You mentioned that you had planned to use iPhoto to make photo books. Here are some alternative methods you could try. http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books http://www1.snapfish.com/photo-gift/photo-books?cobrandName=snapfish http://www.blurb.com/digital-photo-books http://www.shutterfly.com/digital-scrapbooking This article seems to be very in-depth. http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/article.aspx?p=341243&seqNum=4 How to sort files in iPhoto: http://www.macworld.com/article/1162194/how_to_sort_and_organize_your_iphoto_library.html http://www.macgurulounge.com/secret-manually-sorting-photos-iphoto-events/ Batch Renamers: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/12259/r-name http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderRename/ https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3883068 http://newmacuser.com/batch-rename-your-photos-right-in-iphoto/ http://macs.about.com/od/tipstricks/qt/iphotobatchedit.htm
I found a lot of forums online with people stating your same, or similar, issues. One user from a forum stated: "AFAIK you are working in the wrong section of iPhoto to organize your pictures. You are in the "photos" bin which is where you can see ALL photos, and you've got "show even titles" turned on, but (again - AFAIK) that interface is not meant for organizing or sorting. You should work in either events or folders. I prefer events." http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=665880 Another states: "I have noticed something funny with sorting...I tried to write it off as something with the photos or metadata....but your description convinces me its not my imagination. I have photos that are out of order no matter how I sort them...date, name, descending, ascending..."
"Thanks for responding. Sounds like it's something that will need to be sorted by Apple. I just sent Apple some feedback on this.' http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1420206