Rating: 
Summary: A good story
Review: This is a nice book to read. It has a nice storylike flow to it, and is well written by the author.The emphasis seems to be the writing style and the description of events and scenarios, and seems to parallel a pop-fiction writing style. The elaborate descriptions, be it from Beards to autopeotomy (Yes, read the book or consult a dictionary... and then you will read the book!) seem to be an attempt by the writer to be deliberately creative, rather than naturally free-flowing, at times. The use of drawings is another attempt to further the description of the scenes taking place in the book. But the author does remind us frequently that the book is describing the reality of the past, in that it is an account of real happenings. And yet, there is no picture/image of the handwriting (which is described so eloquently); or the paintings which have been drawn, or even any one of the slips used to create the dictionary. One must admit, that despite the above shortcomings the book is a wonderful and easy read. It flows well like a story, and opens up the closet of tales behind the OED which none of us would have ever known. It also illuminates the mind into the tremendous task of making a dictionary, and the sheer effort involved. It is loaded with interesting events and trivia, and is definitely worth reading. The questions the book leaves unanswered is what drove WC Minor insane...? What was the relationship to the 'relatives' who committed suicide? Why hasn't the angle of Child molestation, which seems to be a recurring theme in the dreams, been explored further as a probable cause?... etc etc. As I said, this is a good read, a good story, but the book truly falls short on its potential of being a classic work. Read, but dont Buy. -----
Rating: 
Summary: A Victorian beautiful mind
Review: It is odd, but I recently read "A beautiful mind" which is about a mathematician John Nash who suffers from delusions, recovers and goes on to win the Nobel prize following a full remission of his symptoms. This book is also about a brilliant academic - and murderer - who suffers no remission, but is able to turn his finely tuned mind to the creation of the Oxford Dictionary. Locked in his room in an asylum with only his books, armed with his incredible mind and astonishing persistence, W.C. Minor performs a massive work that forms the backbone of the Oxford English Dictionary. The story highlights the amazing story of an American rightly imprisoned for criminal insanity who is able to perform the arduous task of compiling meanings for the dictionary. Winchester is a superb storyteller and he even makes the forming of a dictionary an interesting tale. Mixing the tragedy with the remarkable achievement of W.C. Minor, you close the book with an immense feeling of satisfaction. I cannot recommend a book more highly.
Rating:
Summary: The strange tell abour the making of the OED
Review: This unusual and exciting account centers on two men involved in the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary-Professor James Murray, its editor, and Dr. William Chester Minor, a true Connecticut Yankee who was one of the resource's most prolific contributors. The most surprising aspect of this long and productive partnership was that Dr. Minor, probably a schizophrenic, was incarcerated in England's most notorious insane asylum during the whole of their working relationship. He was a scholar and medical doctor whose fragile mental condition was probably exacerbated by duty as a surgeon during the American Civil War. His imprisonment was not harsh and his devotion to the cause of the dictionary and his precise and prolific contributions probably helped him hold on to some sense of reality. Winchester's descriptions of Civil War battlefields and the search for definitions of words such as aardvark or elephant are intriguing and compelling. This is a fine tale for both word lovers and history buffs. The momentum of the beginning scenes of warfare and murder are followed, not disappointingly, by descriptions of the trials and tribulations of dictionary crafting. Readers will meet some extraordinary men and an unusual woman, and find themselves well and truly ensconced in the late 19th century
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful story, questionable authorship
Review: "Professor and the Madman" is a truly fascinating story and gives an intriguing overview of how and why the OED was made. That said, I feel the book was a disappointment. It does not seem that Winchester took the needed time to research his topic. So many questions are left unaddressed, yet the author then devotes pages of irresponsible and, I feel, ignorant conjecture on the source of Minor's madness. His theories flow back and forth from Minor being a strange eccentric to a schizophrenic to suffering from life-long post traumatic stress disorder. It reads more like the author's notes rather than finished copy. I was also left wondering so much more about Dr. Murray. We need to know more about his family, his incredible compassion and dedication to a project, his struggles. The title, although wonderful, misled me into believing I would be reading about two men with intriguingly parallel yet opposite lives. What I got was a story about a well-read madman and scant about a professor. The author mentions several times the famous sheets of paper Minor used to write his definitions. Why can't we see them? Famous photographs were mentioned, yet never shown? What about a picture of the asylum or the library? Any solid non-fiction account would have these. Winchester further lost me when he concluded the book with the already obvious point that without Minor's madness there would be no story. Well, of course. I think this story deserved better treatment or at least more research and time by the author.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: This is a really fascintating book. It gives an interesting and complete story about how the OED was conceived and created and contains some extremely complex characters. I espcially enjoyed when Winchester drills down to the detail of language - his dicussion of the word protaganist for example shows the amount of work that goes into each word that appears in the OED and the amount of discussion a single word can cause. Also gives an nice account of why so many Irish volenteers fought in the American Civil war - very enjoyable read !
Rating:
Summary: The Master of Prolix
Review: (UK Title: Surgeon of Crowthorne) The initial story of Dr. Minor, is interesting and one worthy of being told. Unfortunately Mr. Winchester manages (like many of his books) to stretch this one out unduly. It is an unfortunate theme in popular history and one all too current that writers will look for a plucky or obscure theme that will initially hook a reader and then use their word processing software (and our patience) to stretch the thing out to ungodly proportions. In this case what better than a tale of an crazy American Surgeon traumatised by the Civil war and then incarcerated for murder in England. Add the unlikely possibility that this guy also found himself as one of the main initial contributors to the OED and you have a ripping yarn indeed. Unfortunately, even when you throw the penis debridement into the narrative, it still is a story that should run about 100 pages shorter. Winchester repeats himself and also unfortunately dwells on events tangental to drag out the story. Although I have read other Winchester books, and will undoubtedly read more in the future, I am surely not at all tempted to re-read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book That Completely Satisfies!
