands, either professionally or as a hobby, is essential for a full education and a full life. Based on his 45 years as a woodworker and 25 years as a teacher of handcrafts, Stowe argues that human beings have a natural need to express themselves creatively through tangible work. The use of one's hands and whole body to make physical things and reshape our surroundings promotes both physical and mental health and fosters a sense of mastery in both young and adult students. A life of craftsmanship offers the opportunity and obligation to define one's own values. Drawing on his experiences living and working in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a town dedicated to handcrafts and arts, Stowe demonstrates how craft work can create community, forge deeper social bounds, and foster a saner attitude about the value of human labor and material goods. Written for everyone who wants to reconnect with the deep experience of the human body at work, The Wisdom of Our Hands is a quietly radical call to spiritual (and physical) action"--

Book Synopsis

A guide to living fully and humanely by learning the wisdom of authentic manual work.

Many of us live in a world of constant abstraction, immersed in our heads and our screens. But there is a deeper wisdom to be found in working with our hands in the real world. In The Wisdom of Our Hands, craftsman and educator Doug Stowe shows how working with our hands, either professionally or as a hobby, is essential for a full education and a full life.

Based on his 45 years as a woodworker and 25 years as a teacher of handcrafts, Stowe argues that human beings have a natural need to express themselves creatively through tangible work. The use of one's hands and whole body to make physical things and reshape our surroundings promotes both physical and mental health and fosters a sense of mastery in both young and adult students.

A life of craftsmanship offers the opportunity and obligation to define one's own values. Drawing on his experiences living and working in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a town dedicated to handcrafts and arts, Stowe demonstrates how craft work can create community, forge deeper social bonds, and foster a saner attitude about the value of human labor and material goods.

Written for everyone who wants to reconnect with the deep experience of the human body at work, The Wisdom of Our Hands is a quietly radical call to spiritual (and physical) action.

Review Quotes

"For decades now, Doug Stowe has been one of the most humane voices in education. He insists we heed those quiet moments when intelligence shines forth in practical activities. He shows that they hold clues to our nature that normally lie beneath the notice of our obsessive schooling and credentialing, but are indispensable to a good life."--Matthew B. Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft

"In The Wisdom of Our Hands, Doug Stowe takes us on the life journey of a craftsperson, revealing ways that the complexity of living systems come to life through actions and thoughts, from the concrete to the abstract, starting with our hands to build community. This is a very special and timely book about a very special life in craft that makes the extraordinary ordinary while at the same time making the ordinary extraordinary."--Elliot Washor, Ed.D., co-founder, Big Picture Learning

"Some years ago, Doug Stowe decided he wanted to write 'why-to' (rather than 'how-to') books. In The Wisdom of Our Hands, he succeeds in this ambition, drawing on a lifetime of skilled craft to illuminate a personal journey and lessons learned along the way. His writerly voice is rather like his woodwork: elegant, understated, but full of intense commitment. Warmly recommended for all makers, or those with an interest in how objects shape our lives ... which ought to mean just about everyone."--Glenn Adamson, author of Fewer, Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects

"This is a book full of wisdom clearly built upon a lifetime's experience of working with wood and sharing generously with students of all ages. Like his woodwork, Doug Stowe's book is beautifully crafted. The Wisdom of Our Hands shares a secret--the wonder of working with the hands is within our grasp--it is a call to action. Stowe conveys the importance and value of working with our hands for holistic learning and nurturing the soul. He hits the nail on the head while challenging the reader to hammer it home. Stowe's breath of knowledge is vast, drawing upon historical educational pioneers as well as current thinkers. This is an illuminating book, taking us on a journey embracing both the concrete and the abstract, with many beautiful observations along the way. Highly recommended."--Pete Moorhouse, education consultant, researcher, and author of Learning Through Woodwork

"In his new book The Wisdom of Our Hands: Crafting a Life, Doug Stowe takes on the challenge of explaining the deeper meaning of how our hands can define who we are. Through sharing stories of his career as a woodworker we see how his hands have led him down a path from craftsman to teacher and on to philosopher. It is through our hands that we measure our progress, both mentally and physically. Doug has clearly helped me to understand that the work of my hands not only creates a legacy of who I am, but what I have accomplished in my life. "--Marc Adams, founder and director of the Marc Adams School of Woodworking

"For a book on woodcraft, The Wisdom of Our Hands is quite profound. What is wood? How is it connected to place? What is creativity? Where does it come from? What does it mean to be attentive to the task at hand? And why do we benefit from trusting our own hands? Stowe's lessons resonate closely with the mindset of the great Japanese temple carpenters I've known, like Tsunekazu Nishioka, who lived a life imbued with beauty, humility, and the spirit of wood, performing devoted and meaningful work in which he and his students could become selfless. Through perceptive and compassionate examples drawn from decades of experience as a craftsman and teacher, Stowe shows us how work like this gives us the opportunity to live a life worth living, and to become better than we are."--Azby Brown, author of The Genius of Japanese Carpentry

"As high technology takes over more and more of our lives, spreading the complexity of its systems and uses, master woodworker Doug Stowe takes the stage to remind us of what matters: that for us humans, nothing can match the complexity in our own hands, and the myriad seen and unseen connections between the hand and the brain. In The Wisdom of Our Hands, Stowe's highly meditative latest work, he proves that we ignore this eternal truth at our great peril."--Todd Oppenheimer, editor and publisher of Craftsmanship Quarterly and author of The Flickering Mind: Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology

"Woodworking craftsman and educator Doug Stowe makes a passionate case for reintegrating mind and body in both education and life in his new book The Wisdom of Our Hands: Crafting, A Life."--Australian Wood Review

"Doug Stowe's The Wisdom of Our Hands: Crafting, A Life links self-help to creativity as it explores how working with one's hands results in a fuller life. Stowe is both an educator and craftsman who spent some forty-five years as a woodworker and twenty as a teacher of handcrafts. This dual role allows him to flavor a memoir with instructions and insights on the connections between craft work and a sense of achievement that can create new bonds in a community and society as a whole."--Midwest Book Review