Reviews

Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan

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thenovelbook's review

2.0

As a bookworm, I was hoping I'd find a fascinating history here of a much-used, totally taken for granted feature of non-fiction books: the humble index. I love indexes! Sadly, this book was rather dry, with the exception of the occasional anecdote about how someone used their index to take a dig at someone else.

Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the digital review copy.

eamcmahon3's review

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4.0

The irony of reading an entire book on indexes is not lost on me lol. I liked the author's in-depth research and lighter writing style. The sections of indexes were dense, but that's the point of the book so I really can't complain.

My favorite part, by far, was the author's recounting of academic feuds and spats that occur within the lines of indexes.

The future of the indexing career will be interesting to see over the coming years since AI will have some of the abilities that Duncan discussed as making the job of indexing a human task.

simbareadss's review

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Wasn't enticing to me. It's a very technical historical text and only snippets would grip me.

mxd's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.0

laura_corsi's review

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3.0

I wanted to love this one. I did learn so much quirky history about the evolution of the Index and loved that part, but found the author's style a bit wandering. Just when a particular anecdote was building to a conclusion that author would wander off to clarify some small point that I didn't think needed to be clarified. By the time we got back to the main story, I had completely lost the plot. I had never thought of an index as being a technology that was invented to aid in reading until reading this book. It seemed just an organic part of nonfiction books. Pretty cool.

bel017's review

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informative

This was well written, engaging, and way more fascinating than I expected--I do so enjoy a petty academic rivalry. I really enjoyed reading this during my work lunch break, especially the love shown for indexers, though I participate in index creation as part of my job, so I may be biased.