Rating: 
Summary: Sad and Riveting
Review: This reads like great historical fiction. I now appreciate the work involved in writing dictionaries. Have often wondered how they get made. I think you will fall in love with the characters of this book, especially Dr. Minor. Winchester writes beautifully, with incredible creativity. What a treasure this is!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Reading
Review: This book presents a fascinating historical account about the making of the OED. Although the book is a bit repetitive in places, the author manages overall to maintain a decent pace to captivate the reader. Simon Winchester himself is the master of English language as he weaves this entrancing tale. My book group thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, it had potential
Review: I thought this would be an interesting book. I was mistaken. It was dry. Don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: Curiouser and curiouser....
Review: Winchester's "The Professor and the Madman" is an enjoyable and interesting read, well researched, formatted, and written. It is actually two nonfiction tales unfolding in tandem, the first being Dr. James Murray's Herculean task of orchestrating the creation the definitive reference book of modernity, "The Oxford English Dictionary," and the second being the mental unraveling and eventual demise of a most curious (and prolific) contributor to that effort, the murderously insane American Civil War veteran, Dr. W.C.Minor. Interwoven throughout both narratives is the potent cultural engine so prevalent in England's history of gifted but obsessive eccentrics: the amateur's contributions to rationality and empirical knowledge. Like it or not, it is a mindset that has transformed the human experience.Happily, Winchester steers clear both of etymological jargon and psychobabble as he lets this fascinating account unfold on its own terms in its own era. Pick this title up for an enlightening afternoon's read...at the beach or not.
Rating:
Summary: A fun read, but somewhat flawed
Review: The Professor and the Madman deals with the role of asylum inmate Dr. William Minor in the development of the Oxford English Dictionary, and with the relationship of Dr. Minor to James Murray, the OED's longtime editor. The book's main strength, and also its primary emphasis, is its treatment of Minor's downward psychological spiral, beginning with his traumatic experience as a surgeon in the US Civil War, continuing through the murder that landed him in the asylum, followed by his extremely productive years as a volunteer researcher for the OED, and finally through his severe sickness in his later years, when he no longer channeled his energies into the OED and slipped even further into insanity in the absence of the obsession that had linked him to the outside world. The book deals with many tangential matters as well, giving a brief but interesting history of the dictionaries predating the OED and going into some detail regarding the development of the OED itself and the lives of its primary editors, notably Murray. Especially near the beginning of the book, I felt that Winchester was going off on a few too many tangents, as though he thought he needed filler to give the subject a book-length treatment; for example, he spends nearly four pages discussing the definition of the word "protagonist," and, after telling us that in Shakespeare's time there weren't any English dictionaries, proceeds to do nothing but restate that fact for the next two or three pages. His tangents are, admittedly, written in a charming style, but they can be frustrating for those of us who might like Winchester to simply get to the point. Another thing that disappointed me was that Winchester spent very little time speculating on why it was that Minor chose to obsess himself with the OED, and why his contributions tapered off around the turn of the century. Of course Minor was bored and had relatively few options because of his detainment in the asylum, but clearly most people in his position found other things with which to busy themselves. The fact that both Minor and one of the other greatest volunteer contributors to the OED, Fitzedward Hall, were Americans with psychological problems is an interesting fact. Considering that Winchester was audacious enough to speculate that Minor's autopeotomy near the end of his life may have been a result of his shame over romantic feelings or possibly even acts involving the widow of the man he murdered, it's disappointing that Winchester didn't spend much time considering the much more central question of why the OED attracted Minor so. Despite these weaknesses, The Professor and the Madman is an interesting book and on the whole does a very good job dealing with Minor's schizophrenia. Short and written in an engaging style, it's a quick read and was well worth my time.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting story, dry writing.
Review: I hope that people who are interested in how 'THE' dictionary came about will not be discouraged from reading the book. It actually starts out great, just like a mystery, and then it dwindles into dryness. I have to admit I forced myself to continue reading the whole book, because it is a fascinating story which I had never heard anything about before. The two things that stand out in this book are 1) that such genius and madness can exist together, and 2) that they are still collecting oddball words from here and England and throughout the world which are English-based words. Shortly after finishing this book, I was working in the bookstore and saw an advertisement from the company that does the Oxford Dictionary asking Americans to send in new or different words, along with the variety of meanings. I certainly would never have noticed that ad before, and now I am satisfied to know the whole story of it. I agree, I think this would make an interesting movie, provided they get a good screenwriter! Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh, klsst23@pitt.edu
Rating: 
Summary: A fun & fascinating read
Review: What fun this book was to read -- written in the best style of long TNY articles, it leads you into caring about details you never imagined you had an interest in. Like the dictionary. It includes a little history, a little obsession, a lot of craziness, and the remarkable fact that Shakespeare wrote without any kind of dictionary available. 'The Professor and the Madman" reminded me of 'The Orchid Thief,' another excellent investigative book about an odd subject, both of them leaving me smarter, entertained, and wondering if all these outrageous details can possibly be true.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and worth reading!
Review: The Oxford English Dictionary is by far the most ambitious lexical work ever. This book shows the difficulties and trials faced by the compilers of this monumental project. This is a facinating book about how a lunatic and murderer became one of the chief contributors to this work. My only criticism is that I'm not sure this subject merited 229 pages. Nevertheless interesting!
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing, But Not Great
Review: Even though I am not one to read much non-fiction, I was intrigued when someone at the local bookstore recommended to me this story of the origins of the Oxford English Dictionary. The idea that murder and insanity were somehow tied to the history of such a prestigious book appealed to me. Picking up the book, I read the first chapter -- a short introduction -- and knew immediately I was hooked. Unfortunately, what began with a sensational twist turned out to be a rather convoluted story that drifted between the biographies of two separate men and a history of not only the OED, but of the modern dictionary in general. While each of the parts was interesting, the book as a whole was poorly written... Perhaps the greatest flaw in Winchester's telling is his inability to distinguish for the reader when he is telling facts and when (like the entire introduction) he is telling a myth. There are a number of misconceptions about the history of Minor and his association with the dictionary, but it is not until the final quarter of the book that those myths are expelled. Most errantly, Winchester also takes time to speculate on several points of Minor's life without the slightest bit of evidence to support such wild claims. While he admits his lack of evidence, it only helps to label his work as amateurish, or poor journalism at the least.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: When I first heard of the book, I wasn't sure what I would think of it. After all, I am not used to reading historical factual books; however, I was amazed by this book. Not only is the actual story about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary interesting,Winchester is a great story teller. Ther reasearch done for this book was impressive; is it clear that Winchester knows what he is writing about. I look forward to reading more of his books in the future. His writing is informational as well as entertaining. I recommend this work not just to those who have an interest in the actual history, but to anyone who enjoys a well-written book.
|
