Reason

Readers Really Like Indexes

Earlier today, I solicited comments about the value of book indexes. The responses were overwhelming: readers like them! Here are a smattering of the emails: Regarding book indexes, I still use them, ...
Reason

Do you still use a book index?

Almost all books come with indexes in the back. These sections identify the most frequently-used words in the book, and list the pages those words appear on. Authors (generally) do not create these ...
The New York Times

A Smart, Playful Book About the Underappreciated Index

Dennis Duncan’s entertaining and informative “Index, A History of the” moves from the 13th-century origins of the form to the world of digital search engines. By Jennifer Szalai When you purchase an ...
WBUR

Duncan, Dennis: In new book, author dives deep into history of the index

Host Scott Tong speaks with Dennis Duncan, author of "Index, a History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age." The new book explores the development of those things ...
The Economist

How the index changed reading, for better and worse

Index, A History of the. By Dennis Duncan. Allen Lane; 352 pages; £20. To be published in America by W.W. Norton in February; $30 PRODUCING AN INDEX is like squeezing “a grape in a winepress”, wrote a ...