Very interesting and detailed, to the point of getting a bit repetitive with some examples. Lots of interesting facts that stick in the brain, and the central thesis of how technology and other factors shaped alphabetical order is well supported. Works best as an audio book, imo. ( )

Se a origem antiga da ordem alfabética não é cronologicamente um mistério (possivelmente 39 séculos atrás) mas contém mistério, por sua arbitrariedade, sua falta de simbologia e significado, a ordem alfabética mostra sua longevidade, mesmo que hoje, com a ubiquidade digital, ela perca força. Mas há toda uma história relutante de emprego dessa ordem, que só se consolida na biblioteconomia a partir do século XVIII. Os europeus e o ocidente que dele adveio, era um tanto atrasado, só obtendo, por exemplo, a tecnologia do papel por volta do XV (os árabes tinham no VIII, os chineses no II). Mas fizeram florecer uma cultura onde muito se acumulava e manejava, em termos de informação. E onde uma ordem fácil e assignificativa tornava mais eficiente achar o que se procura, sendo adotada aos poucos acima de ordenações hierárquicas, por assunto, gênero, geografia e cronologia. Judith Flanders conta tudo isso, fornecendo também uma cronologia e imagens. Um livro de história leve, mas detalhado. ( )

A deeply researched history of the use of alphabetization, indexing, cataloging, and various methods of organizing information and knowledge. You can learn a lot of Western history along the way. If this is the sort of thing that sounds tedious to you, then it probably will be! Conversely, if you think this might be intriguing and fun, then I bet you’d enjoy the book. ( )

The scope of this book goes beyond alphabetical order and also provides background information about the development of written language, including the history of bookmaking, along with broader commentary about the way knowledge is stored and communicated (and how that has changed throughout time and in various world cultures). I suspect that these topics have already been covered in earlier books, so I am unsure what is unique about this particular work.

The author makes a case for alphabetical arrangement of knowledge as an agnostic/neutral form of organization. I can agree with that assertion for known item searching, but I am unconvinced that it would hold for subject searching as well. (The ready examples I can think of include the Medical Subject Headings of the National Library of Medicine and the thesaurus of the American Psychological Association, both of which are organized as non alphabetical subject taxonomies.) Recommended for librarians and other individuals interested in the classification of human knowledge. ( )