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Wherefore Art Thou, Index
Don't worry. This is not a post about
Boris Johnson as so many of those on my personal blog are. Well, in a tangential way it is about Boris but only because it is Boris's book in front of me this morning. My beef at the moment is books that should have indexes
that don't.
Friends, Voters, Countrymen has no index.
This is very annoying. Not only for the people who will turn immediately to the back pages to see if they are in there, but also annoying because despite a rather breezy tone, the book does touch on actual issues, references
specific events and people. It would be nice - when trying to get back to those pages - to be able to look them up in an index. If it were only this one instance, it would be a mere fly in the ointment of life but I'm
brushing up against this vast emptiness where an index should be more and more lately (can one brush up against a void?). Friends, Voters, Countrymen - as much as I am enjoying it (and I am, immensely - make no mistake) has
become the straw that broke the camel's back.
This indexlessness is a sign, in my opinion of an increasing problem in the world of non-fiction. Production schedules have been shortened as the whole process is being nickel and dimed within an inch of its life. The
publishers have already done all they can for the bottom line by eliminating payroll entries (known to the rest of us as human beings or employees) and these slash and burn budget improvements have meant fewer eyes on the
page. I can't be the only one noticing the distinct rise in missed errors. The proofreading stage of production is all but lost in this rush to save time, pages and thus money. The fact that the majority of the public may not
notice is another subject for another time. So they've fired half the staff, they've eliminated checking. What comes next? The indexing – which entails paying someone and can mean the addition of a whole extra signature of
paper – is then classified by bean counters to be a luxury item. I suppose the bright side of not having an index is that you can't find spelling errors in something that isn't there.
But it's all wrong, wrong, wrong! If you render your product error-riddled and useless (or nigh onto useless) why should anyone buy the damned thing? Now, that said - I am not blaming Boris or indeed any other author of such
things. I think if given a choice, they would CHOOSE to have indexes. Certainly the editors should know better. This particular title isn't THAT long so perhaps they thought it wasn't strictly necessary. I could thumb through
it if I had to - but should I have to?
I feel certain that if approached on this, Boris would agree that indexes = good while lack of indexes = bad. And lest you think I am ranting about this because I myself AM an indexer and am worried about this trend impacting
me personally. No, I am not in a "where will my next job come from" frenzy. Plenty to do. No, I am in an aggravated consumer frenzy, created by a weekend of bookstore browsing and growing belief that more and more of the
people involved in the process of getting the books from the author's brain to the bookshelf are NOT readers themselves, don't know what the readers expect or want - and worse, don't much care.
Don't think for a moment however that this is solely a British problem (though this book in hand IS a British title. Though to be sure, I'm not a fan of British indexes on the whole - having re-keyed any number of them for
the American editions. No, this sidelining of indexes is transatlantic. It should be brought to someone's attention - but I'm not sure who's. There is no publishing czar, no print matter overlord, no rules of engagement for
shaping the relationship of reader to page. OK, I'm done. I'm going to go work on an index to assure myself a) that I am earning my paycheck and b) that there will be indexes out there to keep this madness at bay.
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