Evening star., 1933-01-25
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

The fact that an index is provided at
all shows that both author and publish
er had in mind the idea Of being help
T. is unfortunate. therefore, that 50
often this help Is sketchy, when 1t
might, with Just a bit more work. be
No matter how closely one reads, one
Is seldom able to master book, even
| a book of fiction, at the first reading.
Reading is like listening, in that re-
spect.
Even the best intentioned opera lover
knows that many Of the finest bits OF
melody and orchestration escape him
on the first hearing.
On subsequent attendance he Is
| amazed to discover that he really did
not "get" them at the first hearing,
that they are now emerging as totally
new things to him.
There IS both chagrin and elation In
this normal discovery.
If he goes to the same opera as many
as a dozen times he will find something
new at each hearing.
There is no particular dumbness,
therefore, in being unable to grasp
every single facet Of a good book upon
the first reading.
Especially Is this true Of works Of
information and what may be termed
semi information.
Months, sometimes years, Of effort
went into their preparation.
It Is not to be wondered at that the
reader is unable to know the book page
by page and not likely to be able to re-
member the place of even the good
things he does comprehend.
This is where the index comes In.
There may be some thought, above
all, which tantalizes the inquirer, which
is, to him, scarcely more than a
thought
He ought to be able to find it.
The maker of the index ought to at
tempt to put himself into the inquiring
readers shoes, as he makes the list
ings, and regard his work from every
possible angle, in addition to the plain
one of alphabetical sequence Of words.
An index. from the reader stand
point, should not be a perfunctory work,
but an integral part of the book itself.
| No doubt the author himself would be
| the best man to do the work, provided
he could be induced to take 1t on.
No one could blame him for shrink
| ing from it, but he is ideally fitted,
since he is saturated with his subject.
The only danger he would run, of
course, would be that Of being sur
! feited with it. perhaps. This might
tend to make him callous to the plain
demands of the reader He would know
so much more than the latter that his
mind would not be able to tie itself
down to the painful details which the
reader demands in his search for
| knowledge.
/ This is where the outsider, skilled in
his work, comes in. He is able, or at
least ought to be able, to combine
something of the writer's thorough
understanding with the readers COM
| plete lack of understanding.
Hence the index such an index maker
! complies ought to be, although 1t sell
dom is. complete with completeness
(which covers every subject in every pos
| sible way.
| Such an index would be the ideal,
and it is admitted that it is seldom at
tanned in any work We have ever seen
With the best will in the world the
man familiar with a subject tends to
| forget the perplexities of the man new
to it, the ordinary reader who needs
help as he goes along, who ought to be
able to find any subject. thought or
| idea IN work without having to read
| the entire book over again.