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Summary: The amazing story of collaboration to create the OED.
Review: The amazing story of an Oxford professor from a humble background and an American madman from a privileged background who collaborated to help create the Oxford English Dictionary. The plot doesn't sound all that engaging but the story is well so written and the stranger than fiction events make it a fascinating glimpse into two rare minds. Plus it provides snapshot descriptions of early 19th century Ceylon, the American Civil War and Dickens's London. Don't read it if you can't spare the $262.50 for the OED with magnifying glass. You'll want to own it - Jim Buckley
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Summary: Ahighly fascinating book!
Review: This extremely interesting book is written inan elegant, appealing and touching style. Therather short book (less than 250pages) coversmuch territory and material. The flow is superb.A minor drawback is that the author speculatessometimes excessively without basis. An exampleis his suggestion of an affair between the"Madman" and a special visitor- the wife ofthe man he killed. Another drawback is theauthor's attempt to analyze mental illness. Itis rather too short to convey any significantunderstanding. But the subject of the book, thestyle of writing and the overall presentationmake this an unusually fascinating book to read.
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Summary: Understanding the criminally insane
Review: The book is an unforgettable portrayal of the enigmas of mental illness. It is like an intricately woven tapestry of the convergence of two accomplished men of letters who joined in a mission to create a world class dictionary. Soon the reader is so totally empathetic with Dr. Minor's tortured imaginings that the murder he perpetrated is fully forgiven. The book is a spellbinding presentation of behind the scenes events that were previously unconnected with the tedious and scholarly work of defining words.
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Summary: A Delightful Read
Review: I originally purchased this as something to read 'just for fun.' I am pleased to say that Simon Winchester's book fulfilled its purpose perfectly while also providing compelling insights into the creation of the OED and the story of its creators. Not expecting to find an academic treatise on the topic which I fear too many readers did anticipate, Winchester's journalistic writing style has served to tantalize those readers who would explore further the myriad topics offered by his book as well as provide a glimpse into a very interesting story heretofore not always available to the general public.
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Summary: Not very well written for a book about words
Review: While it is heartening to see a book about the OED on the best-sellers list, I really wish that it had been written with a little more care. What is potentially an engrossing mystery at the heart of the creation of the definitive English lexicon is mired in a hash of choppy sentences and "sesquipedalians" that have been thrown in to make sure the reader knows that the author has in fact looked at the OED at least once in his life, but which more often than not are used in place of a shorter word that would be more appropriate. The bottom line is that this book reads like it was written by a journalist with a good thesaurus (as it was) and not by someone who really cares about words and good writing (as it should have been).
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Summary: In any other book...
Review: Winchester's brawny displays of linguistic prowess would be a distraction; here they are a fitting, not-so-subtle reminder of the staggering scope of our language and its need to be catalogued. Wasn't that obvious?Overall, a cerebral, vocabulary-stretching read. The ideal review for the SAT verbal exam.
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Summary: The Professor and the Madman is a MUST for journalists
Review: As a journalism major, I find etymology and lexicography to be of utmost interest. When I was flying to see a friend in Minneapolis last weekend, I sat by a lady who was reading Simon Winchester's book. She had majored in journalism as well. The book kept me on edge, with historical accounts of how Dr. Minor was contributing to the project of the OED. What I loved best about the novel was how Winchester brought to the fore many commonplace events which we take for granted, never realizing or questioning their origins (e.g., a certain brigade that marches every St. Patrick's Day in NYC). "What makes a person mad?" That's the question which lingers in the reader's mind long after he or she has placed the book back on the bookshelf.
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Summary: A Brilliant Telling of a True Tale
Review: I am overwhelmed by Simon Winchester's brilliant telling of a true tale of an American's vital involvement in the creation of the OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY. The Professor and the Madman is a fascinating account of a conflicted, isolated, highly complex human being, who, nevertheless, makes a positive contribution of lasting intellectual and global significance. Even more amazing is Mr. Winchester's ability to inform, amuse and captivate a vast audience with the potentially boring topic of predictably limited interest--lexicography. AND, in less than 250 pages! I was also impressed with the compassion of the writer in the inclusion and development of certain tragic figures whose vital significance might very easily have been ignored in the telling of the tale. With the recent revival of small local book clubs across the United States and the love of reading and the construction of language which that implies, The Professor and the Madman is definitely a well-timed and welcomed publication.
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Summary: Fascinating subject not well handled by author
Review: THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN--Simon Winchester If words are your working tools or if you simply find them fascinating, your bible is the Oxford English Dictionary. In a non-computerized age its creation is an intellectual achievement almost beyond comprehension. This book is highly interesting when it deals with that creation and considerably less so when it deals with two men, William Minor and Sir James Murray, key to the creation of the OED. The book both benefits and suffers from having been written by a journalist. It benefits from the ability of a top-notch journalist such as Simon Winchester to explain clearly and interestingly the arcane science of philology and lexicology. The incredibly laborious research that went into the "fixing" of a single word's definition is made crystal-clear, making the compilation of the OED, if possible, even more majestic. Mr. Winchester handles this aspect of the book brilliantly. His character sketches of several Victorian personalities paint the era sharply. It suffers in the sense that journalism tends to focus on the sensational episode, must often have a "heavy" and often lacks depth. Winchester's handling of Minor's life, while uneven, is reasonably full. His treatment of Murray is less satisfying and somewhat sketchy. There are large leaps in time in the careers of both Murray and Minor with little to bridge them. It is suggested, without the presentation of a shred of evidence that there may have been at one time a sexual relationship between Minor and the wife of his murder victim. Winchester's "heavy" is Doctor Brayne, the last superintendent of the English institution that held Minor. He makes no allowance for the difficulties of caring for a brilliant but aging man who has murdered one man and amputated his own penis. Dr. Brayne is seldom mentioned without a pejorative adjective in front of his name such as the "egregious Dr. Brayne" or the "rebartative Dr. Brayne." The last illustrates an oddity of the book. Winchester, apparently since he is writing a book about a great dictionary, finds it necessary at random to employ a sesquipedalian word requiring the use of a dictionary, in place of the usual journalistic interest in clarity and brevity. The book,while a quick, interesting read, leaves one looking for something with a bit more depth.
