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Summary: Simon Winchester is excellent
Review: It was such a pleasure to read this book just because Simon Winchester tells the story so eloquently. The story is about the love of English words, and yet Winchester doesn't succomb to the temptation to overuse the 'fancy' ones. I went right out and bought another book by him, the River through the Center of the Earth, about the Yellow River in China.
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Summary: ** Two Stories In One **
Review: I purchased this book in Australia under the title The Surgeon Of Crowthorne, & I'm not sorry I had the opportunity to read it. Personally I HIGHLY recommend it to other readers. I found it a fascinating story, well written, and educational, as I was unaware of the story behind the making of the Oxford dictionary. I usually read historical fiction/non fiction so I guess it was the historical aspect which appealed to me. The reason why I say it's two stories in one, in my title, is that the main story is the process behind the making of the dictionary (interestingly told), the second, the story of one of it's main contributors .. a madman .. & the reason behind his slide into insanity. Let's face it, we all take the dictionary for granted .. where would we be without it? Read this book to gain an insight into the enormous task of putting the dictionary together, & marvel at the story of one of it's main contributors. A very enjoyable read.
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Summary: A Fascinating Look at a Fascinating History
Review: "I am a nobody...treat me as a solar myth, or an echo, or an irrational quantity, or ignore me altogether." This is a plea made late in the nineteenth century, from James Murray, the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, which was, at the time, still in progress. Murray was then in his third decade of work compiling the OED and had been accustomed to a quiet, cloistered life of study. His anonymity slowly faded, though, as bits and pieces of the dictionary-in-progress were published. Although Murray may have been dismayed to be thrust into the public, his loss is definitely our gain, for without knowledge of Murray, we wouldn't have knowledge of the brilliant but true story that is so exquisitely spun out in The Professor and The Madman.A troika of personalities lies at the center of this story: Murray, the editor-in-chief of the OED; Dr. William Minor, an institutionalized murderer who was responsible for more than 10,000 quotations included in the OED; and, of course, the OED itself. The compilation of this mammoth dictionary lasted more than seventy years making it, by far, the largest undertaking of its kind in history. William Chester Minor was a Yale graduate and a retired U.S. Army surgeon who served the Union during the Civil War. Minor's psyche had always been slightly unstable and the events of the war pushed him over the edge. Minor relocated to England and took solace in his love of art and the prospect of studying under John Ruskin. At the age of thirty-seven, however, in 1872, Minor shot and killed George Merrett as Merrett walked to his shift at a brewery. Minor was arrested immediately and diagnosed as severely delusional. He was committed to Broadmoor Institution in Berkshire, about forty miles north of the city of Oxford. At Broadmoor, Minor lived out the rest of his life, some thirty-eight years, in a small, book-lined cell, tortured by nightmares and paranoid fantasies during which he was molested by the taunting spirits he believed haunted his room. Minor found some solace in painting and music, but reading was his grand passion. At one point in his life, he managed to develop a friendship with Eliza Merrett, the widow of the man Minor had murdered. Mrs. Merrett helped Minor stock his Broadmoor library and it is thought that in one of the books she mailed him from London was a note asking readers for help in combing various works of literature in order to provide quotations and contextual references for a new dictionary that was being assembled and which would be called The New English Dictionary of Historical Principles. James Murray was a scholar who had written works on the Scottish dialect and had edited collections of Scottish poetry. A teacher at the prestigious Mill School in London, Murray was nominated by his friend, Frederick Furnivall to head the newly-revived effort to produce what would eventually become the definitive dictionary of the English language. Although only forty at the time, the work would consume the rest of Murray's life. Unbelievably, it was Minor who provided Murray with invaluable assistance in assembling the contextual quotations that became the dictionary's greatest asset. Listing his address simply as "Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berk," Minor had effectively hidden both his identity and his fate from Murray. A full seventeen years after Murray and Minor first corresponded, however, a series of incidents took place, some of them deliberate and some accidental, and Murray and Minor finally met. Although their initial meeting was a mixture of curiosity and compassion on Murray's part, it soon gave way to lasting friendship, a friendship based on a mutual love of lexicography and letters. Included in this book are many wonderful bits and pieces regarding the convoluted history of the OED and the earlier lexicographical efforts to bring it to fruition. The history of Dr. