“The narrative both sparkles with geeky wit and shines with an infectious enthusiasm....always erudite, frequently funny, and often surprising—a treat for lovers of the book qua book.” 

——Kirkus Reviews

“Duncan mixes humor and scholarship to brilliant effect in this accessible deep dive....Readers of this enlightening and entertaining survey won’t take the humble index for granted again.” 

——Publishers Weekly

"Duncan proves an amiable companion on what his subtitle aptly refers to as a “bookish adventure”…[U]seful as an introduction to book history in general as well as indexes in particular.” 

——Times Literary Supplement

“Gracefully learned, often witty and enlightening.” 

——Wall Street Journal

“Index, a History of the is deeply researched yet delightfully readable and helps the reader appreciate an often–neglected literary form, at a time when algorithmic searches seem to be radically transforming it.” 

——The Guardian

“That Duncan brings these old, intricate disputes to life is a testament to his gifts as a writer — imaginative but also disciplined, elucidating dense, scholarly concepts with a light touch.” 

——New York Times

“From ancient Egypt to Silicon Valley, Duncan is an ideal tour guide: witty, engaging, knowledgeable and a fount of diverting anecdotes.” 

——Washington Post

“Exceptionally good ... I learned a huge amount from this wry, clever, diverting book” 

——The Scotsman

“Duncan proves an amiable companion on what his subtitle aptly refers to as a “bookish adventure”.

——TLS

“Witty and wide–ranging…adventurous… as if academic research were as revved–up as a Formula One race.” 

——The Observer

“Indexes are to books as menus are to meals: often the best bit. The index should be prosaic—it is, after all, a mere tool—but it can read like poetry…Dennis Duncan’s charming book shows, though today they suggest fusty libraries, indexes were once a novelty.” 

——The Economist

“Fascinating” 

——Financial Times

“Erudite, eminently readable and wittily titled....As erected by Duncan, this set of thoughtful rhetorical signposts ushers the reader smoothly, even soothingly, along a fascinating, immensely pleasurable journey through previously uncharted terrain.” 

——New York Times Book Review

“I loved this book – the story of the index turns out to be a true adventure” 

——Susie Dent

“An erudite and entertaining tour of a topic you’ve probably given little thought to… The book is brimming with fun facts but also makes deeper points about how humans create meaning.” 

——Christian Science Monitor

“[A] delightful and witty history [of] an unlikely realm of ambition and obsession, sparring and politicking, pleasure and play. Here, for the first time, is the secret world of the index: an unsung but extraordinary everyday tool, with an illustrious but little-known past.” 

——BookRiot

“Lively… Duncan’s enthusiasms are contagious.” 

——Atlantic

 “Charting the development of the index from the monasteries and universities of thirteenth-century Europe to Silicon Valley in the twenty-first, Duncan uncovers how it has saved heretics from the stake, kept politicians from high office, and made us all into the readers we are today.” 

——Daily Kos

“Masterful… Indexes, as Duncan shows through a host of entertaining examples, can be enlightening, satirical and pointed in and of themselves… an entertaining and edifying journey through index–history and a spirited defence of the index (and indexers) in the technological age” 

——Prospect

“Dennis Duncan gives us not only a history of the index, but a lesson in human folly…a terrifically rewarding and also timely book.” 

——The Oldie

“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, or about alphabets and lists (although these are all covered), but about the nature of reading and about how we understand, categorise and engage with the world.” 

——History Today

“Masterful.”
——Prospect

“Hilarious.” 

——UnHerd

“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 has done a great service to all bibliophiles by writing this scholarly, witty and affectionate history. By rights “Books, love of” ought to have a page-long entry in the index.” 

——Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves

“Entrancing ... Every page has things I didn’t know, or hardly realised I knew from a lifetime of looking things up. I want to stop people at random and tell them new facts I’ve found out” 

——Christopher de Hamel, author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts

“Brilliant, fascinating...a binge-worthy book.” 

——Greg Jenner

"Dennis Duncan’s history―from Socrates to software―along with Paula Clarke Bain’s peerless index, is witty and personable throughout, and also serves as a sneak attack on the search engine. It’s safe to say that you will never take an index for granted again.” 

——Mary Norris, author of Between You & Me and Greek to Me