Review: This was an excellent read from start to finish. The small details of how the Oxford English Dictionary came to be were fascinating as well as the explanations of the histories of some of the words we use everyday. Even better than that was the histories of the Dr. Minor and Professor James Murray and how they came to know and respect each other and even become friends. It was also good that the author gave a lot of information about the vitim and what became of his family after the fact. Often this is neglected in stories of this nature. In all I thought it was a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Singularly fascinating
Review: Featuring a storyline seemingly made for Hollywood, this intriguing exposition of, as the subtitle says, murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, is one of those rare tales that literally grabs the reader and forces its words down his throat with a most pleasurable force. I am ashamed to admit that I, a self-described scholar, had no idea of the unfathomable knowledge incorporated into the acclaimed Oxford English Dictionary nor the sheer effort involved in its creation. My admiration for James Murray, the principal editor, and everyone else involved with a bibliographic achievement akin to the building of the Great Pyramid, is unbounded. The story of the seventy-year project to write the greatest dictionary of the English language is fantastic by itself. When the story of the dictionary's most ardent and mysterious contributor is added to the mix, the story becomes almost unbelievable. William Chester Minor, an American doctor, became perhaps the most helpful contributor to the editors of the burgeoning Oxford English Dictionary. Employing a unique, thorough method in his indefatigable efforts, he won the great admiration and affinity of Murray and became intricately involved with the project. Murray envisioned this man as a medical man of means, surrounded by shelves of books from which he drew his information and nursed his affinity for lexicographical efforts. Dr. Minor, as it turns out, was a man of leisure, possessed of a significant library of books, and intellectually gifted. He was also a certifiably insane murderer. Locked inside an insane asylum, he had nothing but time on his hands, and he used twenty years of that time to send thousands and thousands of references to Dr. Murray's editorial staff. In some ways, Dr. Minor's life was far from bad; while he was in an asylum, he was allowed two rooms, one of which he used as a study; he was allowed to purchase books and other luxuries, communicate with anyone in the outside world, hire a fellow inmate as a servant, and enjoy walks inside the grounds of the asylum complex. Despite the liberties allowed him, though, he suffered terribly from his mental afflictions. He feared that Irishmen, pygmies, and other persons crept into his room at night, defacing his possessions, trying to poison him, forcing him to commit lewd, indecent acts with men, women, and children. Clearly, he was insane and remained so throughout his life. His crime was murder, but he felt great remorse for his sin and even struck up a friendship with the widow of the man he had killed. All of these facts were not known by James Murray until years after his professional association with the mysterious Dr. Minor began, nor did the professional relationship end once the truth was discovered. The author relates a romanticized tale of Murray's discovery of Dr. Minor's condition, and then debunks the myth by giving the real story, one no less fascinating in its truth. The story of his friendship with poor Dr. Minor through the ensuing years is rather touching. It becomes all but impossible to admire and sympathize with this man despite the state of his mind and the fact that he was a murderer. I will not reveal the most shocking part of Dr. Minor's story here, but it is a rather striking occurrence, I can assure you. I loved this book. The story of the dictionary's creation was almost as fascinating as the incredible tale of Dr. Minor. The author does indulge his own obvious affinity for lexicography by delving into the complex definitions and histories of certain words early on, but this can be forgiven in that it represents the type of work James Murray devoted his life to in service to the Oxford English Dictionary. I also found myself wishing a time or two that the author would refrain from describing aspects of Minor's life through the window of his own imagination, but such passages take nothing away from a story that seems to have a life of its own and almost begs to be told.
Rating: 
Summary: I am Mad
Review: I am mad about the "Professor and the Madman." It is short, to the point, and full of intrigue. I am not a literary zealot nor do I read the dictionary often, but I loved this book. It takes us back to the old days in England and gives us the events that led us to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Once the process of writing the dictionary is under way, the manpower and the time that it took to finish it is astronomical. The scope of this undertaking is something that I never really appreciated. This book forces you to think about the fact that someone sat down and defined every single known word in the English language. The process that they designed to get the definitions in the book is ingenious and efficient. The Professor teaches the reader history and entertains them with the story of an amazing man. Reading this book will give you a great appreciation for the most influential men on the English language.
Rating:
Summary: Like reading an episode of "Connections"
Review: An intriguing retelling of the events surrounding a murder in the slums of London by an American army officer and the development of the OED, or "the Oxford English Dictionary". If you have seen the PBS (BBC?) show "Connections", this was like reading an episode of it. What bizzare and seemingly unrelated event is now going to become critical to the history of this book? An interesting discussion is presented about the OED and dictionaries in general: why the OED is "different", what existed before it, etc. Best of all, at the end of the book was an advert for the OED and a call for volunteers to help with the continued development of it! Delightful conclusion. The only two reasons I didn't give it 5 stars: Difficulty being able to identify where the author was using artistic license to portray events in a more "complete picture" and where he was actually citing from verifiable sources. If the latter doesn't matter to you, please feel free to revel in a well told story. The only complaint was that the chronology of the story wasn't linear - it jumped back and forth in a rather unsetting manner which slightly distracted from the smooth flow of the account.
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