I knew this letter would come some day.
Today we received a return of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” with a pleasant note from a reader. Here it is:
“Not looking for a refund. Because of my eccentricities I don’t want a woodworking book to have the tone and words like-crap, suck, idiot, moron, stupid, hell Etc. I prefer more refined and reverent attitude and language. I guess an anarchist should be comfortable with the book as written?”
He makes a good point that I should have mentioned when the book was released. “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” has some coarse language in it. You will hear worse language and see more skin on television (I know you are thinking: “Thank goodness for that”).
But readers come in all different stripes. And this book is indeed different in tone, content and approach. It is not for everyone. And if it’s not for you, that’s OK.
The best part of the letter? I could tell it was from a woodworker. When woodworkers return stuff or complain, they are always nice about it — not like the suburban mommy nightmares I dealt with at the mini-blind store when I was 13.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. We have just sent a second load of copies of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” to Dictum GmbH in Metten, Germany. When the book is back in stock we will post a note here for our European customers.
I will try to withhold all comments about how that idiot sucks on crap and how the moron is as stupid as hell. It really is a great read, Chris. (And I do apologize for the childish combination)
I enjoyed the book so much that I read it in two days. I laughed at many of the lines that this person is mentioning. But, I do think that the book could have been a classic if it were not for the sexual innuendos and crude language. I respect the gentleman that returned the book. There are fewer and fewer of his kind these days, which is a shame. As for me, I will keep the book to use as a reference. Thank you for giving us a great resource.
There is balance in all things, I guess. I insist on having an irreverent attitude in all things and am looking forward to some quality time this week while on vacation! At least when I’m not re-sawing lumber for that Roubo-style bench I’m building…
Really, in my humble opinion, there is not enough skin in most if not all woodworking publications. Or maybe there is already too much.
As to the language: It is refreshing, bracing and colloquial yet charming – almost like having a conversation with a good friend in my own shop. The kind of clear, direct communication that’s often lost in an effort to be polite. Keep writing.
Lump me in with the unrefined and irreverent. I found the tone and words in question to be part of the reason I enjoyed the the book so much, and look forward to reading it again.
I would like to see more skin. Just not yours. You could print two different versions. Sign me up for the unrated and uncut version.
Well, the gentleman did say his preferences were due to his eccentricities. Refined and reverent language, if you can call it that, can be found in the works of Nicholson, Fairham, Wearing and Denning and many others. The AT speaks to today’s woodworkers who, probably like those who came before, very likely use some coarse language and perhaps like the occasional off-color joke. I’ll confess that Miss Manners would most certainly cast me the stink eye for my behavior. That’s what it is though, humor, plain and simple, tossed into a whole lot of really good information from first hand experience.. It’s fine to point out deficiencies where you find them but it also seems elitist, wasteful and perhaps even ignorant to ignore the central message of the book, that is, that traditional hand craftsmanship won’t survive unless many more of us pick up our tools and take to heart, the message that this knowledge needs to be passed along. Not doing so would suggest we’re all stupid morons who suck. And that would be really crappy. Oh hell…
I consider “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” to be an excellent and informative read. Chapter 20 is particularly thought provoking. It alone is worth the price of admission.
As for the alleged coarse language and crude humor, my only comment is perhaps I have become too accustomed to Jon Stewart and John Oliver; as a result I find some of the anatomical references in The Anarchist to be a bit trite, lacking impact in an attempt to be politically correct.
Perhaps a more erudite approach, as an appeal to the proclivities of your more earthy readers, is in order. Someone from the phone company approached me a few days ago as I was working in the yard. He wanted to use our garden hose, as he had inadvertently acquired some “fecal matter” on the sole of his shoe. I corrected him, “You mean you stepped in dog …” I’ll leave it to my crude and unrefined contemporaries to finish the sentence.
I get it. Both the complainer and the author, that is. I’m an old-school Baptist preacher (really) and don’t use some of the words or innuendos Chris does. But I could hear much worse just by going to the grocery store.
