"I am always disappointed when a book lacks a preface: it is like arriving at someone's house for dinner, and being conducted straight into the dining room" (ix).
I agree, but I am also disappointed when a book lacks a good index: it's like having an enjoyable dinner with friends but then not being able to remember all the witty anecdotes.
The best example of an index entry I am aware of is the entry for "Hegel" in Terry Pinkard's Hegel: A Biography, which itself can function as a kind of super-abbreviated biography. I've reproduced a slightly abridged version of the "Hegel" entry below:
2 comments:
Holy shit, that's awsome. If anyone ever writes my biography, the index would certainly include:
napping on sofa, 18-349
Nat: Of course, the first edition of Dummett's Frege: Philosophy of Language notoriously had a terrible index.
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