The way we record
knowledge, and the web of technical, formal, and social practices that surrounds it, inevitably affects
the
knowledge that we record. His story weaves a path between the social and political work of creating an explicit, indexical memory for science -- the making of infrastructures -- and the variety of ways we continually reconfigure, lose, and regain the past. In Search of Memory" relates the astonishing story of how four different and distinct disciplines--behaviorist psychology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and molecular biology--converged into a powerful new science of mind. Through its profound insights into thought, perception, action, recollection, and mental illness, this new science is revolutionizing our understanding of learning and memory while simultaneously showing great promise for more effective healing. The narrative follows Eric R. Kandel through the last five decades, focusing onVienna, where he became fascinated with memory. With intrepid scientific ardor,Kandel was captivated first by history and psychoanalysis, then byneurobiology, and finally by the biological processes of memory. His resulting,multifaceted
perspective was the foundation for his path-breaking research thatwill continue to dominate modern thought--not only in science but in culture atlarge. 50 illustrations.In Memory Practices in the Sciences he looks at three "memory epochs"of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries and their particularreconstructions and reconfigurations of scientific knowledge. Today's sciences of biodiversity, mean while, "database the world" in a way that excludes certain spaces, entities, and times. We use the tools of the present to look at the past, says Bowker; we project on to nature our modes of organizing our own affairs. With a sharp new perspective grounded firmly in a deep knowledge of both the natural and social sciences, Bowker reimagines the ancient topic of memory, showing us how our physical and social practices shape what we remember and thus what we know."--Howard S. Becker, author of Art Worlds and Outsiders"A brilliant and subtle analysis that uncovers and explains how conventions of naming, classifying, recording, and remembering create and preserve human knowledge. This book is required reading for all who do science or want to understand it--a real tour of power.