Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely absorbing and fascinating.
Review: I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this story, both for the background it provides on the huge undertaking of creating the OED and for the human interest angle regarding the facts surrounding Dr. Minor. Since I listened to this book on tape as opposed to reading it, I was not struck at all with a sense of "purple prose," but rather found the prose absolutely perfect for the medium. Further, the author reads the story and his English diction is so beautiful that it goes perfectly with the story of two lexicographers--Dr. Murray and Dr. Minor. You won't be able to put this book down (or if listening to it on tape, you won't be able to wait until you have to make a trip again by car).
Rating: 
Summary: Great Story Poorly Told
Review: Simon Winchester bumbles through a great piece of history with the occasional interjection of small tidbits of verbosity intended, one might guess, to hide his lack of craft. A look at this books sale history, however, will give you the long and the short of it: the story, the events, are fascinating. This is, therefore, a good book for the beach, bus, or bathroom.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging and Illuminating
Review: This is a delightful book, that both entertains and instructs. The reader discovers a fascinating subplot in the development of the Oxford English Dictionary, and the writing is superb. (A gentle piece of advice: keep a dictionary at hand, for Winchester employs words not commonly experienced.)And ignore the carping criticism of reviewers who think the book isn't well written, doesn't contain a mystery, and wasn't written they way they think they'd have written it. Read it, and enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Surgeon of Crowthorne
Review: I read this book a few months ago and was amazed to find that it was not on the Amazon web site. My amazement increased when I read in a newspaper, here in Australia at the weekend, that this book had been on the USA list of top 20 best sellers for longer than any other book. How could Amazon have neglected such an important book? At the end of the article, to my enlightenment, it was pointed out that the book was published under a different name in USA, 'The Professor and The Madman'. That is how I am now able to present my review of this excellent book which was published in Australia and the UK as 'The Surgeon of Crowthorne'. It is a wonderful story describing the 70 year task of compiling the Oxford English Dictionary. The tale is cleverly and appealingly entwined with the adult life of one Dr. William C. Minor, the title character of the book ' whichever version you happen to read! The story begins in Lambeth Marsh, a London suburb, in 1872, when an innocent citizen, George Merrit, is on his way to his night shift at the Red Lion Brewery Company. He earned 24 shillings a week, every penny of which was needed to sustain his pregnant wife, six small children and himself. Suddenly, in the darkness, a man shouted at him and began to chase him yelling furiously. Then Merrit falls, fatally hit in the neck by one of a volley of bullets fired by Dr. W.C. Minor. Thus begins a life in prison for Dr. Minor, committed to the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum in Crowthorne. Author, Simon Winchester, then takes us back through the early days of Minor from his 19th century birth and childhood in the island state of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, to his days as a battlefield surgeon in the Union Army during the US Civil War. There seems little doubt that his exposure to the horrors of war contributed to his mental instability. In his mind he was simply defending himself from an Irish stalker when he shot dead George Merrit in London in 1872. From his prison cell, well fitted out as a study and adorned with many of his personal possessions, this educated foreign academic becomes one of the main researchers and assistants to Dr. James Murray who is compiling the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Murray is totally unaware that Minor is incarcerated in prison and only discovers this when visiting him for the first time, many years into their correspondence. The relationship between these two learned men is so totally focussed on words and the compilation of the dictionary that their personal situations are virtually irrelevant. This is a fascinating story and very well written. It is an example of truth being stranger than fiction. After all, how could could anyone make up a story like this? The background of the American Civil War, expatriate life in 19th century Ceylon and the early days of the 20th century in Britain add colour and depth to the mainline story. It is history and drama rolled up into the one book.
Rating:
Summary: The Surgeon of Crowthorne
Review: This non-fiction book tells the story of the development of the Oxford English Dictionary, with much of the book being dedicated to one of the Dictionary's most interesting contributors - Dr Minor, retired US Army, who was incarcerated in an English mental asylum. While Minor's story in itself is fascinating, Winchester also does a brilliant job of taking the reader through a journey that includes the history of dictionaries, Victorian England and the American Civil War. The book manages to jump from one topic to another and back again without being disjointed. Winchester achieves something all good books should aim for - he manages to teach the reader something (or in my case, many things) without being noticeably didactic, or getting in the way of a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: Great story about a very disturbed, brilliant person. If etymology is a hobby of yours, or if it isn't, you'll enjoy this book. Don't wait for the movie, read the book!
Rating:
Summary: Nothing is more fascinating than a true story.
Review: The title is intriguing and the story isn't disappointing. I had always wondered how dictionaries came about. Who took the time to write down every word and it's meaning? Who checked the spelling? Who took the time? Now I know. The Professor and the Madman is an interesting tale of intillegence, determination and obsession. Also, this book allows us to peek into the changing and shifting world of societal standards. I had to keep a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary close at hand due to the vocabulary used in the book, but that just added to the pleasure and learning experience this book offers. If you have an interest in words, human nature and you are one to always ask "why"? this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary Insanity
Review: I love words--the way they slide off your fingertips letter-by-letter and dance on the screen in front you; the way they roll from your tongue out into shared space. I also love the history of words, the meanings behind the words we use--yet never before have I loved the HISTORY of a DICTIONARY. Odd thing to read about, yes? No. This book is a fantastic history of the evolution of the greatest English dictionary ever created. More fabulously, it details the friendship between two men--both with unique minds--and how that friendship influenced their lives and the dictionary. A good (and thin) read. And with a bonus "call for readers" at the end, we are given chance to contribute. Although it's doubtful that any single person could contribute half as much as the "Madman" did.
Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. Having recently read a biography of James Murray and the story of the writing of the O.E.D., I found it interesting to compare details. Very satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Facinating Journey
Review: What makes this a wonderful read is the fact that it takes what would otherwise be an interesting but dry story (the history and methodology of the dictionary) and wraps it in an exciting story of personal failure and intimate relations. In many ways, this should serve as a model for many who would write non-fiction. By brining together these compeling characters, the author involves us in the details of their lives while at the same time imparting to us considerable knowledge that we would not otherwise recieve. A worth while read for readers and writers alike. Many lessons could be learned by those who beleive that their area of interest is too esoteric. Here is an example of how such subjects can be sucessfully brought to mainstream audiences without dumbing them down.
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