Rating: 
Summary: A Good Biography of the OED Project
Review: The author has written "Professor, Madman and the making of the OED" where he spends most of the time on one of the contributors, W.C.Minor to this project. He was probably one of the more colourful personalities, but the editor (for the most part) James Murray makes a good subject as well. This book is a better choice if you want to know about the entire history of the project -- one of the longest in the history of humanity -- which took 68 years! The author has an obsession with giving verbose biographical descriptions of any person who was involved. But, his flair for adjectives makes interesting reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Fab Forward
Review: The greatest virtue, it seems to me, of this account of the glacial development of what can only be called the greatest reference work in the English language is its concision. The account of the long evolution of this mammoth undertaking with all the equally eccentric and assiduous characters involved over the generations of tedious, loving work it took to complete could have become a mammoth volume itself. Instead, Winchester manages to provide us with a provocative page-turner which can be read in an afternoon, over tea and scones preferably. I would say that this book is a must for anyone who owns a copy of the OED or is simply infatuated with words. But, in keeping with the genteel tradition of English Lexicography as evinced here: Descriptive not Prescriptive, as the rather hidebound American dictionaries tend to be, I shall refrain. I rather deem the book a pleasant Prologue, much as Chaucer uses the term in, let's see...circa 1374.
Rating:
Summary: Fab Forward
Review: The greatest virtue, it seems to me, of this account of the glacial development of what can only be called the greatest reference work in the English language is its concision. The account of the long evolution of this mammoth undertaking with all the equally eccentric and assiduous characters involved over the generations of tedious, loving work it took to complete could have become a mammoth volume itself. Instead, Winchester manages to provide us with a provocative page-turner which can be read in an afternoon, over tea and scones preferably. I would say that this book is a must for anyone who owns a copy of the OED or is simply infatuated with words. But, in keeping with the genteel tradition of English Lexicography as evinced here: Descriptive not Prescriptive, as the rather hidebound American dictionaries tend to be, I shall refrain. I rather deem the book a pleasant Prologue, much as Chaucer uses the term in, let's see...circa 1374.
Rating:
Summary: A Story of Flawed People Who Together, Made A Masterpiece
Review: The Oxford English Dictionary is an unrivaled monument to the history, beauty and complexity of the English language. The story of the men and women who made this marvelous work makes for compellling reading, especially in the hands of such a skilled storyteller as Simon Winchester."The Professor and the Madman," Winchester's first best-seller, was the story of Dr. W.C. Minor, an American who had gone to England in what was a vain hope of regaining his sanity. Instead, he committed a senseless murder, and was imprisoned in an asylum for life. Minor found redemption in his otherwise ruined life by devoting decades of service as a volunteer reader/researcher for the OED. In his introduction to this volume, Winchester explains that an editor at the Oxford University Press suggested that since he had written a footnote to the story of the great enterprise, he might want to undertake the main story. Fortunately for us, he took up the suggestion with enthusiasm. The pace of the narrative never falters in its entire 250 pages. The opening chapter provides a brief overview of the evolution of English and of previous efforts to compile a truly comprehensive dictionary of the language--and why all fell short of that lofty goal. What became the OED enterprise had its origins in the late 1850s, but the first completed dictionary pages did not see the light of day until the early 1880s. Why the project was almost stillborn, how it survived deaths, disorganization, lack of funds and innumerable other setbacks--all of this is brought vividly to life in Winchester's tale. Even when the great editor James Murray took the helm and the project finally emerged from chaos, it still faced obstaces, especially from those who would have sacraficed quality in order to produce a swifter, but less authoratative, final product. Today, the third edition of the OED is in preparation by a staff working in modern offices, making use of all the tools of twenty-first century information technology. The contrast to the conditions facing makers of the original OED, laboring by hand, sorting tens of thousands of slips of paper into pigenhole slots in an ugly, dank corrugated tin shed (grandly named the "Scriptorium" by Murray) is startling, and makes their achievement all the more amazing--and grand. Dr. Minor makes a brief appearance in the story, along with some of the other unusual and exemplary volunteer contributors from around the world who combed nearly 800 years of English literature to give the OED its impressive depth. While none of the other's stories may be quite as extreme as Minor's, it's clear that for many, their involvement in this great cause (with no pay and little recognition) also gave depth and meaning to their lives. It's the vivid, human qualities that Winchester illuminates so well make this a great story...one that you won't want to miss.
