Love learning about things I didn't realize interested me! "The index was on me." What an unusual achievement; from now on I will definitely regard the index of Thomas Nelson books through a different lens:)
What a curious path the book has travelled in development. I get most excited by a good bibliography. Here in the privacy of Substack, I’ll admit to being that reader who skips the text and starts immediately underlining books in the bibliography that might be of more interest.
Convinced the man-made chapters, verses, and especially division headings, were a distraction to reading the Bible, I purchased an ESV Reading Bible which removed them all. Chapters are marked off to the side. Scriptures on the page referenced at the top. Reading the Letter of Romans straight through as Paul wrote it was revolutionary for me as was Ephesians. Atomizing Scripture does lead to cherry picking and so much is taken out of context.
But I love indexes…there if you need them. I didn’t know how interesting it would be to read about them! Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
I tend to agree with you on the atomization effect, especially for nonspecialists. It’s a different experience reading the scriptures without all that, and my take is similar to yours: it’s more enjoyable.
Very helpful and insightful explanation of something that I have always wondered about. I’ve always been curious about the formation of books once the printing age came about and how we organized knowledge in a constructive way that could be accessed.
Thanks, Loren! As with all things, the success of the book created its own problems. As printing caused a rapid expansion of books, it necessitated the development of new ways of organizing knowledge and facilitating access.
I’ve had Book Parts on my wish list for a few years now! I hadn’t connected the dots and realized it was the same author. I was surprised how humorous the book was a points.
Thank you, this was really interesting and those books sound right up my street!
When I published my first academic textbook many years ago, I had to do my own index. It was a total nightmare. The publisher sent me leaflet on 'how to index' and that was that.
Wow! I think I would have assumed they would cover the bill for that. Professional indexing is a real discipline. Duncan’s book actually includes two indexes, one with a slightly impish twist.
There’s a lot of truth to that. The more the book is an object of study, the more it ought to have an index. So, e.g., I don’t mind if a memoir doesn’t have one, but an autobiography definitely ought to. In fact when Barbra Streisand decided against one for her nearly 1000 page autobiography (not my cup of tea, but…) readers were rightly miffed. The folks at Air Mail went ahead and compiled their own: https://airmail.news/issues/2023-11-18/my-name-is-barbras-index
I love clever titles. Unfortunately, my stories use “The” a lot. The Hovel, The Tower, The Dark Lighthouse, etc. Though I did come up with “Hospitocalypse” of which I am proud :) .
The Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock, in his book 'My Remarkable Uncle' placed an essay at the end titled 'Index: There is no Index', on the pitfalls of producing endless loops of catalogued information that prevent one from finding that one quote. His observations remain relevant in the age of search engines.
My photographic memory allows me to remember where in a book I saw a piece of information, so once I read a book, I generally don't need to use an index. Then came the ebook. Finding information electronic books is quite frustrating, as just changing the print size will change how many pages in a quote is, and the pages of an ebook aren't tangible. I compensate by recalling the surrounding information, and perhaps even the chapter or section title - after all, different editions of the same work also re-number pages. But for electronic works, I am forced to resort to the 'search in document' function far more than I need the index in a printed book.
I can often recall where a piece of information was in a book based on “the geography of the page,” though not always. I do love keyword searching, so I count that a blessing with digital books. But there’s nothing quite like thumbing through the pages of a book and finding what you need—and picking up one or two things you didn’t know you needed along the way.
Thanks again for treating me to another thing about books and reading that I hadn't thought about carefully enough in the past. Spot on, Mr Miller. How many times can you make my day!
Love learning about things I didn't realize interested me! "The index was on me." What an unusual achievement; from now on I will definitely regard the index of Thomas Nelson books through a different lens:)
I don’t know how long that original policy had been in place, but I was determined to change it on the books my team worked on.
What a curious path the book has travelled in development. I get most excited by a good bibliography. Here in the privacy of Substack, I’ll admit to being that reader who skips the text and starts immediately underlining books in the bibliography that might be of more interest.