Granted, there are readers who don’t care for every third paragraph to have a witty remark, even if some of them are amusing. I understand that too.
All in all, the book is a fantastic read on hand tool woodworking and is quintessentially Schwarz. The book has personality. Tons of it. And it is Chris’s personality.
Moreover, where else does Chris spill all his personal secrets?
At the risk of being pilloried by your blog readers, I was surprised to find such words and references in a reference book on woodworking hand tools. Most schools, those that still have shop classes, will not be able to use this book because of them. That is a shame because the book is a valuable reference work otherwise. Perhaps I am just old enough to have been taught that formal writing is held to a higher standard than that of popular culture, but I would have preferred the offending references had been omitted. I am not sending my book back, though.
Stephanie,
I knew people would be uncomfortable. I feel bad about that. I’m a Southerner and we hate doing that. But I couldn’t write this kind of book about this kind of personal sea change in an academic manner.
There will always be Charles Hayward’s “Tools for Woodwork” for schools. And now there is ATC for foul-mouthed aesthetic anarchists.
Chris
“Most schools…will not be able to use this book because of them.”
I take it that those are the same schools that won’t use _To Kill a Mockingbird_ or _Catcher in the Rye_? The ones that probably wouldn’t use Shakespeare if his double-and triple-entendres weren’t so heavily cloaked in Elizabethan colloquialisms?
I’m glad I didn’t go to one of those schools.
Holden Caulfield is more real and identifiable to a young audience. However, I’m sure any shop teacher would love to leave the snickering and giggles in English class while trying to keep kids from power planing their elbows.
Even the author (just above here) decried the pedagogical suitability of the book. ‘Taint written for kids no way, no how.
(I still can’t believe I found a place to use the word “pedagogical”.)
Touché!
Think of the book as a wino in a tuxedo. The quality of the cover and binding do set initial expectations rather high.
🙂
ps, thank you for not using a useless paper jacket.
I wonder how many times he read the words he didn’t like before he put the book down. I don’t consider crap, suck, idiot, moron, and stupid offensive words or words that need to be censored for kids. I think the Anarchist’s Tool Chest will be the new Catcher in the Rye for the hand tool world.
For me some of the lines work and I chuckle, some don’t and I wish they weren’t in the book. I suspect it’s a cultural difference as I live a couple of thousand miles northwest. The market for your books is large and I’m sure you want their sales to be large as well – a consideration for you.
Wow, that’s tough to read. I respect the comments by others especially for their polite tone. But, (golly) how much is missed because of people’s hangups and adherence to moral relativism. As I attempt to mature I chose to shed such restraints and also to be more tolerant of those on a different path. So I will simply say how much I love the book. I read Hayward at my bench but I read Swartz before bed, on a lunch break, or during any other quiet break in the day I can find. His book has a permanent place in my library and has been my gift to others I know with an appreciation of the craft.
Chris, your response was kind but please don’t let such comments change your style. I have loved witnessing your writing become more and more personal over time. You bring an element of swagger and “coolness” to a flannel world thus reaching out to the heathen and less refined souls such as mine.
-Tim
It is to bad when people can’t identify quality. The Anarchist’s Tool Chest is a book written from the heart with emotion. It is written to lift up the reader and inspire him to believe that we can build stuff until we croak. The people who are bent about some spicy words are the ones who get uncomfortable when two men kiss (wait a minute…) Anyway, this is all moot because I am now cutting my dovetails tails first with a rabbet. Words can’t describe how much joy this method has brought me. I attack dovetails with confidence now because they look incredible when I am finished.
Personally, I’m anxious to see whether or not Roubo’s writing can stand under the same critical light. After all, part of his audience were of the gentry. And history has often shown us the results of their high moral standards. On further thinking about this though, I don’t even know if I really believe anyone actually took offense at the wording. Anyone who’s followed Chris for any length of time knows his writing style and sense of humor, so why, knowing this before hand, would you buy this book if the language offends you? Seriously, are there people out there who discuss the finer points of dovetailing over tea and crumpets?
