Discovery and Classification in Astronomy

'A highly accessible collection of narrative case studies that explore how the discipline of astronomy has gone about detecting new classes of phenomena and then has decided if, indeed, these new classes are in fact new, or whether they are actually variations or extremes of previously known classes. The bold ambition of the book, to craft a systematic hierarchical classification of all astronomical phenomena, to aid in forming and reforming taxonomies for future discoveries of new astronomical phenomena is, indeed, a goal that should be of great interest to scientists, historians, sociologists and philosophers.' David H. DeVorkin, National Air and Space Museum