That’s hilarious. But I stand guilty of the same crime from time to time.
Count me as in that club!
Convinced the man-made chapters, verses, and especially division headings, were a distraction to reading the Bible, I purchased an ESV Reading Bible which removed them all. Chapters are marked off to the side. Scriptures on the page referenced at the top. Reading the Letter of Romans straight through as Paul wrote it was revolutionary for me as was Ephesians. Atomizing Scripture does lead to cherry picking and so much is taken out of context.
But I love indexes…there if you need them. I didn’t know how interesting it would be to read about them! Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
I tend to agree with you on the atomization effect, especially for nonspecialists. It’s a different experience reading the scriptures without all that, and my take is similar to yours: it’s more enjoyable.
Very helpful and insightful explanation of something that I have always wondered about. I’ve always been curious about the formation of books once the printing age came about and how we organized knowledge in a constructive way that could be accessed.
Great job, Joel! Keep it coming…
Thanks, Loren! As with all things, the success of the book created its own problems. As printing caused a rapid expansion of books, it necessitated the development of new ways of organizing knowledge and facilitating access.
Very enjoyable review, Miller. I also recommend Book Parts, also edited by Duncan. I wrote about that, and the Index book, here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/terryfreedman/p/the-parts-of-a-book-in-general-and?r=18suih&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
What I like apart from the scholarship is the humour, especially in Book Parts. Cheers
I’ve had Book Parts on my wish list for a few years now! I hadn’t connected the dots and realized it was the same author. I was surprised how humorous the book was a points.
:-)
This is a fascinating history of an exquisite piece of technology for bibliophiles. I love your book reviews!
Thanks, Gary! And thanks for reading!
This is the kind of book written for nerds like me. I must have it, index it, and find new ways to index it again.
LOL. I count myself in the same tribe!
Thank you, this was really interesting and those books sound right up my street!
When I published my first academic textbook many years ago, I had to do my own index. It was a total nightmare. The publisher sent me leaflet on 'how to index' and that was that.
Wow! I think I would have assumed they would cover the bill for that. Professional indexing is a real discipline. Duncan’s book actually includes two indexes, one with a slightly impish twist.
The presence or absence of an Index tells me, correctly or not, whether the author was writing to inform or merely to pass the time
There’s a lot of truth to that. The more the book is an object of study, the more it ought to have an index. So, e.g., I don’t mind if a memoir doesn’t have one, but an autobiography definitely ought to. In fact when Barbra Streisand decided against one for her nearly 1000 page autobiography (not my cup of tea, but…) readers were rightly miffed. The folks at Air Mail went ahead and compiled their own: https://airmail.news/issues/2023-11-18/my-name-is-barbras-index
I love clever titles. Unfortunately, my stories use “The” a lot. The Hovel, The Tower, The Dark Lighthouse, etc. Though I did come up with “Hospitocalypse” of which I am proud :) .
LOL, sounds great.
The Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock, in his book 'My Remarkable Uncle' placed an essay at the end titled 'Index: There is no Index', on the pitfalls of producing endless loops of catalogued information that prevent one from finding that one quote. His observations remain relevant in the age of search engines.
My photographic memory allows me to remember where in a book I saw a piece of information, so once I read a book, I generally don't need to use an index. Then came the ebook. Finding information electronic books is quite frustrating, as just changing the print size will change how many pages in a quote is, and the pages of an ebook aren't tangible. I compensate by recalling the surrounding information, and perhaps even the chapter or section title - after all, different editions of the same work also re-number pages. But for electronic works, I am forced to resort to the 'search in document' function far more than I need the index in a printed book.
I can often recall where a piece of information was in a book based on “the geography of the page,” though not always. I do love keyword searching, so I count that a blessing with digital books. But there’s nothing quite like thumbing through the pages of a book and finding what you need—and picking up one or two things you didn’t know you needed along the way.
Delightful!
Thanks again for treating me to another thing about books and reading that I hadn't thought about carefully enough in the past. Spot on, Mr Miller. How many times can you make my day!