The great bebop pianist, Barry Harris, made an observation about the use of “blue notes” in jazz language. Without getting technical about it, they are the easily identifiable tones that are common in blues, bluegrass, R+B, and country, that have that discordant blues edge (flat 3,5,7). His take on blue notes is that they can be limiting, as curse words can be to speech, and a facile way to achieve an effect. As a music improvisor myself I know that I often fall back on those blues cliches but my best efforts avoid them.
I think this applies to the use of the words the reader who returned the book mentioned.
How can you not describe most of the merchandise available to the masses as opposed to the elite in Chris’s colorful terms? Other then while pursuing global diplomacy, when is it more desirable to use ten sentences of description when one will do? I mostly try to write and speak in a polite and non-offensive manner. But sometimes emotion, emphasis, or simplicity requires one those several words which convey more in their brief utterance than whole volumes could convey.
I must admit I did not expect some of the language in the book but I was not overly surprised because I believed I was familiar with Chris’s attitudes from other venues and understood his motivation. The Anarchist’s Tool Chest is as much an autobiography as it is a manual on tools and techniques. And an autobiography should be faithful to the voice of the author.
No problems with the language here.
I think most schools might reject the book alone based on the title before they even saw the language. That is a shame because this tome is already an excellent resource.
Some of those passages struck me as what Patrick Leach would have written, if he were the author. All the more reason to appreciate the book.
As far as schools buying or not buying the book, I wouldn’t give it a second thought. Schools don’t buy books anymore. Those that still have shop classes are using dog-eared copies of Audel’s — the original edition.
Every writer has his own voice. Period. Some will love it, some will find it offensive, boring, or trite. You can pretty well be sure that if you write (techinically) well, you’ll ‘get’ 20% of your audience, and ‘lose’ 20% of them. Success and skill is gauged by the other 60%.
Good writing is always edgy in some way or other. A piece that is completely ‘palatable’ to everyone is a textbook. Textbooks have their place, but this book isn’t one of them.
I wouldn’t change a word. And for the record, I also thought the letter was completely justified and pretty classy. No problem with different aesthetics. Please, though – let’s don’t traipse down the yellow brick road of homogenizing and neutering absolutely everything so as to never offend anyone. The world would be so much less interesting and challenging if everything in it were designed for grade school kids or the ultra-pious.
raney
( who doesn’t need to curse like a sailor to make a point, but is more comfortable and at home in situations where he can if he feels like it.)
Around these (North East) parts, the ones who excel at homogenizing and neutering drive green Subaru Outbacks with Ichthys symbols on them. Hoards and hoards of ’em. They’re quick to shout FU and use hand gestures when slighted in traffic, yet see no problem decrying the language in this book.
My sort of woodworking isn’t that depicted by Chris’ description of these toolbox owners, so I had passed on the book … until now. Just ordered so I can see what all the fuss is about. 🙂
Bob, I drive a green Subaru (no fish sticker – but I curse like a fishwife…so I think the language in the book is awfully mild 😉 .
The information, however, is overwhelming (in a good way). I got to listen to and learn from Chris five days a week for almost 6 years, but I still learned a great deal from the book that I’d never before heard Chris mention.
Eisch! I’m sort of addicted to Chris’ blogs because I absolutely love his personal, often humorous, tongue in cheek writing style and his truly intimate knowledge of woodwork because I’m always trying to learn. I’ve never really “seen” the use of the mentioned words in his blogs? Myself, I’m more sensitive to blaspheming, which I definitely won’t take. I’ve long wanted to get one of his books and really believed this would be a good one to get my hands on.
Truth is, I’m having second thoughts now of paying quite a fair amount for this book as well as the additional probably 10 to 20US to get it to South Africa, and then be disappointed. But what if it’s not as bad as some of the entries (both for as well as against!!) make it sound ? I’ll go re-read a few (a lot) of his blogs entries and see if I can see what the fuss is all about before I make my final decision.
Finally it’s not a matter of “having hangups” or about “not identifying quality”, there’s just a line that you should never cross.