Rating: 
Summary: A biography of a Dictionary
Review: There were some human endeavours of the modern world which were to be known to posterity as spetacularly gigantic, given the difficulty, hardship and human toil to have them fully completed. The British effort to build the Suez Channel, and the American on the turn of the 19th century to build the Panama Channel, are good examples of such gigantic steps the human race took in order to bridge distant lands and to easy communication between peoples of distant lands. The same could be said of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), a fenomenal task both by the ample range of its scope, which was to solidify and market English as the leading language of the world, and by the number of people involved in the project. Editors? Eight. Number of pages? More than 20.000. Number of entries? More than 400.000, and so on. The task , which initially was estimated to take some 10 years, did not reach its end before many decades passed. The Meaning of Everything, by Simon Winchester, is a detailed account of the making of the OED, and the reader is entitled to a full range of the most interesting narrative concerning the idiosincratic personalities of each and every successive editor of the dictionary, specially of the legendary Scottsman James Murray, with whom the dictionary is most commonly associated, due to the maturity of purpose the project acqurired in his experienced hands. By the way, Murray was a polymath, a man grown up in poverty but with a keen curiosity and many different interests and who spoke/read more than 25 languages. The many photographs of him and of the many editors are a good add-on to the book. The expert author guides the reader trough the intrincacies of the project, beginning with a very adequate explanation of the origins of the English language, as viewed from Victorian Britain, and its evolution trough the maze of influences the language received from Old English, Old German, French and Latin. A good portrait of what was the idea at the time concerning what a good dictionary should have is also given, thus permitting the reader to have a balanced judgement of the task to be performed. To sum it up, The Meaning of Everything is a good book to everyone interested in the origin of languages and in interesting bios of many very special men. I hope you enjoy it as I did.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book and an Improvement Over His Prior on the OED
Review: This book describes the story of the original Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and is not to be confused with the small conventional Oxford dictionary found at a modern bookstore. The original OED is a series of volumes that gives many quotes for each and every word to show how the word is used. Starting with the letter "A" it took a remarkable 70 years to complete the final volume that included the letter "Z". It was started from first concept in 1857 and went on until it was completed with the final tenth volume in 1928. It is thought that a modern version would be 40 volumes long. There are similar German and Swedish dictionaries that have taken over 100 years to complete and the Swedish version has yet to be completed. The present book was written in approximately 2003, and is a bit similar but a vast improvement over the earlier book "The Professor and The Madman" also written by Simon Winchester but published in 1998 - my opinion. So Winchester now has two books on the subject of the writing of Oxford English Dictionary. But this newer book is much better than the older book. The two books approach the OED with different emphasis. The first book 'Professor and the Madman' is somewhat like the author getting into the saga of the OED and suddenly making a left turn up the winding and unpredictable path of the life of Dr. William Minor, a mental patient that helped work on the dictionary from his cell. The rest of the OED story falls by the wayside. Here we return to the OED story and all of its colorful characters. The first book was written in approximately 1998. The span of time has given Simon Winchester the opportunity to present a better package of ideas and it all shows. The present book gives a very detailed and balanced description. He presents some information on the English language and more information on the earlier dictionaries. He continues the story right up to the current computerized dictionary. It is a lot better that the earlier book - that reads like a novel - but is limited in scope to mainly Dr. Minor and James Murray. One of the prime movers of that book (the OED) was a Scotsman James Murray who started at the beginning in 1878. Prior to that date, nothing of practical value was done between 1857 and 1878. He was in essence the first editor (technically the third), and he edited the dictionary up to approximately the volume ending with the letter T - the degree of the progress of the dictionary at his death in 1915. The cast of characters also included Henry Bradley who became a co-editor, Frederick Furnivall an early and very disorganized editor before Murray, and other English luminaries such as Benjamin Jowett of Balliol College. Even Churchill, Queen Victoria, and J.R.R. Tolkien have small roles. I bought both books by Winchester but in retrospect would have skipped the first book and just bought the newer book. The newer book has one chapter on Dr. Minor and Fitzedward Hall and other people that sent in quotations by mail - which for me is enough. I would only give the book 4 stars. The reason is that at the end of the book ' which is short just over 250 pages, one has the feeling that large chunks of the story are missing and a proper OED story would be a 500 to 1000 page book. The book seems rushed and starts to skip things towards the end. This seems to be confirmed by the other book about Dr. Minor (the Madman) that by itself is also 250 pages. Jack in Toronto
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book - not just for bibliophiles!
