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.

Ashgate: Ad quadratum: the practical application of geometry in medieval architecture, ed. by Nancy Y. Wu (2002, 272 pp, $79.95). Rev. by Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier, Sixteenth Century Journal, 36(1), April 2005.

[The] essays in this small volume are presented with a brief introduction by Eric C. Fernie that is devoted to the explication of mathematical systems in current use by investigators. Rather than provide the reader with a provocative invitation to the actual contents of the book, its plunge into technicalities may prove obfuscating to some. This, together with the excessive modesty of its index (which lists, for example, the triangle and the pentagon but not the octagon or the decagon, though all are discussed by the various authors), detracts from the probing depth exhibited in the separate essays. Had more care been exercised in the final presentation of this volume, especially in its introduction and index, the relation of the book to its title would have been clearer. So, also, the collection of essays would be what it deserves to be, an exemplary cross-section of current research in the study of the application of geometry to medieval ecclesiastical building design.

Berkley Caliber: The longest night: the bombing of London on May 10, 1941, by Gavin Mortimer (2005, 356 pp, $24.96). Rev. by Philip Kopper, Washington Times, 16 October 2005.

One serious flaw is the lack of notes. I want to know when and where the Laborite Clement Attlee told the aristocrat Sir Harold Nicholson [sic], ‘If only the Germans had had the sense not to bomb west of London Bridge, there might have been a revolution in this country.’ But the blitz had now ‘smashed about Bond Street and Park Lane,’ elite parts of town, no longer concentrating on the industrial East End with its squalid slum neighborhoods ‘already seething with social injustice.’
    Was the source Nicholson’s famous diaries or some new obscure text that could alter our view of the period? Throughout the book, I wondered about the source of this anecdote, the authority of that speculation, the accuracy of another stated fact. In the same sorry vein, the index is deplorable; it lists neither the aforementioned Attlee or Nicholson. A book like this deserves the accessories of scholarship to prove the validity of its details that brick upon brick create a bastion of defensible argument and truth. [A concern for accuracy might also call for the correct spelling of ‘Nicolson’.]

Brill: The forgotten writings of the Mennonite martyrs, by Brad S. Gregory (2002, 444 pp, $149.00). Rev. by Mirjam van Veen, Sixteenth Century Journal, 36(1), April 2005.

More generally, Gregory could have helped his readers more by using his extensive knowledge of the martyrs to provide some explanatory notes. Some examples: Verstralen mentions a woman named Mayken. In the index the reader can find her under her second name, Deynoots (248).A footnote mentioning this second name would have been helpful. The same goes for Ariaenken Jans (256).... A last remark about the index: I am not entirely convinced that this index is fully accurate. Under Joshua and Caleb, I found references to pages 290, 292, 295, and 386, but they are mentioned as well on page 282, for example. On several occasions authors refer to Jephthah, but he is not mentioned in the index (68 and 295).The same goes for Jehan vander Poele (251) and Schout Jan (259).

Concern regarding the notes and the indexes aside, by providing an easily accessible text, by his illuminating introduction to the context of these writings, as well as by the interesting questions he raises in his introduction, Gregory has opened a new and promising field of research.

Faber: The letters of Robert Lowell, ed. by Saskia Hamilton (2005, 852 pp, £30). Rev. by Craig Raine, Times Literary Supplement, 9 September 2005.

Alger Hiss is mentioned twice, identified nowhere and excluded from the index, along with many other things.... The reference to William James on p. 275 isn’t in the index.

Facet Publishing: The new Walford: guide to reference resources. Vol. 1: Science, technology, medicine, ed. by Ray Lester (2005, £149.95). Rev. by Charles A. Toase, Refer, 21(3), Autumn 2005.

Under each main heading in the body of the book there is a list of subjects included, so that ‘Entomology’ lists Ants, Bees, Beetles, Bugs and so on. If you look up Ants in the topic index, you get the numbers for the whole of Entomology, not a specific reference to the entry for AntWeb; similarly ‘Spiders’ in the index refers you to 2869–2922 (Zoology) rather than 2917, the World spider catalog website which replaces the seven entries for books on spiders that the old Walford offered. This means that subjects in the index are not necessarily represented by a specific resource in the text.

Mike French and Company Inc: Green weenies and due diligence: insider business jargon — raw, serious and sometimes funny, by Ron Sturgeon (2005, 305 pp, $28.95). Rev. by Michael Quinion, World Wide Words, www.worldwidewords.org, 9 December 2005.

On a down note, the index has clearly been generated automatically, which has led to some oddities of reference.

Gibson Square: Lords & liars: the secret story of the Christie’s–Sotheby’s conspiracy, by Christopher Mason (2005, 394pp, £15). Rev. by Robert Lacey, Sunday Times, 21 August 2005.
It is a pity that such an excellent book has been thrown together by its publisher. It reads like a proof copy, dotted with line breaks, floating hyphens and misspellings: we read of the actor Jack Nichol-son and John Lennon of the Boatels. The index is mystifyingly cursory, with just one reference to Brooks, who occurs in every chapter, and no mention of Scott Muller, a key figure who was Taubman’s trial attorney.

Hambledon & London: A subject for taste: culture in eighteenth-century England, by Jeremy Black (2005, 272 pp, £19.99). Rev. by Michael Caines, Times Literary Supplement, 23 September 2005.

