The index reifies it as a book, at the same time that the choice to foreground one topic or another might surprise even the author. And I was reminded, reading Duncan’s paean to them, ...

Do you still use book indexes? I am not a good person to ask, because I only use electronic books. It takes a few seconds to search a book for the precise word I'm looking for.

The book skews toward the literary, but anyone interested in the 2,200-year journey to quickly find what one needs in a book will be enlightened, and will never again take an index for granted ...

"Index, a History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age" explores the development of those things in the back of a book that many of us turn to for reference.

INDEX, A HISTORY OF THE A Bookish Adventure From Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age By Dennis Duncan Illustrated. 344 pages. W.W. Norton & Company. $30. Before reading “Index, A History of ...

INDEX, A HISTORY OF THE A Bookish Adventure From Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age By Dennis Duncan. Over the last quarter-century, the book as physical organism has been increasingly ...