Professor and the Madman, The: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, & the Making of OED

by Simon Winchester | Nonfiction |
ISBN: 006099486x Global Overview for this book
Registered by AmberLee17 of Stockton, California USA on 1/4/2006
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
9 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by AmberLee17 from Stockton, California USA on Wednesday, January 4, 2006
A fascinating and intriguing history.

I'm not sure whether this is going as a ring book, a loan to a friend, or to the Palo Alto veteran's hospital...

Journal Entry 2 by wingwhiteraven13wing from Quartzsite, Arizona USA on Tuesday, April 11, 2006
"Inherited" from AL17 and going into Mt. TBR

Journal Entry 3 by wingwhiteraven13wing from Quartzsite, Arizona USA on Friday, December 19, 2008
I found this book as one of the few I'd kept after my 'delightful' Sunnyvale move, hoping I would read it. And I did! I found the story fascinating, though as you noted, the author sometimes seemed like he wanted to use *all* the words in the OED. ;)

I am going to review this book on the Markeroni blog, and then offer it to other members. :)

Journal Entry 4 by wingwhiteraven13wing from Quartzsite, Arizona USA on Monday, January 12, 2009
Passing this along now. :)

Journal Entry 5 by wingwhiteraven13wing at Given To A Friend, Friend -- Controlled Releases on Monday, January 12, 2009

Released 15 yrs ago (1/12/2009 UTC) at Given To A Friend, Friend -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Passing this along to WanderingRaleighite for the Markeroni book ray.

Journal Entry 6 by WandRaleighite from Raleigh, North Carolina USA on Friday, January 23, 2009
Recieved as a Markeroni ring book.

CAUGHT IN RALEIGH NC USA

Journal Entry 7 by beautyredefined from Washington, District of Columbia USA on Thursday, February 5, 2009
I got this book from WanderingRaleighite at the Markeroni Unconvention in Sacramento. Brought it back with me to Michigan, and I'm already about halfway through. Quite good so far, and it's definitely an interesting history. We take dictionaries for granted these days, but the first edition of the OED was 70 years in the making. Oof.

Journal Entry 8 by LittleWhiteBird at Arlington, Virginia USA on Saturday, January 28, 2012
I saw this book at the BC in DC Bookcrossing meeting today. Someone else had brought it and I think it's now going to be a local bookring because several people want to read it.

I listened to an unabridged audiobook version of this journaled at: http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5098786/. Here is what I had to say:

It was fascinating to read about the making of the Oxford English dictionary and the involvement of W.C. Minor in it. The appropriate dictionary entries put into the chapters were fun, too.

Journal Entry 9 by wingMelydiawing at -- Geocaches, Virginia USA on Sunday, January 29, 2012
Picked this up at yesterday's BCinDC meetup at Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, Virginia. It looks fascinating. In fact, several of us wanted to read it but all were reluctant to take it given our tremendous TBR piles. So I grabbed it and will start a local bookring when I'm finished. Here are the participants, but there's no special order - just pass it along to whomever on the list hasn't had it yet whenever you see them next.

* tiatia
* firegirl
* FURBALL
* ixion
* ResQgeek
* authorauthor
* KateKintail

And when the ring is all finished, the book goes to SqueakyChu.

Looks like this book is pretty well-travelled already. And I didn't know WanderingRaleighite was a BookCrosser too!

Journal Entry 10 by wingMelydiawing at -- Geocaches, Virginia USA on Saturday, February 25, 2012
One might think that the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary would be a dry read, but it most certainly is not. This is mostly due to the fact that one of the most prolific contributors turned out to be an American inmate in an asylum for the criminally insane. Seriously. True, you should have at least a passing interest in linguistics - or at least vocabulary - to get a lot out of this book, but in a lot of ways this nonfiction book reads like a novel. This is the sort of history book I enjoy. Definitely recommended for lovers of words.

Now to pass it along to someone else on the list.

Journal Entry 11 by Firegirl at Annandale, Virginia USA on Sunday, April 8, 2012
Yoikes! I wound up with this book first! Two other bookrays are here, but one should be a quick read. I'll get to this ASAP. Thanks!

Journal Entry 12 by Firegirl at Annandale, Virginia USA on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
This sounded so good and I was so looking forward to it, but just couldn't get into it. I may try again, but if a meetup happens before then, I'll pass it along.

Journal Entry 13 by ResQgeek at Alexandria, Virginia USA on Sunday, June 12, 2016
Firegirl brought this to today's BC-in-DC meeting at Tonic Restaurant in Foggy Bottom. Since I was the only other person on the list to read this book in attendance today, it came home with me, even though I'm not certain how long it will linger in my TBR mountain range.

Journal Entry 14 by ResQgeek at Alexandria, Virginia USA on Thursday, May 25, 2017
I actually got to this book in less than a year, which is faster than I assumed I would! I'll bring this the next time I attend a BC-in-DC event to pass along to someone else.

This is a fascinating look at how dictionaries (in general) and the OED (in particular) are created. We take dictionaries for granted now, so I had never really given much thought to how the first dictionaries might have been written, or the amount of effort it would entail to compile them. This book sheds light on this history and shows us just how immense an undertaking the creation of the OED was. If that was all the book accomplished, it would be a good book.

But this book is more than that. It is also a compassionate biography of a deeply disturbed man, William Minor, who was a significant contributor to the effort to compile the OED. I had heard the broad brush strokes of this story elsewhere, but the details of Minor's story are compelling. The demons of his mental illness tormented him, and even let him to kill an innocent man. That act led to his incarceration in an asylum. Yet even while confined, he was able to leverage his education and intellect to become an important researcher providing quotations from the library he collected to enhance the efforts of the team writing the OED.

An excellent read for those who are interested in history, especially the history of English literature and language. Minor's life story is compelling and helps to make the story of the OED far more interesting than it would otherwise be.

Journal Entry 15 by ResQgeek at Springfield, Virginia USA on Sunday, June 25, 2017

Released 6 yrs ago (6/25/2017 UTC) at Springfield, Virginia USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I'm taking this to this afternoon's BC-in-DC meeting to pass along to another local BCer to read.

Journal Entry 16 by wingKateKintailwing at Burke, Virginia USA on Monday, June 26, 2017
Arg! My first journal entry was eaten!

Apparently I was next on the list for this. I may have acquired another copy of this since the local bookring began, but that's okay--I still haven't read it! I look forward to getting to it soon.

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.