Frank … Get the book. If you like his blogs (I have the same addiction bordering on stalking I feel sometimes) then you will be happy with your purchase. There are no Eddie Murphy RAW moments (Chris Rock for the younger crowd). Just honest Schwarzism with a load of great hand tool information. If you hate it or are offended I will buy it off you (i will pay postage) as I will be giving copies away for Christmas gifts. Tjhenrik@msn.com if you decide you need the refund. That’s how much faith I have in the book.
– Tim
Frank, to echo Tim’s sentiment (and to save you the time!) – BUY THE BOOK!!
And whatever it costs to get it to CT is worth it – trust me! I spent $37 to ship my signed copy of “Handplane Essentials” (Purchase price $35!) to Johannesburg, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
And I too would be prepared to pay you for your copy if you decide you don’t want it!
Lenny Bruce once quoted one of his supporters, who said that Lenny was clearly a great comic, because he didn’t have to resort to dirty toilet humor. Lenny said he appreciated the comment, but it made him wonder just how dirty is his toilet? And what would it say if he had to ‘resort’ to using it, or not using it?
I was always taught that such vocabulary is part of a well stocked tool kit, to be pulled out and used when appropriate in the shop. There are times when nothing else will do.
When a project takes a turn, and hours of effort have been lost over something stupid, if the first word out of your mouth is actually printable… to paraphrase Lewis Black… you have anger issues.
Controversy.
Some classic books for school age teenagers generate controversy today, such as Catcher in the Rye, Huck Finn, and To Kill a Mockingbird. In some school districts these books are or were banned for language and / or content. A Travesty. The book the Great Gatsby is loaded with overtones, too. Few can deny that these books are classics.
So Chris… I think it is a question of style, and you have written in your style. And we as readers can choose to accept or reject it (anarchy anyone?). Based on the target audience, with most wood workers being men well beyond their teens, nothing in the book was out of line. I found the humor refreshing and insightful.
My personal feeling is that if there were fewer off color remarks, the remaining ones would pack more of a punch. One thing is certain, Chris had much fun writing this and it shows. His research and ability to put pen to paper is extraordinary. Job well done.
In one hundred years from now when we are all gone, The Anarchist’s Tool Chest is destined to be one of the definitive books on woodworking and hand tools, with an added bonus of understanding the personality of the author and humor of the era.
Controversy today almost guarantees this book’s future place on the bookshelf as a classic, even if it is banned in public school shop class (which in my daughter’s middle school they call Tech), along with Catcher in the Rye. I can vision it now; our children will secretly get The Anarchist’s Tool Chest to read it behind the back of their teachers and parents.
P.S. See you in Manchester
Chris:
I loved the book! Thank you for being honest and sticking yourself out there to give woodworkers a good list of tools to start the craft. I am somewhat new to woodworking and have been researching the “essential tools” for the past two years. Through much trial and error, my own list of tools is very similar to yours. Had your book been published back then, it would have saved me a lot of time that could have been spent in the shop…and about $1,000 in tools that were disappointing.
As for the comments about the language and not being able to use the books in schools, let face it, the kids are saying much worse things on their own. If anything, the book would make shop class “cool” again. If ATC was required reading, shop class would be the most popular class in school.
First of all, Thank You Chris for the tremendous work you have obviously put into this book. I DO think it is, or will very shortly become a classic. That said, I also agree with the gentlemen who returned his copy (although my copy will remain in a special place with my other treasured Lost Art books), for this reason – the subject matter, expertise, printing, editing, photography, book design, and 95% of the writing are absolutely “classic material”, TOP notch. However, I wonder if some of the jokes and innuendo will be lost on our children (I personally don’t enjoy it, and I’m still a kid myself at 27).
That all said, I feel like this is probably the most valuable book I have acquired, along with Lost Art’s “The Essential Woodworker.” I would come to every back-alley, woodworking anarchist meeting Chris held if I could. I agree 120% with your philosophy and approach. Thank You again.
This is a good book. It would have been a great book had the text not lost focus and tried to be a literary work. I agree with the person who returned the book, though I will keep mine.