Rating: 
Summary: An inspiring book
Review: I think that not only was Winchester trying to give us a history of the English dictionary, he was also trying to inspire us to dare to attempt great things as he covers the trials and tribulations of the editor of the dictionary- taking on a seemingly impossible task- and as he covers the "madman", who painstakingly defines so many of the words for the dictionary. This is not a long book, but it is an amazing one. In fact, had I not known that it was a true story, I might have thought it almost too fanciful to believe. But truth is stranger than fiction. This book also shows that sometimes one can find help in a place where one would least expect to find it.
Rating: 
Summary: needed better editing
Review: I enjoyed this story...but found that it jumped around in a disconcerting fashion. Took too many detours to no story-telling purpose.Very accessible book, interesting story. Kept me engaged.
Rating:
Summary: Charming
Review: One of the most fascinating book on the OED, This was such a fun read and so well written. Highly recommened.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Story about Language and Madness
Review: I guarantee you that once you finish this book, you will not only appreciate the work that went into the Oxford English Dictionary, but you will also be searching for a CD-ROM copy of it. Even though it is non-fiction, it reads like a novel and is supported by intricate research and written well enough to qualify as prose. I label this book a must read for anyone interested in language or writing.
Rating:
Summary: Potpourri
Review: Potpourri-[f., fr, pot+pourri, past part. of pourrir to rot, fr. L. putrere.] A medley or mixture; specif.: 1. A mixture, as of spiced flower petals in a jar, used to scent a room. 2. A medley; sometimes, an anthology. If your mind is already wandering and your eyes are going glassy, this book is not for you. However, if you found my first paragraph to be interesting you are going to like this book. The linguistic aspects are fascinating enough, but Mr. Winchester has a whole lot more going for him. The book opens up with a chapter worthy of a good murder mystery. There are some fascinating sections which delve into psychology and criminal psychiatry. You even get a little history, when the author describes Dr. Minor's participation in the American Civil War. Mr. Winchester writes beautifully and the book is chock-full of interesting stuff. Amazingly so for a book that is only about 200 pages long. As far as I am concerned, "The Professor And The Madman" was worth the purchase price just to see how Dr. Samuel Johnson defined the word "elephant" in his great dictionary. A quick read, educational and entertaining. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Potpourri
Review: Potpourri-[F., fr. pot pot + pourri, past part. of pourrir to rot, fr. L. putrere.] A medley or mixture; specif.: 1. A mixture, as of spiced flower petals in a jar, used to scent a room. 2. A medley; sometimes, an anthology. If your mind is already wandering and your eyes are going glassy, this book is not for you. However, if you found my first paragraph to be interesting you are going to like this book. The linguistic aspects are fascinating enough, but Mr. Winchester has a whole lot more going for him. The book opens up with a chapter worthy of a good murder mystery. There are some fascinating sections which delve into psychology and criminal psychiatry. You even get a little history, when the author describes Dr. Minor's participation in the Civil War. Mr. Winchester writes beautifully and the book is chock-full of interesting stuff. Amazingly so for a book that is only about 200 pages long. As far as I am concerned, "The Professor And The Madman" was worth the purchase price just to see how Dr. Samuel Johnson defined the word "elephant" in his great dictionary. A quick read, educational and entertaining. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent but light reading
Review: I enjoyed the style of the author (lucid writing, excellent vocabulary, erudite interesting asides) and the elements of the story (insanity, murder, academia, the lexicon); this book had all the ingredients of an umberto-ecco-esque thriller. But a fiction author has control over the story, can bring all these strands together in a meaningful way. Simon Winchester, however, can only record what happened, and in what happened these great parts just don't come together into a whole. Or if they do, it's in a way too subtle for me to grasp. So what is left is a very entertaining but rather disjointed and shallow contraption.
Rating:
Summary: Diverting Story
Review: Winchester writes popular history in both the good and bad senses of the term. He enjoys the apocryphal and often inserts stories, with suitable disclaimers, that he knows to be false, in places he speculates wildly concerning motives of historical figures and the details of actions no one witnessed, while at the same time retaining a real sense of the excitement and interest of the historical period he is examining. He does strive to get the details right, even when they can't be known, and works hard to produce a detailed picture of the time in which the action takes place. Some times it is awkward, as in his altogether too brusque treatment concerning the complex composition of the union army in the civil war (which, ultimately, didn't strike me as terribly relevant anyway), but often it is fascinating. The details of building the OED are compelling and they give a sense of both the importance of the work Dr. Minor was engaged in and the remarkably difficult nature of that work -- especially for one certifiably mad. Winchester's treatment of madness is compassionate and though he clearly loves these characters he never romanticizes them, nor downplays the serious obstacles they face, both in terms of the madness itself and the difficulties encountered with respect to social class. Despite Minor's clearly objectionable behaviour, you come away feeling a great sorrow for the man who couldn't make it through the night without being haunted by all manner of tortures. The writing itself is brisk, though often overwrought. (Winchester has a tendency to use purple prose when trying to get to our emotions.) But the book moves steadily along, and most of the diversions if not always necessary are interesting enough on their own. Despite these complaints, I read the book avidly and had a hard time putting it down. Thus, reservations about history aside, I would recommend it. His new book, The Map that Changed the World, roughly does for geology what he does here for lexicography. It is a reverential treatment, but equally compelling and worth a read. (I would be inclined to start with this one, however, since his many personal asides in that one are often a tad irritating and kept largely to a minimum here.)
Rating: 
Summary: Emperor's new clothes
Review: Talk about a tulip bulb phenomenon. Everybody loves this book because everybody loves this book. Yes, it has some interesting thoughts, but they are stretched out and repeated to fill space. Nice concept, but more appropriately a magazine or Sunday paper article rather than a whole book.
Rating:
Summary: Serendipity
Review: You can go through an entire life and never really grasp the meaning of the word, "serendipity." Read this book and you'll have one of those delicious "Ah, ha!" moments. "So that's 'serendipity!'" you'll tell yourself. And it will all make sense, thanks to Simon Winchester. Winchester is able to draw something of a straight line from the Battle of the Wilderness, May 1864, Orange County, Virginia, to the OED! The trip will take you through the UK, a murder, insanity (?), a mental hospital, and , finally, a meeting between the two men most responsible for this most unique dictionary in the world. It's a delightful (and brisk) trip. Just pick up the book in paperback and take a peek at the blurbs on the first few pages after the book cover. That should be enough to get your mojo working. Enjoy!
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