Excerpt: In their new book, Winograd and Flores consider computers, their possible uses, and the ways people think about them. The book is an uneven blend of rhetoric and insight; provocative but disappointing both for those who expect a carefully reasoned position, and those who seek an articulate account of the way things should be. It is strongest in its descriptions of philosophical issues that must be considered as part of the problem of understanding understanding. This review is in two parts. It begins with a short review, which considers briefly the major themes of the book and how it succeeds with them. That is followed by a more leisurely review, which explores some of the interesting controversies in more depth. […] It is odd that a book can be so annoyingly flawed, and yet contain many worthwhile insights. On pondering this, these reviewers recommend that the book be read twice. The first reading is to react to all of the half-arguments and rhetoric, to get over being provoked by them and the somewhat anti-technology stance, and to accept that the book is strictly about the near future. The second reading is to skip or discount those sections and pay attention to the rest.

Excerpt: Understanding Computers and Cognition is an extremely important book, not because it provides a ready-made set of answers, but because it raises hard questions about the current premises and practices of cognitive science and computer design. It is not a textbook, but a book to argue with and talk about. If the discussions reduce to complaints about the particular characterizations offered, the book’s value to the community will be minimized. But if the discussions are about not only this book, but what this book is about, then we may in fact gain new orientations toward cognitive science and computer design. And if Winograd and Flores manage to stir up those winds of change, they will have made a contribution indeed.

Excerpt: All in all, Understanding Computers and Cognition promises more than it delivers. It does not really open new horizons hitherto unexplored and the “new design” for understanding computers in relation to people is sketchy at best. The greatest value of this book is in pointing to the importance of language and its philosophical theories. A correct understanding of the semantics for natural language is undoubtedly necessary for AI and cognitive science to succeed if it is possible at all.

Excerpt: In Understanding Computers and Cognition, we presented a theory of language, on which we base our understanding of cognition and of computers. It includes some basic assertions about how language works […] The reviews collected here offer a striking validation of this theory. The same piece of language (in this case, our book) produced four widely different understandings, each generated within the background of a particular listener. The important issue is not that different reviewers “liked” the book more or less, but that they heard it as addresing different concerns in different ongoing conversations. We will begin our response by examining their interpretations and the backgrounds in which they arose.