Includes index.

Prologue -- Chapter 1: Tape Measure : On the distance between here and here -- Chapter 2: Hammer : On the force of the blow -- Chapter 3: Screwdriver : On screwing and screwing up -- Chapter 4: Clamp : On the necessity of pressure -- Chapter 5: Saw : On severing a part from the whole -- Chapter 6: Level : On shifting, settling, and shifting again -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgments.

Nina MacLaughlin spent her twenties working at a Boston newspaper, sitting behind a desk and staring at a screen. Yearning for more tangible work, she applied for a job she saw on Craigslist--'Carpenter's assistant : women strongly encouraged to apply'--despite being a Classics major who couldn't tell a Phillips from a flathead screwdriver. She got the job, and in [her book] she tells the story of becoming a carpenter.