A Place for Everything by Judith Flanders

“This is an utterly charming book, packed with engrossing details.”- The Times (UK) 'One of the many fascinations of Judith Flanders's book is that it reveals what a weird, unlikely creation the alphabet is.an intriguing history not just of alphabetical order but of the human need for both pattern and intellectual efficiency.'- GuardianĬharming repository of idiosyncrasy, a love letter to literacy that rightlyĭelights in alphabetisation's exceptions as much as its rules.'- Financial Times It feels particularly relevant now that search engines are rendering old ways of organizing information obsolete.That we have acquired so much knowledge is astounding that we have devised ways to find what we need to know quickly is what merits this original and impressive book.'- New York Times A Place for Everything rewards us with a fresh take on our quest to stockpile knowledge. And yet, while the order of the alphabet now rules - libraries, phone books, reference books, even the order of entry for the teams at the Olympic Games - it has remained curiously invisible. With abundant inquisitiveness and wry humor, historian Judith Flanders traces the triumph of alphabetical order and offers a compendium of Western knowledge, from A to Z. But though even George Washington was a proponent, many others stuck to older forms of classification - Yale listed its students by their family's social status until 1886. The story of alphabetical order has been shaped by some of history's most compelling characters, such as industrious and enthusiastic early adopter Samuel Pepys and dedicated alphabet champion Denis Diderot. A Place for Everything is the first-ever history of alphabetization, from the Library of Alexandria to Wikipedia. From a New York Times-bestselling historian comes the story of how the alphabet ordered our world.

A Place for Everything by Judith Flanders