Women Fire And Dangerous Things

A book by GeorgeLakoff discussing "what categories reveal about the mind."

: Paperback Reprint edition (April 1990)
: University of Chicago Press (Trd); ISBN 0226468046
: Dimensions (in inches): 1.43 x 9.51 x 6.56

Review:

"Its publication should be a major event for cognitive linguistics and should pose a major challenge for cognitive science. In addition, it should have repercussions in a variety of disciplines, ranging from anthropology and psychology to epistemology and the philosophy of science. . . . Lakoff asks: What do categories of language and thought reveal about the human mind? Offering both general theory and minute details, Lakoff shows that categories reveal a great deal." -- David E. Leary, American Scientist

Read it now. OOP advocates will learn a bunch there about inheritance (Lakoff's Categories) when used for implementation vs specification. I've a whole page on this at http://virtualschool.edu/mon/SocialConstruction -- BradCox

Strongly agree. This is a very interesting book. The American Scientist review above said it "should be a major event" -- it was. It's been extremely influential, and not just in cognitive linguistics/science. Brad is correct that it can shed light on a number of issues in OOA/OOD and software in general. -- dm

What existing wiki opinions does it tend to mirror? EverythingIsRelative? SoftwarePlatonism?

CategoryBook