The Books

Recently, I purchased a couple of books that I am very much looking forward to reading: World Travel: An Irreverent Guide, and Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography, both of them are well written, by Laurie Woolever, and published by Ecco in 2021.

I already started going through World Travel, and I haven’t started the Bourdain biography yet because I’m halfway through Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway’s Secret Adventures, 1935-1961, by Nicholas Reynolds (published in 2017 by William Morrow), and would like to finish it before starting another book.

I’m also making my way through the classic, and still-relevant, A History of the Arab Peoples, by Albert Hourani — the updated version, published by Faber & Faber in 2013.

My first instinct when picking up a book is always to check the index first, it’s a habit that formed during my library school days, and it’s come in handy when examining books to determine whether they should be included in the library collection, as well as when I’m reading for my own pleasure. Generally, I like to see what the author talks about and whether a specific subject I’m interested in is represented in the work, and indexes are a good place to look for that sort of thing.

Books That Will Benefit from Having an Index

Clearly, historical books like Hourani’s demand an index, which provides a map of the text, informing readers where certain names, places, and concepts are discussed. Researchers, students, and writers referring to this seminal work will rely on the index to find their reference, and casual readers looking for something or someone they read about but can’t remember where, or those who haven’t read the book but are interested in a specific topic, will all rightfully turn to the index to see where they will find what they are looking for. Indeed, for this kind of book, especially — although not necessarily — one as comprehensive and dense as Hourani’s, an index is crucial.

Biographies also typically require indexes — this obligation is usually presented by the publisher, but the biographies themselves practically cry out for indexes. Indexes present readers with a glimpse into what the book consists of. It gives another kind of map into the subject’s life; people or events that play a complex role in the person’s life, appear at one time and only reappear years later. These people, concepts, or events — often ideal candidates for index terms — may be hidden in the text but are no less important than what can be gotten from chapter titles, are buried and unfindable if there is no index. In short: biographies often contain indexes, and with good reason.

Some books are often considered to be “self indexing” because of their structure. These include dictionaries and encyclopedias, and other alphabetically organized works. World Travel is apparently one of those so-called “self indexing” books. It is organized in alphabetical order, by country name — unlike other, formal travel guides which are organized in geographical order and, incidentally, have indexes. However, World Travel is not a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia or other typically self-indexing type of work. Nor is it a typical travel guide. It contains location information, yes, but it also contains extensive commentary, names of people, and subjects that are independent of the location at which Anthony Bourdain commented on the biodynamic wine, seafood, or the culture. Topics that are buried in 445 pages of (delightful) text.

World Travel, while it doesn’t have an index, does have a listing of “Cited Quotes,” which is also organized alphabetically by country. This, although somewhat helpful, falls short of the benefit that a proper index would bring to such a text and really functions more as a bibliography.

The book on Hemingway, a biography, does have an index, but Bourdain’s biography I listed here, does not. I was so surprised to find it only has an “Index of Contributors” with long strings of page numbers after each name! This is hardly useful. Can you imagine? Someone looking for Bourdain’s travels in Vietnam, or his relationship with a certain person (which could be discussed by that person, or by somebody else entirely) would be at a loss for where those topics are covered.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it is time for some arm-chair travelling…

Arrivederci!