The Mind at Work Book Club Review Response

The Mind at Work  Book Club Review Response

I was quite surprised at how difficult it was to find a professional review of The Mind at Work.  I searched the New York Times archives, the LA Times, even NPR and found nothing!  So, I took a look at one of my favorite websites GoodReads and found a nice succinct review written by Bookmarks Magazine.  Here it is:

"Through in-depth research, Rose, a member of the faculty of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies demonstrates that cultural stereotyping has invariably underestimated blue-collar workers' intelligence and accomplishments. Rose quotes a policy analyst: "How do you honor a student's construction worker father while creating the conditions for his child to not be a construction worker?" Combining memoir (his mother was a waitress) with case studies, he also provides an excellent overview of the academic-vocational divide, though at times his overly scholarly descriptions of the work environment reflect this division. Generally fast paced and never dogmatic, however, Rose has certainly drawn an original portrait of America at work." 

The reason I liked this review so much is because it gave credit where credit is due (Mike Rose is clearly an intelligent, accomplished writer) but, it also touched on my biggest issue with the book thus far.  Mike Rose's "overly scholarly descriptions" of the jobs discussed in his book can come off quite condescending and actually negate the point he is trying to make. 

Clearly, the blue collar worker is much more intelligent than social stigma allows most to believe.  Mike Rose examining these jobs shines light on the skill required of the average American worker.  However, explaining the intelligence of the work in difficult to read, academic prose, may not be the best tactic.