Index, A History of the

Fascinating * Financial Times *
Witty and wide-ranging…adventurous… as if academic research were as revved-up as a Formula One race – Peter Conrad * Observer *
Masterful * Prospect *
Hilarious – Sam Leith * UnHerd *
Exceptionally good … I learned a huge amount from this wry, clever, diverting book * Scotsman *
Brilliant, fascinating…a binge-worthy book – Greg Jenner
I loved this book - the story of the index turns out to be a true adventure – Susie Dent (on Twitter)
Charming … Indexes are to books as menus are to meals: often the best bit * Economist *
Illuminating … A seemingly niche and esoteric subject, the index becomes, in Duncan’s hands, a minor miracle. Index, A History of the is not only about books, printing, and the necessity of consistent page-numbering … but about the nature of reading and about how we understand, categorise, and engage with the world – Kate Wiles * History Today *
What a surprise to discover that the plain and humble index has such an intricate and rollicking history! Dennis Duncan gives us a learned grand tour from ancient times to the almost present in the design and uses - and cunning abuses - of what is still the most sophisticated search tool ever devised. Instruction, passim! Entertainment, idem! – David Bellos * author of Is That a Fish in Your Ear? *

Dennis Duncan is a writer, translator, lecturer in English at University College London, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He has published numerous academic books, including Book Parts and The Oulipo and Modern Thought, as well as translations of Michel Foucault, Boris Vian, and Alfred Jarry. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, and the London Review of Books, and recent articles have considered Mallarme and jugs, James Joyce and pornography, and the history of Times New Roman.

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