Sounds like a decent read. But regarding the reviewer's claim that this is the best "self-help" book he's read (and he does not mean it as an insult), I still think the "last self-help book"--Percy's "Lost in the Cosmos" (1983)--is peerless.

So, I read this:

"When Matthew Crawford finished his doctorate in political philosophy at the University of Chicago, he took a job at a Washington think tank. "I was always tired," he writes, "and honestly could not see the rationale for my being paid at all." He quit after five months and started doing motorcycle repair in a decaying factory in Richmond, Va. This journey from philosopher manqué to philosopher-mechanic is the arc of his new book..."

Then I noted this:

"I am currently a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia."

Sounds like he just took a sabbatical from the think tanks.

"I am betting this book will be worth reading."

Step one: Agree, and argue that a person would have to be a fool to take the other side of that bet.

Once the person offers you good odds to accept the sucker end of the bet...

Step two: go out rent a Harley do some PMCS on the bike and take off for a joy ride in the time that it would take to read the book.

Argue that by actually doing Motorcycle maintenance you are ahead of the game vis a vis those who read the book, or wasted time blogging about it.

Step 3: collect your bet.

You can't call it slumming if you never leave.