Indexing Biographies and Other Stories of Human Lives (review)

Anyone who has ever been frustrated in the attempt to get information from a bad index knows the importance of a good one. This third edition of Indexing Biographies and Other Stories of Human Livesby Hazel K. Bell is a personable guide for professional indexers on how to raise their craft to the level of art. For those just starting out in the trade, or for veteran indexers new to working with biographies and other life narratives, this book discusses all the pertinent issues in an accessible and lively style. Ms. Bell's tone is collegial, and the book lays down no hard-and-fast rules. In fact, the basic message of this book is that there are no hard-and-fast rules, except to rely on one's own judgement and to follow the tone and intention of the author. The language is friendly and light, with the inclusion of adverbs like 'scarifyingly.' While the book's manner is pleasant and its content complete, there is one small omission: an author's preface to this edition, describing the ways in which it differs from the previous edition.

That said, the fact that this book has been popular is not at all surprising. The table of contents itself is delightful, with chapter titles such as 'The Great and the Good' (which describes a number of award-winning indexes and discusses the challenge of indexing award-winning books), 'Coming to Terms' (which shares ideas on how to tease out just the right word or words for an entry), and 'The Perils of Partiality' (which warns against letting the attitudes or judgements of the indexer sway the portrayal of topics in the book). This tone is not limited to the table of contents but pervades the whole book. At one point Ms. Bell concludes a paragraph, 'life's like that' (74).

Reading through, one hears the voice of an accomplished but approachable senior colleague in the trade. 'There are no rules, no standards to our art,' says Ms. Bell; 'each case is subtly particular, and no one can tell us what to do or how to do it' (83). The tone is intimate, and one gets the impression immediately that the author has done a great deal of indexing – a quick Google search confirms this to be the case – and loves it with a passion. Anyone who might be tempted to think of indexing as a dry, arduous, meticulous, perhaps even finicky task would be disabused of these notions on reading through Indexing Biographies. Ms. Bell conveys the dignity, the passion, and the intellectual excitement of the process, and she does it with a certain Mary Poppins panache.

Passing on the torch of this excitement to her colleagues, she discusses all the issues and leaves the decisions to them. Perhaps the excitement lies precisely in the fact that there are no rules in making an index; there is only a desired outcome, which is to help the author reach the reader and help the reader understand the author. As a guideline, the indexer's art should be like oxygen: necessary, but invisible. One doesn't notice its presence, only its absence. A good indexer becomes a collaborator, aligning the index directly with the main text.

With spare guidelines rather than rules, and discussions rather than directions, Ms. Bell offers the benefit of her knowledge and experience. Well-versed in the characteristics of a wide variety of indexes, she gives examples and case studies that show how one indexer handled a certain situation and what effect it gave, how another one handled it differently, and what are the merits and drawbacks of each style. In a concluding chapter, Ms. Bell urges indexers to rely ultimately on 'a sensitive reading of the text, a subtle and flexible use of language, diligence and common sense' (84). Sage advice...