The first thing to know about Judith Flanders’s “A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order” is that its subtitle is misplaced. The true subject of this fascinating though relentlessly detailed book is the history of information retrieval, chiefly in Europe and America, up to the age of the computer. To this end, Ms. Flanders has collected enough material on her subject to fill all the ingenious cabinets and filing devices found in the book’s illustrations. The plethora of detail often overwhelms the truly revelatory dimension of the work: the way the alphabet reflected and facilitated the change...

Source: Wall Street Journal October 16, 2020 15:02 UTC