The Nature and Art of Workmanship
By David Pye
A fairly short book (fewer than 150 pages) that’s apparently a classic, at least of the cult variety, about workmanship, skill, craft, and design.
Pye “…proposes a new theory of making based on the concepts of ‘workmanship of risk’ and ‘workmanship of certainty’…”
Among the topics it appears to cover include: woodworking, materials, quality, doing things by hand, philosophy, communicating intentions, diversity and range.
One reviewer mentions: “I have used the book to teach photography; I believe David Pye’s principles and ideas can be transported to other crafts with relative ease.”