On April 20, 2010, an explosion on a BP drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in loss of human life and what we now know to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The incident has demeaned the oil industry, those who oversee it and, yes, those of us who consume its products.

Last December, I received a book entitled Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford, a Ph.D. in political philosophy who makes his living as the owner of a motorcycle repair shop in Virginia.