It has long been held that only thinkers can arrive at the central truths of the human condition. But now a new book argues that doing things and engaging with others is key to understanding the world, an idea with which many Catholics agree not every self-help book combines a lyrical appreciation of the art of riding a motorbike with a devastating critique of Cartesian dualism but Matthew Crawford’s new book, The World Beyond Your Head: on becoming an ­individual in an age of distraction, does just that, and throws in glass-blowing and organ restoration for good measure. They are an antidote to what he sees as a fundamental problem with the contemporary world view: a damagingly cerebral take on the world. Crawford’s reasons for describing these things is pertinent even t