Comments on: Index Phobia

By: MarthaAndMe

MarthaAndMe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:48:22 +0000

No, I don’t think indexing will be done by a computer anytime soon. Sure, a computer can search and locate words, but it takes a person to evaluate when the mention of that word is significant. I think it would also be very difficult for a computer to do sub-categories. For example, if a book is discussing robins, but doesn’t mention the word “bird” I think it would be hard for a computer to include robin as a subhead of bird – at the very least you would end up with far too many entries and an index that is useless. You also need to be able to relate things to each other. For example, an index heading for pies might say “see also, Tarts” because they are similar and people tend to group them together in their minds.

And Ruth, I totally understand what you’re saying about the place you worked and the people there.

By: ruthpennebaker

ruthpennebaker — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:16:45 +0000

Brette — It’s a matter of personality and the way your mind works, I think. Indexing felt as if it were personally designed to require everything I didn’t excel at — attention to details, logic, patience. Plus, you just had to be at the Michie Company to understand the rampant insanity of the place.

By: Alisa Bowman

Alisa Bowman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:05:27 +0000

I’ve always wondered about the people who toil away to make indexes. I can’t imagine ever having the patience to do it. I suppose, at some point, a computer program will be invented that does it automatically, eh? Then the political memoirs will have indexes again?

By: MarthaAndMe

MarthaAndMe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:51:44 +0000

Indexes are an additional expense for the publisher and leaving it out can be a significant savings. Standard industry rates are at least $2 per page of the book to do an index, so leaving it out is a savings. I suspect that, more than anything else, is the reason we’re seeing them disappear.

By: Jennifer Margulis

Jennifer Margulis — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:02:09 +0000

I know this isn’t about the index per se but I love how you wrote that it is better to be old and neurotic than young and neurotic. Please please write a whole blog post about that sometime! I am inclined to think that S.P. is just lazy as mud and that’s why there’s no index at the back of the book (okay, now my politics are showing…)

By: MarthaAndMe

MarthaAndMe — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:44:25 +0000

Oh gosh. Um. I’m an indexer. And I really like doing it! I don’t find it boring. I love it. I get to read all sorts of books and then I get to think about how to help the reader find things they might look for. I don’t find it dry or horrible. It takes a certain kind of approach. You have to be organized and logical, but you also have to be able to think creatively.

I can’t imagine dictating an index – that would be hellacious. I use indexing software which makes it very fun and simple. And I can say I use indexes a lot. In fact, I just wrote a book about the history of cookies and had to do a lot of research into food history. I had a stack of books here and none had a decent index. It made it impossible for me to find what I needed and I ended up having to read entire books, which was a huge time suck, when I just needed to find the one or two pages with the info I needed.

By: Cindy A

Cindy A — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:30:16 +0000

That’s funny, Winston. I did college in the late 70s and early 80s when finishing was still allowed.

Ruth, I just thought of something. With e-books, you don’t need an index. Although I don’t own an e-book, I’m assuming someone could just word search the book for their name. OMG, a job crisis for indexers!

By: Winston

Winston — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:07:37 +0000

Nobody should be so downtrodden as to aspire to the gloom and despair of an indexer’s life. That’s sad. I firmly believe each person should be free to design their own brand of insanity without imposing the weariness of indexing upon any who choose to abdicate sanity.

That being said, how will future researchers ever meet the challenge of making their own a mark in the world now that indices are being tossed to the winds? The solution is easy. We must shift our paradigm. No longer must we view indexing as a lowly job fraught with breakdowns. Instead, we must see indexing as a punishment fit for white-collar crime. I say, round up all those DC rogues. Try them! Convict them! Sentence them all to twenty years on work-gangs indexing this literate nation’s non-fiction output! Equal treatment for all with lithium to the penitent.

___________
***CINDY***

A wise choice, returning to school.

If you attended, as I did, in the era of Make Love Not War, then you know on campuses across the land everyone was allowed to finish.

By: Jennifer Haupt

Jennifer Haupt — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:11:41 +0000

Ruth, I’m with you about the feel of a book in hand. I’m a hold-out against E-readers although I have a feeling that I’ll eventually learn to love them for magazines and newspapers… so much wasted paper on that front.

By: ruthpennebaker

ruthpennebaker — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:44:39 +0000

Cindy, I think you missed your calling.

Roxanne, what can I say? I'll always see the world through a former indexer's bloodshot eyes.

Duchess, don't think I've ever said anything about ebooks. I'm in favor of anything that promotes more reading, though, in every format. For my own purposes, I'm still old-fashioned and love the feel of a book in my hands. But yeah, I'm amazed that you and your mother -- with your own incredible lives and backgrounds -- are interested in mine. It's flattering as hell.