Saturday, March 12, 2011

"This book represents a ‘William Gibson moment’ for the critical social sciences"

A new version of the Code/Space jacket cover arrived by email during the night. It has a new city image and the back cover author endorsements (click on the image for larger version). The endorsements are pretty flattering and from a great set of scholars. This statement made me smile: "This book represents a ‘William Gibson moment’ for the critical social sciences." It would be great if it were true, especially as Neuromancer is near the top of my list of best reads, but alas I fear it is the usual bookcover hyperbole, nice though it is. Here are the endorsements in full.

“Software is all around us. It is making new worlds of which we are often only faintly aware. So it is not just good to have this map of code/space, it is essential. All concerned citizens need to read it and think again about the world they inhabit.”
Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor, University of Warwick

“This book represents a ‘William Gibson moment’ for the critical social sciences. Drawing upon the insights of geography, science and technology studies, and social and cultural theory, it offers an analytic encapsulation of how we should approach software and code when coming to terms with contemporary social ontology. It is a book written with a rare clarity, and it draws upon a rich set of empirical illustrations. Essential reading for all those concerned with how the social sciences should approach a world in which algorithmic power and processes of software sorting are coming to define ever more domains of everyday life.”
Roger Burrows, Department of Sociology, University of York

“Code/Space is like a travel guide to a new world—a world run on a hidden universe of computer code. With all aspects of contemporary life—from air travel to social networking, from online shopping to political violence—now orchestrated by obscure worlds of software, this dazzling book is the first to define the politics, sociology, and geography of this rapidly emerging world.”
Stephen Graham, Newcastle University

Nice! Thanks guys, cheques are in the post.

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