Indexes Praised and Indexes Censured are extracted from Indexes Reviewed, a regular feature in The Indexer.

These extracts from reviews do not pretend to represent a complete survey of all reviews in journals and newspapers. We offer only a selection from quotations that members have sent in. Our reproduction of comments is not a stamp of approval from the Society of Indexers upon the reviewer’s assessment of an index.

Allyn and Bacon: The technical communicator's handbook, by Dan Jones (2000, 432 pp, $27). Rev. by Garret H. Romaine, Technical Communication, 48 (4), Nov 2001.
Throughout the handbook, the author provides lists of tips to help the reader through difficult concepts. Tips are also listed separately in each chapter's table of contents and referenced in the index, which greatly aids in usability.

American Psychological Association: Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edn, 2001, 439 pp, $23.95-$34.950). Rev. by Tracy L. Christiansen, AMWA Journal, 17 (1), 2002.
The index has been expanded and is thorough, listing page numbers, section numbers, and cross-references to related topics. ['But there's nothing on indexes or indexing in the manual itself!' comments Pilar Wyman, who sent this item.]

Ashgate Arena: Good practices in palliative care: a psychosocial perspective, by David Oliveire, Rosalind Hargreaves and Barbara Monroe (2000, £27.50). Rev. by Suzanne Hammond, International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 2000, 6 (1).
Besides the extensive index and list of references, user-friendliness within each chapter is enhanced by the use of different typefaces and boxed information.

Aslib/IMI: Free business & industry information on the Web, by Paul Pedley (2000, 110pp, £25). Rev. by Ann Day, Library Association Record, 104 (1), Jan 2002.
This book is brilliant. Every library and small business should have a copy…. The back of the book has an alphabetical listing of organisations/providers mentioned in the text. Each text reference to a website is numbered and this index provides a cross reference to this numbering system. You can therefore look up an organisation in the index and go straight to its website in the text. There is also a subject index.

The Canadian Library Association and the Business Research & Marketing Association: The Canadian B2B research sourcebook: your essential guide, by Maggie Weaver (2001, 222pp, $100 Canadian). Rev. by Paul Pedley, Managing Information, Jan/Feb 2002.
The book also has a detailed index which runs to 25 pages.

Frank Cass: KGB lexicon, ed. by Vasiliy Mitrokhin (451 pp, £35). Rev. by M.R.D. Foot, The Spectator, 23 Feb 2002.
[Mitrokhin] prints in translation what he managed to smuggle out ten years ago in Russian: the handbooks for intelligence and counter-intelligence used by the KGB. It is a minor awkwardness that the entries come in alphabetical order in Russian: a pair of indexes enables the reader to find any particular point at once.

Chatto: Flora poetica: the Chatto book of botanical verse, ed. by Sarah Maguire (344 pp, £17.99). Rev. by Peter Parker, Daily Telegraph, 12 Jan 2002.
A useful index identifies the geographical distribution of poets…

Dedalus: The Dedalus book of absinthe, by Phil Baker (296 pp, £9.99). Rev. by Sam Leith, Daily Telegraph, 29 Dec 2001.
As well as a proper index and bibliography, he includes chapters on the science of absinthe and the rituals of its preparation…

Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom: A chronology of state medicine, public health, welfare and related services in Britain, 1066-1999, by Michael D. Warren (2000, 313 pp, £18). Rev. by A.M.B. Golding, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, vol. 94, Jan 2001.
There is an excellent general index; so, for instance, if you look up penicillin you will find 1928 and under that year that Alexander Fleming then observed the antibacterial effects of penicillin.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux: The double bond: Primo Levi: a biography, by Carole Angier (2002, 928 pp, $40). Rev. by Richard Eder, New York Times, 16 June 2001.
Scrupulously indexed and annotated (113 pages of endnotes for 731 pages of text), The double bond is remarkable in all senses of the word.

Fitzroy Dearborn: The information specialist's guide to searching and researching on the Internet and World Wide Web, by Ernest Ackermann and Karen Hartman (2nd edn, 2000, 438 pp, $40). Rev. by Sally Chambers, Library Association Record, 103 (6), 2001.
The layout is complemented by useful tools, including an expanded contents listing; comprehensive index; and user-friendly glossary.

Flammarion: Correspondance générale, vol. 7, 1864-1869, ed. by Hugh Macdonald (767 pp, 295 fr.) Rev. by John Warrack, Times Literary Supplement, 23 Nov 2001.
The editorial principles originally established in 1972 by Pierre Citron, who remains Editorial Director, have stood well the test of handling almost 3,500 letters. Texts are clearly printed and sufficiently annotated; each year is prefaced by a summary of its events; the indexes include short biographical notes identifying all Berlioz's correspondents. What we now have, achieved over some thirty years' work, is not only an indispensable tool for scholars but a corpus of letters that belong together, and are as remarkable a testament to a great artist's life as any in the history of Romanticism.

Greenwood Press: Computer and information ethics, by John Weckert and Douglas Adeney (1997, 175 pp, $59.95). Rev. by Bill T. Johnson, Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, Winter1998.
A brief glossary is provided along with an extensive bibliography and a detailed index.

