Index, the humble.
Most of us use a variation of it without thinking, but how many of us know when the index was invented and how it came to be there? Where would the Argos catalogue be without its index? Indexes still exist and are used everyday in our techno-world. When we use Google, we are not searching the internet; we are searching Google’s index of the internet. “Index, A History of the” is a love letter to the omniscient, alphabetical list that lurks at the back of all self-respecting books (including this one); your last hope when you can't remember which page something was mentioned on. I love a good index myself and am perfectly at home using one. Many’s the time I’ve had a “What no index?” moment after buying a new book which you’d expect to have an index only to discover there isn’t one.
Author Dennis Duncan charts the index’s labyrinthine history in a lighthearted and supremely readable way. There’s been a welcome rash of unconventional and idiosyncratic books like this lately which is to be celebrated. This is a short book but it is wide-ranging and original. Every page has interesting facts that you probably didn't know you didn’t know. It is so filled with quirky nuggets that you will want to share them with total strangers (restrictions permitting). It is a pleasant journey into the development of the very mechanics of reading, and is also beautifully illustrated.
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