Author L. A. Suchman

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.