PLACE FOR EVERYTHING

To many of our forebears, the idea of organizing things by the random sequence of the alphabet, rather than by established systems of hierarchy or typology, lay somewhere between disrespectful and unthinkable. This fascinating book lays out the story of alphabetical order, from its possible earliest days as a sorting tool in the Great Library of Alexandria, to the unassuming 16th-century London bookseller who ushered in a revolution by listing his authors by 'sirname', to the changes and challenges of the digital age of hyperlinking.