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Philosophers have written a lot about knowledge, Robert Proctor and Londa Schiebinger remind us in their preface, but a good deal less about ignorance. That is unfortunate, because ignorance is 'often just as important, usually far more scandalous, and remarkably undertheorized' (p. vii). It is an odd beginning, not only because philosophers from antiquity onwards have, notoriously, tried to persuade us that we are in fact ignorant of what we thought we knew, but also because this is not really a philosophical book. If philosophers have missed a trick, they won't discover it here. What these essays do demonstrate is that particular examples of ignorance can be of considerable historical and sociological interest. Topics covered include military secrecy (Peter Galison's essay is among the best),...