Imperial College Press: Clean electricity from photovoltaics, ed. by Mary D. Archer and Robert Hill (2001, 868 pp, £82/$120). Rev. by Richard Corkish, Nature, vol. 416, 18 April 2002.
Importantly, it is well indexed, and includes a handy list of useful web and library references.

Jessica Kingsley: The dynamics of adoption: social and personal perspectives, ed. by Amal Treacher and Ilan Katz (2000, 240 pp, £14.95). Rev. in Children & Society, vol.16, 2002.
The boundaries of this book are primarily those of domestic adoption within the UK. Some research references on inter-country adoption can however be traced through the helpful index at the end of the book.

Jessica Kingsley: On death, dying and not dying, by Peter Houghton. Rev. by Hilary Hollis, Coronary Health Care, 5(4), 2001.
… unusually for a book which is based on an individual's story, it is extensively indexed.

Libraries Unlimited: Information sources in science and technology, by C.D. Hurt (3rd edn, 1998, 346 pp, $55/ $45). Rev. by Mary D. Stoner, Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, Fall 1998.
The author, title, and subject indexes are quite thorough.

Library Association Publishing: The complete guide to preparing and implementing service level agreements, by Sheila Pantry and Peter Griffiths (3rd edn, 2001, 193 pp, £29.95). Rev. by Richard Turner, New Library Word, 103 (1175/1176), 2002.
The index is adequate, although the general layout is so well structured that it may not be needed.

Library Solutions Press: Searching smart on the World Wide Web: tools and techniques for getting quality results, by Cheryl Gould (1998, 90pp, $40). Rev. by Gregory K. Raschke, Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, Fall 1998.
Gould also includes a comprehensive index…

McFarland: Internet research: theory and practice, by Ned L. Fielden (2001, 205pp, £23.75). Rev. by Bernard Williams, Library Association Record, 104 (1), Jan 2002.
There is a nine-page bibliography and a detailed index.

Martin & St Martin: The drawings of Andrea Palladio, by Douglas Lewis (317 pp, $60). Rev. by Witold Rybczynski, New York Review of Books, XLIX (12), 18 July 2002.An exhaustive bibliography and a particularly thorough index complete the book.

Millbrook: Any number can play: the numbers athletes wear; Don't step on the foul line: sports superstitions, by George Sullivan (2000, each vol. 64pp, $22.90). Rev. by Steve Clancy, School Library Journal, Feb 2001.
Children can look up their favourite players in the index, but plowing through all 64 pages from start to finish is tedious and unlikely.

Mondadori: Lettere 1940-1985, by Italo Calvino, ed. by Luca Baranelli (1,624 pp, L. 85,000). Rev. by Martin McLaughlin, Times Literary Supplement, 14 Dec 2001.
The excellent indexes at the end of the volume are by Fiamma Bianchi Bandinelli.

National Autistic Society: Teaching young children with autistic spectrum disorders to learn, by Liz Hannah (£14). Rev. by Angela Dyer, Communication, spring 2002.
The index is helpful in enabling the reader to go straight to a topic of interest or area they want help in. [That being the general idea of having an index. Index by SI member Sylvia Potter.]

Olms-Weidmann: A guide to collections of books printed in German-speaking countries before 1901 (or in German elsewhere) held by libraries in Great Britain and Ireland, edited by Graham Jefcoate, William A. Kelly and Karen Kloth (2000, 399 pp, DM 298). Rev. by Peter Hoare, The Library, 3 (1), March 2002.
The high standards of editing, indexing and physical production, which we have come to expect from the publishers, are admirably maintained.

Oxford University Press: The invisible enemy: a natural history of viruses, by Dorothy H. Crawford (2000, 275pp, $25). Rev. by Carol DeAngelo, School Library Journal, Feb 2001.
The reference value of the book is enhanced by… the glossary, and a very complete index.

Oxford University Press: The Oxford guide to style, by Robert Ritter (2002, 623pp, £16.99). Rev. by John Whale, Times Literary Supplement, 5 April 2002.
It is strong on notes, references and indexes (no more than six unqualified page numbers in a row, and very little passim); it is itself well indexed.

Picador: Something to declare, by Julian Barnes (£8.99). Rev. by Scarlett Thomas, Independent on Sunday, 10 Feb 2002.
The best bit by far, however, has to be the index. As well as having almost an entire page devoted to the instances of 'Flaubert' in the text, it also includes the following entries: 'pedicurist's: overcrowding at the, 187', 'cutlets, lamb see Lucan, Lord' and 'Lucan, Lord: eats over a thousand sheep, 101; or perhaps half that number, 108'.

Rosen: Careers in information technology, by Melanie Ann Apel (2000, 105pp, $18.95). Rev. by Susan Shaver, School Library Journal, Feb 2001.
A list of contacts for more information and a comprehensive index appear at the end.

Scholastic Reference: Do tornadoes really twist? and Why do volcanoes blow their tops?, by Melvin Berger and Gilda Berger (2000, 48pp, $14.95/$5.95 each vol.) Rev. by Eunice Weech, School Library Journal, Feb 2001.
While children will enjoy browsing through these titles, the extensive indexes also make them useful for reports.