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Summary: Madman Maligns Irish Americans
Review: Simon Winchester's "The Professor and the Madman" is a fascinating account of how an insane murderer made a remarkable contribution to the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. But, while Winchester's book enjoys great success at the bookstores, America's Irish may find parts of it disturbing, if not offensive. Dictionary-contributor and murderer Doctor William Minor's madness resulted from wartime trauma, theorizes Winchester. His scene-setting explanation recounts the history of America's Irish during the Civil War. As their casualties mounted and "rival" African-Americans were emancipated, the Irish began to desert the North's army. During the Battle of the Wilderness in May of 1864 they deserted in great numbers, according to Winchester. Amidst the ensuing carnage, Minor's commanders required the young assistant surgeon to fire-brand an Irishman's face with the letter "D" for deserter. This memory and delusions about revenge-seeking Irish Fenians haunted Minor in the following years. He was unable to escape them by moving to England, and in 1872 he shot an innocent passerby who he mistook for a pursuing Fenian. Her Majesty's government sentenced the clearly disturbed Minor to incarceration at the Broadmoor Asylum where he would await another extraordinary coincidence - his encounter with the Oxford English Dictionary. There's one thing wrong with this story - apart from Minor being far from the only person in England and America obsessed with Irish goblins in 1872 - mass Irish desertions from the North's armies never happened. "Back in the 1890s this charge was made and it elicited a sharp response from St. Clair Mulholland, an Irish-born soldier who commanded the 116th PA in the Irish Brigade. He contacted the head of the war department at that time and received an official response that the War Dept. had no statistics on which to base such a claim." Contrary to the desertion stereotype, the Irish displayed a great deal of heroism during the Civil War. They were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in far greater numbers than any other foreign-born group. And in the year of the Battle of the Wilderness, 1864, their actions resulted in more of these awards than in any other Civil War year. Congress awarded the Medal of Honor to more than 1500 soldiers and sailors for Civil War gallantry -- a sample of the fighting men so highly correlated with origins and combat deaths that it tells us a great deal about who fought for the North and when. And what it tells us about the Irish and other foreign-born soldiers, who made up a quarter of the North's army, is that they served as bravely, if not more so, throughout the war as any other Americans. Furthermore the Irish were represented in numbers consistent with their presence in the North's population, and, allowing for the demographic effects of the 1840's famine immigration, perhaps in greater numbers than should have been expected. Data for the more than 300,000 New York State soldiers supports this analysis. Nearly half of those joining units organized at New York City were foreign-born, while units from the rest of the state had a much smaller immigrant presence. Remarkably, the combat mortality rates and Medal of Honor award rates for the city units are the same as for the upstate units. Contrary to its reputation for draft riot violence, New York City provided 43 percent of the state's army units and manpower. Consistent with this, city soldiers suffered 43 percent of state combat deaths and received 43 percent of the Medal of Honor awards. Though Winchester contends that the Irish were more concerned with fighting "rival" African-Americans for the lowest rung on America's social ladder than fighting for the Union, the Irish were much more assimilated into American society than he realizes. Three of the North's four leading Civil War generals were raised in Irish-Catholic families: William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and George Gordon Meade. So was Dennis Hart Mahan, West Point's guiding light for thirty years prior to the war. Mahan gave America the mathematical engineering of France, and a professional officer corps with the capability to organize industrial war against the South. Sherman's principal rival was his Irish-Catholic wife, the daughter of Thomas Ewing, Ohio's powerful senator. And though myth credits Joshua Chamberlain with saving the Union at Gettysburg's Little Round Top, Colonel Patrick Henry O'Rorke, an Irish-Catholic immigrant who graduated first in West Point's class of 1861, actually led the reinforcements and the charge that saved the day. Doctor Minor's military records supplied by the National Archives indicate that he was in New Haven, Connecticut in May of 1864 and that he reported to a hospital in Alexandria, Virginia on May 17, 1864. It is indeed possible that he somehow made it to the Battle of the Wilderness, which took place in Virginia from May 5 to 7. Anything is possible for those who believe in leprechauns. For doubting Thomases like me, though, the probably apocryphal story of the branded Irish deserter who haunted William Minor would be more convincing if the soldier and his unit were identified. He remains virtually the only anonymous character in an otherwise meticulously documented story. Englishman Simon Winchester is entitled to publish whatever he wishes, even if it amounts to recyling anti-immigrant myths from America's nativist 19th century. But it's not "a superb job of historical research," as Times columnist William Safire called it. And if Mr. Winchester ignored his sources in the matter of the Irish, as it so appears, it's not good journalism either. -- James F. McManus III
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