Review: This is a wonderful book and it is not just for bibliophiles (though anyone who loves words will LOVE this book). It is also a human story, and shows how much love, care and devotion goes into things that we take for granted, like dictionaries. How exciting to see a book as well written, moving and intelligent as this in the top 100 bestseller list - who says that the world is dumbing down? Buy it and enjoy! Christopher Catherwood (Oxford graduate; author of CHRISTIANS MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE and frequent Scrabble, Lexicon and other word games player)
Rating:
Summary: It's about people, not words
Review: This is a wonderful history of the OED - why it was started, its development over a long period, and most of all about the editors who made it. There's only a little about the supplements and editions after the first, but that's no matter. The focus of the book is on the editors, and especially their eccentricities, and the difficulties put in their way by the sponsors of the dictionary, Oxford itself and its Press, by their collaborators, and by the language itself. Incidental to the story, but at least as interesting, is something of the process of making a historical dictionary, and the development of English over the last 2500 years. Brilliantly written, although some anecdotes are repeated which makes me think that Winchester was in a bit of a hurry.
Rating:
Summary: Needed some of that famous editing....
Review: This is an interesting story well-told, but I find myself in agreement with those readers who feel that it was somewhat hastily thrown together. On page 75 (of the first hardcover edition, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2nd printing), the writer tells us as simple fact that James Murray, born in 1837, "cherished the fact that he had managed to befriend a local ancient who had been alive when Parliament proclaimed William and Mary joint sovereign in 1689..." Do the math. If this "ancient" was two years old in 1689, he would be 152 years old in 1839 when Murray might be old enough to meet and remember him. Ancient indeed, and worth at least a comment. On page 124, the writer says of compositor James Gilbert "He joined the Press as an apprentice in 1880... and was still working 36 years later when the final words... were set in January 1928." Perhaps he was docked 12 years for lollygagging. I tend to think that Mr. Gilbert worked for the 48 years because 36 years at the same job is not so remarkable. What is remarkable is that this kind of obvious error would get past the august editors at the Oxford University Press.
Rating:
Summary: Needed some of that famous editing....
Review: This is an interesting story well-told, but I find myself in agreement with those readers who feel that it was somewhat hastily thrown together. On page 75 (of the first hardcover edition, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2nd printing), the writer tells us as simple fact that James Murray, born in 1837, "cherished the fact that he had managed to befriend a local ancient who had been alive when Parliament proclaimed William and Mary joint sovereign in 1689..." Do the math. If this "ancient" was two years old in 1689, he would be 152 years old in 1839 when Murray might be old enough to meet and remember him. Ancient indeed, and worth at least a comment. On page 124, the writer says of compositor James Gilbert "He joined the Press as an apprentice in 1880... and was still working 36 years later when the final words... were set in January 1928." Perhaps he was docked 12 years for lollygagging. I tend to think that Mr. Gilbert worked for the 48 years because 36 years at the same job is not so remarkable. What is remarkable is that this kind of obvious error would get past the august editors at the Oxford University Press.
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