On Thu, 27 Nov 2003, Ed Sawicki wrote: > I love LyX but I dislike the way an index is created.
I hope that it is not considered too off-topic to ask here about the art of indexing. This morning I bought a copy of Larry Bonura's "The Art of Indexing". The most important insight I have gained so far is the difference in purpose of an index in a scientific book versus one in a technical manual. The index of a scientific book is used as a reference to specific information by (usually) someone who has already read the book. The index of a technical manual (or technical book) is used to answer "how to" questions by someone who may, or may not, have read the book. Bonura's book focuses on the latter need. So, can folks here recommend resources for me to read on how to decide on topics, organization and so on for a scientific book? There are many books out there and I cannot go through all of them trying to find the one that will teach me what I need to learn. I can also understand now why there's a dearth of indexing software. If the idea of the index is to extract ideas and concepts from the text -- from the reader's need to know -- how could software do this effectively? Thanks, Rich -- Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM) <http://www.appl-ecosys.com>
