DRMacIver's Notebook

Book Review: Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences by Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star

Book Review: Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences by Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star

(This is a bit of a placeholder review because I’ve been putting off writing it).

This is a book about classification and its consequences, and in particular about the politics and decision making that goes on behind them. It makes the point that classification forms a complex set of interlocking infrastructure, and discusses how that plays out in a variety of real world settings.

I really liked this book, but I’m not sure how strongly to recommend it. It varies wildly between extremely readable and fairly obtuse in its prose. I don’t know whether this reflects which bit was written by which author, or whether both authors have the style. Nevertheless, I’m keeping it on my “further reading” shelf and intend to return to it regularly.

A couple of interesting points:

This book definitely falls under the heading of books I think are secretly about combat epistemology.

I need to do some reading and comparative study before I hvae much more to say about it.