... the Penelope who is not in the index but who does feature on page 115 should be Aubin rather than ‘Aubion’.

Humana Press: Platelets and megakaryocytes, Vol. 1: Functional assays, Vol. 2: Perspectives and techniques, by Jonathan M. Gibbins (2004 and 2005, 380 and 503 pp). Rev. by Paolo Gresele, Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 3.

A few limitations of the book are ... the rather condensed analytical index, of little practical help...

National Library of Australia: Alan Moorehead: a rediscovery, by Ann Moyal (2005, 138 pp, $24.95). Rev. by Peter Sekuless, Canberra Times, 17 September 2005.

The index! We are all indebted to that self-effacing band of manuscript librarians whose only recognition comes in the acknowledgments of books such as this. Moyal pays due tribute to the venerable master of the library’s collections, Graeme Powell, who toils in his windowless cell on the second floor. The index, however, is as innocent of ‘Powell, Graeme’ as a frog is of feathers.

‘Sekuless, Peter 92’ does appear in the index but on Page 92 there is no reference to your humble reviewer. Of course, in the public interest one must look above such personal considerations, so I did. The name above mine in the index is ‘Sculthorpe, Peter’ but there is no mention of the composer on the page indicated either.

Northern Illinois University Press: Illinois: a history of the land and its people, by Roger Biles (2005, 300 pp, £16.50). Rev. by Jan Stilson, Rockford Register Star, 25 December 2005.

The book includes end notes, bibliography and an index. Strangely, though, there is no page number in the index behind the entry for Lorado Taft. A computer glitch? An oversight? If one looks it up in the art chapter, mention is found on Page 173.

O Books: The fall, by Steve Taylor (2005, 446 pp, £12.99). Rev. by Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian, 3 December 2005.

It is a pity, or, if you are sensitive to such matters, a warning sign, that a book which relies so heavily for its thesis on the desiccation of the Sahara should find itself completely unable to spell ‘desiccation’ correctly once, not even in the index.

Oxford Bibliographical Society: Fragments of medieval manuscripts used as pastedowns in Oxford bindings with a survey of Oxford binding c. 1515–1620 (2000, xx + 278 pp, £45). Rev. by Elizabeth Mathew, Rare Books Newsletter, 75, August 2005.

Although it is disappointing that the reprint does not take into account the work of various Oxford college librarians, and has not been structured more effectively in terms of the several indexes, the work, nevertheless, will be gratefully accepted by palaeographical researchers.

Oxford University Press: Oxford textbook of medicine, ed. by David A. Warrell et al (4th edn on CD-ROM, £195). Rev. by C. D. Shee, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, vol. 98, July 2005.

The format is almost identical to that of the textbook ... One can browse the contents of the book by use of the table of contents, the index or a search function....The word-search facility in the electronic version is very useful since the index is not wholly reliable. For instance, I was unable to find either Duchesne’s muscular dystrophy or hereditary spastic paraplegia in the index, although both topics are covered in the text. Looking under ‘graft versus host disease’ in the index one would be unaware that lungs can be involved (although bronchiolitis obliterans does occur separately in the index and is well-covered in the text). Similarly, the index was no use in finding the table of drugs that can cause hyponatraemia. The index could be made more doctor-friendly. ‘Overdose’, for instance, is a commonly used term that does not appear in the index; details of deliberate drug overdose are found in the text under ‘Poisoning’, and it would be a simple matter to say ‘For overdose see Poisoning’. The index lists ‘SSRIs’ but with no link to the text.... The index requires ruthless recompilation. Parenthetically, perhaps the time has come for the printed version to have the index in a separate volume rather than the triplication of appending the entire index to each constituent volume.

For this ‘must-have’ textbook would I recommend old-fashioned print (£295 for three volumes) or the e-version (£195)? If the index was more reliable I would still opt for the paper version, which is easier to read. However, the electronic version has the advantage of compact size, lower price, and an excellent word search facility.

Palgrave Macmillan: Climate change begins at home, by Dave Reay (2005, 224 pp, £16.99 ) Rev. by Caspar Henderson, http://www.opendemocracy.net/ecology/climate_change_3012.jsp, 11 October 2005.

My criticisms are small: nowhere in the index, for example, is there a mention of offset or sequestration. So someone looking for advice on these — as I am when contemplating more climate-busting travel to research whether coral reefs are going extinct — may wish to look elsewhere.

Penguin: Postwar: a history of Europe since 1945, by Tony Judt (2005, 1000 pp, $39.95). Rev. by Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 28 November 2005.

The book does include an index, but it is far from comprehensive. It omits names mentioned in the text (Barbie, Ridgway) and includes idiosyncratic entries that no one would think to search for — ‘Recycled Communists, 693,’ for example, or ‘Sexual fulfillment, 404–405,’ or ‘Cynicism, 37, 481–482.’ There is a distressing number of misspelled names (Ridgeway for Ridgway, for instance) and similar errors. The book would have benefitted from another month in the shop.

Penguin Ireland: Time added on: an autobiography, by George Hook (2005, 246 pp, £24.99). Rev. by Kevin Myers, Irish Times, 15 October 2005.

... the index is truly deplorable: two references to the 1987 World Cup, but none whatsoever to any subsequent ones or, worst of all, to the definitive 1999 defeat by Argentina, the very nadir of Irish rugby fortunes, which Hook (and Brendan Fanning) had been predicting.