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language of 1755 is traced and illuminated with several amusing anecdotes. Of them, Winchester writes that they "seem nowadays to have been only stepping-stones, and their magnificent volumes of work very little more than curios, to be traded, hoarded, forgotten." Although it is the OED that is the real hero of this book, Winchester gives us an especially intimate portrait of both Murray and Minor and we come away feeling as though we know both men. Minor's tragic history is handled with delicacy and insight. Winchester, himself, owns one of the original printing plates used to print the OED. It is one of his prized possessions and reveals the author's affection for the OED and the men who created it. "The OED," he writes, "was the heroic creation of a legion of interested and enthusiastic men and women of wide general knowledge and interest; and it lives on today just as lives the language of which it rightly claims to be a portrait." Winchester's love for his subject matter is evident throughout this work and the result is a fascinating look and a fascinating piece of history.
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Summary: Interesting and well-researched, but a bit melodramatic
Review: James Murray, the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, corresponded with Dr. W.C. Minor for many years; Dr. Minor was one of the most indefatigable contributors to the OED. Minor was committed to an Broadmoor asylum in 1872, having murdered an innocent man. Nowadays we would call him a paranoid schizophrenic; in those days they just called him insane. In the asylum he had plenty of time to locate and submit thousands of usage slips to the OED, and thus began his relationship with Murray. It is an extraordinary relationship, and Winchester wrings every last drop of melodrama from it--to the point of irritating the reader. For example, for many years there was a standard tale about the first meeting of Murray and Minor, in which Murray only finds out when he actually arrives at Broadmoor that Dr. Minor is not on the staff, but is an inmate. Winchester opens the book with the phrase "Popular myth has it that . . . " and proceeds to tell the tale; it is an engaging story, and he tells it well. However, halfway through the book he points out that it is false, and has been known to be so for several years. He does eventually give the true version of events, but dangling the attractive lie in front of the reader like this while delaying the less exciting truth is a sign of his weakness for sensationalism. Another example (p. 195 in the paperback edition): after describing a particular gruesome episode of his madness, Winchester speculates for a whole page about a possible cause for which there is not even a hint of evidence--that Minor had an affair with the wife of the man he murdered. Winchester freely admits this is a complete fabrication, but includes it as "legitimate speculation"; to me, it feels more like tabloid journalism. There's more of the same, but that's enough examples; I think part of the problem is that there is simply not much material here to work with. The basic facts are few, and Winchester had to embroider and imagine. It must be said, though, that where he *does* relate factual information, as opposed to speculation, the book is fascinating. The story truly is remarkable, and despite the style is very much worth reading. It's just a pity that Winchester felt unable to let the story speak for itself.
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Summary: Fascinating subject, but...
Review: First, let me say that this is a great story. The enormity of the project of building the OED and the role of Dr. W.C. Minor (the madman of the title) in its creation make for great reading. But in his telling of it, Winchester is not content just to tell the story. He tries to make it read more like a mystery novel, at times deliberately misleading the reader to increase the drama of his story. Since my interest was in the truth of the story, I found this distracting and annoying. Still, I'm not sorry I read it, just a little frustrated.
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Summary: A mystery in many ways
Review: First let me say I did like this book. It begins briskly as a tale of two mysteries: a murder mystery and the mystery of compiling the world's most comprehensive dictionary. But, by all rights, this should have been a "New Yorker Magazine" piece, not a book. Despite the fascinating subjects and the breezy style it suffers from two problems: it bogs down in the middle with repetition of character and (in)action. And, the author strains to establish a close relationship between the two main characters that does not seem supported by the facts. It reminds me of Dava Sobel's "Longitude"--an entertaining story that was blown up at least a third longer than it needed to be. But both are still short books and easy reads about interesting subjects. Not surprisingly, "Longitude" was just produced as a TV movie and the "Professor and the Madman" may soon be a Hollywood release.
