Refiguring Life

Science News

The focus of these three essays is the role of language and technology in the progress of genetic science. Drawing on a broad spectrum of theoretical work, Keller shows how scientists often operate from preconceived notions in seeking evidence; how it may be possible to reconcile the stability of genetic memory with the seemingly contrary law of increasing entropy; and why terminology introduced by the computer revolution influences recent discoveries in genetic research.

Utne Reader

Metaphors can have great power inside science, as Evelyn Fox Keller demonstrates . . . Keller shows how metaphor enters into the creation of scientific theories and reflects cultural assumptions that underlie supposedly 'objective' science.

Science News

The focus of these three essays is the role of language and technology in the progress of genetic science. Drawing on a broad spectrum of theoretical work, Keller shows how scientists often operate from preconceived notions in seeking evidence; how it may be possible to reconcile the stability of genetic memory with the seemingly contrary law of increasing entropy; and why terminology introduced by the computer revolution influences recent discoveries in genetic research.

Donna J. Haraway

Clarifying the puzzling confusions and the astounding productivity inherent in the adoption of the metaphor of information in modern genetics, Keller has written a beautifully argued and incisive book. Refiguring Life makes a solid contribution to the growing collective project of the cultural and historical studies of science and technology.

Library Journal

This short but interesting work continues Keller's study of how "scientific technique is both contributor to and product of discourse." A noted feminist historian and philosopher of science at MIT, Keller here focuses more explicitly on gender than in her Secrets of Life, Secrets of Death: Essays on Language, Gender, and Science (Routledge, 1992) or in Body/politics: Women and the Discourses of Science (Routledge, 1989), which she edited with Mary Jacobus and Sally Shuttleworth. In particular, she analyzes how the metaphors of information and communication technology affect biological research, especially in the field of genetics. Keller aims to broaden her focus here, which may disappoint some devoted fans. Recommended for history of science collections.-Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon, Eugene

Booknews

Gathers together all 25 of the published works of Julia Bowman Robinson spanning a period of more than 30 years. Except for two early publications, all these papers serve as contributions to the theory of effectively calculable functions and especially to its applications. Of note is Robinson's proof of the effective unsolvability of the decision problem for the rational number field and her work that provided the central step toward the negative solution of Hilbert's Tenth Problem. Includes a short biographical memoir by the editor. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)