Customer Reviews

Indexing: A Nuts-and-Bolts Guide for Technical Writers (Engineering Reference)

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I honestly wanted to like this book; instead, I was quite disappointed. The author's basic premise is that indexing is not "rocket science" and that anyone can index quickly and effectively if they follow his ten-step technique. Unfortunately, the book's index, which has many flaws, defeats the author's premise.

Many of the index's problems involve See references. The author advises authors to create as many of them as possible. That is analagous to ruining a good recipe with as much pepper as you can find! Readers do not appreciate being bounced around the index unnecessarily.

The author also advises writers not to edit an index until they have created all of the entries for it. That strategy (not doing interim edits) almost guarantees that the index will be flawed ... and the index for this book is proof of that...

This hands-on guide to indexing is worth every penny. It gets novice indexers up and running in 10 simple steps, provides experienced indexers with tangible usability guidelines, and gives technical publications managers a strong business case for developing high-quality indexes. As a technical writer and professional indexer, I found Ament's no-nonsense writing style and real-world examples refreshingly concise and to the point. This is one of the best user guides I have ever read.

Kurt Ament's book is a straight forward, easy to use guide on indexing. His book "demystifies" indexing. Each chapter provides succinct tips and techniques that can be quickly and easily implemented. This book definitely lives up to its title as a "nuts-and-bolts guide." This is an excellent guide for any type of document requiring an index.

you are like me, a professional technical writer/editor, and have to create indexes for the documents you author. The page layout of this book made for an easy read, and I found myself quickly accessing the indexing topics in which I was interested. Upon closer examination, I thought the author did a great job of simplifying the concepts, making the task of creating an index within the grasp of any technical writer motivated to do so. I've recommended this book to other writers, and so far no one has complained! Each was glad to add this book to their collection of reference documents.

At only 86 pages (excluding its own index and prefatory material), this book is not going to make you a master indexer, but it IS a great quick reference to the subject. As a technical writer for 25 years, I was pleased to find that I learned a few things from it. And although some of the topics seem common-sense rather than innovative, it never hurts to be reminded of the basics.

I also like the format of the book--it's very easy to find specific topics and to dip into it to answer a specific question. I am buying a copy for each writer in my publications department!

This concise easy-to-use book gives instructions and guidelines for indexing any technical publication, regardless of medium and software toolset. It makes indexing simple, consistent, effective, and painless. Kurt Ament's writing style is enjoyably straighforward. I've chosen it as the standard for my tech pubs team.

Excellent organization and layout, nice use of examples, and very useful information! A great resource for technical writers who need a quick reference on good indexing practices.

There are any number of good books on the market about indexingin general. However, if you are a technical writer who wants to know just enough to get started on that next indexing project, "Indexing: A Nuts-and-Bolts Guide for Technical Writers" is your choice. It weighs in at just about 100 pages. The text is simple step-by-step instructions for creating and editing an index. It covers what to include in the index, how to construct index entries, and how to edit the finished product. Like a good index, it is succinct, accurate, and to the point. END

I used this book for my first major indexing project and it worked well for me. I appreciated the easy to find details for each step. The process also dovetailed nicely with my modular topic-driven content that could tie back to the steps. For example, to index topics that are considered procedures, I simply followed the steps on indexing procedures. I know that after I get more experienced with indexing I will want to branch out and read up more on the "art" of indexing, but for now I'm happy to use Ament's approach.

This guide to indexing is very helpful for beginners and has some good tips for more advanced indexers as well. The book covers the basics very clearly, and it has an encouraging tone that made me feel more comfortable with the process.