这是一部内涵极其丰富的由一位在科学的文化研究领域中极具创造性的作者贡献的著作。对于科学知识的产生、科学实践、数学实践以及工程实践，本书给出了一种全新的理解。
在科学实践中，安德鲁·皮克林把社会的、技术的、概念的、形而上学的等多种因素结合在一起。他把科学描述为一个机器、仪器、事实、理论、人类的受约实践和社会关系以无穷无尽的开放式终结的相互作用方式，相互交织、彼此冲撞的领域，他称之为“实践的冲撞”。
书中几个扩展了的案例研究的核心是要表明：冲撞的概念是如何发展了我们对科学实践的过去和现在的认识。皮克林具体讨论了物理学领域的建造气泡室、追寻夸克，数学领域的四元数的构造，工业生产领域中数控机器的引入，强调了在一定条件下的人类力量、物质力量和社会力量之间的彼此塑。这些研究的核心是要说明科学实践的最基本方面——实验仪器的发展，事实的产生，理论的创建，以及机器和社会组织的相互联系。
《实践的冲撞》是皮克林的颇具影响力的《构造夸克》的研究工作的继续，对于既有的科学实践、科学家的角色以及科学真理的本质的思想提出了挑战。在加深对科学、技术和社会相互关系的理解方面，对于任何一个对此类问题感兴趣的人，《实践的冲撞》都是一部有用的著作；对于社会学家、历史学家和科学哲学家，〈实践的冲撞〉也是一部基本的读本。

Madness & Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, by Michel Foucault, is an examination of the ideas, practices, institutions, art & literature relating to madness in Western history. It's an abridged English edition of Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique, originally published in 1961 as Folie et déraison. Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique. A full translation, The History of Madness, was published by Routledge in 6/2006. This was his 1st major book, written while Director of the Maison de France in Sweden.
This history begins in the Middle Ages, noting the social & physical exclusion of lepers. It argues that with the gradual disappearance of leprosy, madness came to occupy this excluded position. The ship of fools in the 15th century is a literary version of one such exclusionary practice, the practice of sending mad people away in boats. However, during the Renaissance, madness was regarded as a common phenomenon because humans couldn't attain Divine Reason. As Cervantes' Don Quixote, all humans are weak to desires & dissimulation. Therefore, the insane, understood as those who had come too close to God's Reason, were accepted in the middle of society. It isn't before the 17th century, in a movement famously called the Great Confinement, that unreasonable people systematically were institutionalized. In the 18th century, the mad came to be seen as having lost what made them human & become animalistic & treated as such. It isn't before 19th century that madness was regarded as an illness to be cured.
Foucault wasn't talking about medical institutions designed specifically for the insane but about the creation of houses of confinement for social outsiders, including not only the insane but also vagrants, the poor & orphans, & what effect those houses of confinement had on the insane & perceptions of madness in the West. He demonstrates that while confinement of social outcastes was a generally European phenomenon, it had a unique development in France & distinct developments in other countries such as Germany & England.
Foucault also argues that madness during the Renaissance had the power to signify the limits of social order & to point to a deeper truth. This was silenced by Enlightened Reason. He also examines the rise of modern scientific & humanitarian treatment of the insane, notably at the hands of Philippe Pinel & Samuel Tuke. He claims these modern treatments were no less controlling than previous methods. Tuke's country retreat for the mad consisted of punishing them until they gave up their commitment to madness. Similarly, Pinel's treatment of the mad amounted to an extended aversion therapy, including such treatments as cold showers & straitjackets. This treatment amounted to repeated brutality until the pattern of judgment & punishment was internalized by the patient.

《日本的思想》是丸山真男的经典名篇。它对日本近代思想史上的各种重大问题，如天皇制、思想的杂居性、传统与现代化、革命……等进行了深入的剖析，并放到整个日本思想史的广阔视野下来讨论，概括出日本思想的一些结构性特征，对我们了解日本的思考方式和价值观提供了重要参考。