Good With Their Hands

Scarlet’s dream of independence is falling apart, like the fixtures in her new apartment after the construction company cut corners. None of this is the new maintenance company’s fault. She knows she’s acting like a diva calling them out so late on a Sunday. It could wait. But that voice… that sinful purr down the phone. Can he really have the full package to go with it? She’s definitely curious. It turns out Mr. Handyman is a god walking in human flesh, and now she’s roused his inner beast. Every man at Complete Maintenance Solutions gets counseling on the dangers of servicing women when they should be servicing their homes. Kaleb would know; it’s his company, after all. Only the hot, wet dream who calls him up late on a Sunday is a temptation of the highest order…. and parading around in lingerie while he’s trying to work. The rule book has been thrown out the window; someone needs to teach the hot pixie a lesson, and Kaleb’s just the man for the job.

"A native of the Rust Belt whose own life resonates with these stories, Rotella has gone to the home turf of his characters, hanging out in boxing gyms and blues clubs, riding along with cops and moviemakers, discussing the future of Brockton with a visionary artist and a pitbull-fancying janitor who both plan to save the city's soul. These people make culture with their hands, and hands become an expressive metaphor for Rotella as he traces the links between their individual talents and the urban scenes in which they flourish. His writing connects what happens on the street to the larger story of urban transformation, especially the shift from a way of life that demanded individuals be "good with their hands" to one that depends on the intellectual and social skills fostered by formal education and service work."

Nora Ephron struck a chord with I Feel Bad about My Neck. Women’s advocate and acclaimed writer Shari Graydon set out to counter the supposed downhill slide–inspired grief by inviting notable women from across Canada — all over 50 — to provide an alternative perspective. I Feel Great about My Hands is a collection of stories, essays and poems embracing the changes, discoveries and wisdom that come with age. This colourful anthology includes: Gemini award–honoured funnywoman Mary Walsh on playing a “big, loud, opinionated old bag” Celebrated poet Lorna Crozier’s hilariously graphic “My Last Erotic Poem” Val Napoleon, an adopted Gitksan member of Cree heritage applying Aboriginal trickster tales to modern attitudes about aging Shari Graydon herself focusing her “face-half-unwrinkled” attention on the hands that have helped her nurture life and express creativity and joy Royalties from the book will benefit Media Action, an organization dedicated to challenging the under-representation and sexualization of women in the media.

A philosopher/mechanic's wise (and sometimes funny) look at the challenges and pleasures of working with one's hands "This is a deep exploration of craftsmanship by someone with real, hands-on knowledge. The book is also quirky, surprising, and sometimes quite moving." —Richard Sennett, author of The Craftsman Called "the sleeper hit of the publishing season" by The Boston Globe, Shop Class as Soulcraft became an instant bestseller, attracting readers with its radical (and timely) reappraisal of the merits of skilled manual labor. On both economic and psychological grounds, author Matthew B. Crawford questions the educational imperative of turning everyone into a "knowledge worker," based on a misguided separation of thinking from doing. Using his own experience as an electrician and mechanic, Crawford presents a wonderfully articulated call for self-reliance and a moving reflection on how we can live concretely in an ever more abstract world.

The Canadian Handicrafts Guild broadened the definition of art and the artist in Canada. Linking decorative arts with home arts and handicrafts, the Guild consistently showed them together at annual exhibitions at the art gallery in Montreal and formed a permanent collection documenting old and contemporary crafts. The Guild women combined creativity and philanthropy, voluntarism and an entrepreneurial spirit, education and concern with quality, in a movement that provided income and recognition to craftspeople and a craft legacy to Canada. In Good Hands is alive with the interplay between art and social history, and the issues this dialogue raised at the time and those we bring to it now constantly overlap. It deals with noblesse oblige and the era's patronizing attitude to cultural difference, but shows how the Guild consciously fostered an inclusive national feeling by exhibiting and selling crafts of all Canadians on an equal footing. It also draws a much broader perspective of women's roles in shaping our culture than has been the norm in Canadian art history.

"A startling argument . . . provocative . . . absorbing." --The Boston Globe "Ambitious . . . arresting . . . celebrates the importance of hands to our lives today as well as to the history of our species." --The New York Times Book Review The human hand is a miracle of biomechanics, one of the most remarkable adaptations in the history of evolution. The hands of a concert pianist can elicit glorious sound and stir emotion; those of a surgeon can perform the most delicate operations; those of a rock climber allow him to scale a vertical mountain wall. Neurologist Frank R. Wilson makes the striking claim that it is because of the unique structure of the hand and its evolution in cooperation with the brain that Homo sapiens became the most intelligent, preeminent animal on the earth. In this fascinating book, Wilson moves from a discussion of the hand's evolution--and how its intimate communication with the brain affects such areas as neurology, psychology, and linguistics--to provocative new ideas about human creativity and how best to nurture it. Like Oliver Sacks and Stephen Jay Gould, Wilson handles a daunting range of scientific knowledge with a surprising deftness and a profound curiosity about human possibility. Provocative, illuminating, and delightful to read, The Hand encourages us to think in new ways about one of our most taken-for-granted assets. "A mark of the book's excellence [is that] it makes the reader aware of the wonder in trivial, everyday acts, and reveals the complexity behind the simplest manipulation." --The Washington Post

It’s never too soon for children to learn that violence is never okay, hands can do many good things, and everyone is capable of positive, loving actions. In this bright, inviting, durable board book, simple words and full-color illustrations teach these important concepts in ways even very young children can understand. Created in response to requests from parents, preschool teachers, and childcare providers, this book belongs everywhere young children are. Includes tips for parents and caregivers.

A quirky and heartfelt coming-of-age story about a teen girl with bipolar II who signs her failed magician father up to perform his legendary but failed illusion on live TV in order to make enough money to pay for the medications they need—from the author of Symptoms of Being Human. Perfect for fans of Adi Alsaid, David Arnold, and Arvin Ahmadi. Sixteen-year-old Ellie Dante is desperate for something in her life to finally go right. Her father was a famous stage magician until he attempted an epic illusion on live TV—and failed. Now Ellie lives with her dad in a beat-up RV, attending high school online and performing with him at birthday parties and bars across the Midwest to make ends meet. But when the gigs dry up, their insurance lapses, leaving Dad’s heart condition unchecked and forcing Ellie to battle her bipolar II disorder without medication. Then Ellie receives a call from a famous magic duo, who offer fifteen thousand dollars and a shot at redemption: they want her father to perform the illusion that wrecked his career—on their live TV special, which shoots in Los Angeles in ten days. Ellie knows her dad will refuse—but she takes the deal anyway, then lies to persuade him to head west. With the help of her online-only best friend and an unusual guy she teams up with along the way, Ellie makes a plan to stage his comeback. But when her lie is exposed, she’ll have to confront her illness and her choices head-on to save her father—and herself.