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Summary: The Title Tells It All, Almost.
Review: The full title of this book is The Professor and the Madman, A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Curiously, this is only one of at least two books on this topic. Stranger still, the first few pages has many, many, reviews - all postive, from people who have never agreed on anything, until they read this book. Intriqued, I purchased it. The title, of course, gives you a general outline about this book. But the author, Mr. Winchester, has written about much more then the long title suggests. This books is also about personal relationships, history, and, indirectly, the death penalty today. First though, it is a book about the dictionary. Specifically the Oxford English Dictionary or the OED. I love learning the history of words so, in a way, the history of the book of words, the dictionary, was a nature step. Mr. Winchester talks about the history of the dictionary from Samuel Johnson to the reference books relied upon by William Shakesphere. In the process he also talks about how other nations from France to Italy defined themselves, in part, but how they created books to define their words. France, for example, is still guarding its language from the encroachment of foreign langages - usually American English or Japanese. But this book is about much more then that. The author has done alot of research, and it shows. His command of the facts and the times is amazing. I learned new things, for examples, about the American Civil War, even though I was a history major who has studied this period, intermitedly, for the past 10 years. More impressive is his desciption of the charactors. Each person here is a real in this book as they were in real life. Well, I never met them so I can't say for sure, but the entire book has the feeling of a letter from an old friend. The letter may say something important, or not, but the way it is written and the references that an old friend can make, which makes the letter come alive. After reading this book I was actually a little sad that I would not be visiting with these people again, my new/old friends. I was hoping for a sequel which, based on the subject material, is impossible. I will just have to satify myself with Mr. Winchester's next efforts, which, I hope will be soon.
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Summary: A must-read for all word lovers!
Review: For anyone interested in words, psychology, or Victorian England, this book is essential. Winchester has woven a rich tale about the development of the Oxford English Dictionary, its first editor, and its most prolific contributor--a mental patient. As an Anglophile, psychology teacher, and linguistics buff, I enjoyed this short book tremendously and would highly recommend it to anyone with similar interests.
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Summary: All hail the mighty OED!
Review: As a child, I used to gaze in wonder at the dictionary that took up more space on Mom's book shelf than the nearby encyclopedia sets. Later in life, the Oxford English Dictionary became a trusted friend. Now, Simon Winchester gives us "The Professor and the Madman," which looks at the lives of the two men most responsible for producing this majestic work, and the strange, sweet friendship that developed between them: James Murray, the British lexicographer who spent more than half his life on OED, and William C. Minor, the American surgeon who contributed "scores of thousands" of entries to the dictionary. The hook, of course, is that Dr. Minor was a convicted murderer who did his work behind the walls of an asylum for the criminally insane, where he lived for 38 years. "The Professor and the Madman" is scholarly without being weighty, sad and funny, and thoroughly entertaining; a wonderful tribute to the English language in all its "majesty, beauty and marvelous confusion." Be on the lookout for several squirm-inducing stories within the story!
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Summary: You Will Be Amazed
Review: In my parents home on the bookshelf is the complete Oxford English Dictionary - two huge volumes that come with their own magnifying glass, due to the mass of words crammed onto the pages in tiny print. Every word in the English language! Growing up, I never thought about how this mammoth dictionary was written! THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN, on the other hand, is a slim book, one that does not take much time to read, but it chronicles the amazing story of how the OED came into being. But it is also more than that - it's the true story of people who devoted their time and energy to pursuing something, to a process, to a goal. It's about the human desire to accomplish something before we die. The need to DO something, however insignificant or impossible it seems. It's a fascinating story.
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