Dennis Duncan on Index, A History of the

Sponsored by The Caxton Club

May Midday Program

Now we take search for granted, asking Alexa or Siri to race through the Internet to find (though not always on the first try) exactly what we’re looking for. But it hasn’t always been so.

People used to be faced with a thick accumulation of paper or papyrus, however bound or stacked, and wonder how they could track down the nugget of information they needed. Enter the indispensable index.

Dennis Duncan brings the history of this remarkable innovation to life in an entertaining and witty book, Index, A History of the, that will be the subject of our May Midday gathering. Dr. Duncan is a lecturer at University College in London. You may have seen his writing in the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, or the London Review. He was a postdoc fellow at the Bodleian and has also been a fellow at Cambridge. An engaging speaker, Dennis will have you looking at the back pages of your books with a fresh sense of wonder and appreciation.

Register here: https://caxtonclub.org/event-5267071