Unabridged
6 cassettes, approx 6.5 hrs
read by the author
includes an interview with the author

I am big on nonfiction/history, and I thought this was one of the best audios I've heard -- although it may not be for everyone. It combines several of my interests, including history, words, and mental illness. I also appreciated the author's memorializing unfortunate people, showing how their lives were nevertheless important.

Contributing this to batty14's audiobook box (round 2).


NOTE - 05/14/07: batty14 (the host of the audiobox) wants to listen to this one. So please save it for batty or, if you take it out of the box, please arrange with batty to send it after. Thanks.

Taken from batty14's Audio Book Box.

oops! I will make sure this one finds it way to batty - I didn't know or I wouldn't have removed. I took out the books I wanted/needed and put in others and am now journaling the ones I took out.

I enjoyed this book. I listened while I was cleaning house. It kept my mind off how much I hate house work.

RELEASE NOTES:

I actually mailed this over my lunch today and then realized I had forgot to journal my thought or my release of the book.

It is on its way to Batty14.

I got delivery confirmation. The confirmation # is 0307 0020 0005 1099 9386

Thanks

Thanks for sending this one my way! I tried to journal it days ago, but BC was having issues and I couldn't leave a message. Can't wait to listen to this one!

I finished this one this week. I don't know if I pid close enough attention to the whole story. I found myself drifting, but that was my last two weeks. Overall an interesting book concept and much appreciated by this librarian who did a project with a version of the OED.

I will set this as available, but I may have to listn to it a second time to make sure I got all the details! :)

RELEASE NOTES:

Put into keno-mom's audio box.

Hee hee, this is passing thru my hands again via keno-mom's audiobook box. It's nice to see it and remember how much I enjoyed the listen. Now, back in the box.

Taking from "keno-mom's audio bookbox!"

This book is going into Mysscyn's audiobox! Enjoy!

This one looks good. I will read before sending on it's next journey. Thanks.

Putting into KateKintail's Audio Bookbox

Taking out of KateKintails cassette only box. Replacing with To the White Sea by James Dickey and Rememption by Leon Uris. This equals out the number of cassettes. gnissorckoob and NMReader enjoyed the book. I have read another of his books and enjoyed it.

I am amazed at how much I enjoyed this book. It was very interesting to learn so much about the dictionary. Hope this book finds another BCer who wants to listen to it.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Enjoy! To LittleWhiteBird as a RABCK for the November 2009 RABCK challenge, The "THE" release Challenge, December 2009 Autobiography/Biography release challenge, and KTM release challenge.

Looks like it will be fascinating to read. Thanks for the RABCK!

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.

grubsneerg chose this book from iwillrejoice's Audio VBB and I'm sending it to her.

Good choice, I think it's a great book! Enjoy!

Arrived safe and sound! Thanks for sending, LittleWhiteBird!

I already had a printed version of this book on my shelf when this audio came into my hands, so I read some of that copy and listened to some of this audio until I finished the whole book. There is an interview with the author at the end of the audio book and he says he wanted to tell the extraordinary story of the monumental task of creating the Oxford English Dictionary, but felt he had to glam it up with the equally extraordinary story of one of its contributors, the madman of the title, to make it more accessible to readers. While both stories were fascinating, they did feel like separate stories until about 2/3 of the way into the book, when I thought we were *finally* getting somewhere. I'm glad I read it, but I'm not sure I would recommend it as one of the best books of my reading year.

Recorded in 1998, the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary encouraged readers to contribute to the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, to continue the same kind of work Dr. Minor did for the first edition. He predicted 2010 for the release of the third edition; as of today, the third edition is still in production.

Sent to JudySlump612, who picked it from iwillrejoice's Audio VBB Round 9. Enjoy!

Arrived safely today, and - heavens above! - in the most perfectly sized mailing package I've ever seen. Grubsneerg, did you make this yourself, or is there I place I can buy some more?

Very, very good. Having grown up with dictionaries always handy, I never thought to ask why we have them, or what would life be like without them. So the section on the history of dictionaries, and the expectations of their role, completely fascinated me. And the story of the process to collect and verify the history of each word also blew me away.

So that part of the book alone would have completely satisfied me, and I can see why grubsneerg felt the story of Dr. Minor was a bit extraneous. But it was a story worth telling, and unless Winchester was prepared to write two heavily researched books on such a scholarly topic, it fit reasonably well within the framework of the OED story.

I can't help wondering how many people still believe it matters how words are correctly spelled, pronounced, and used. To me it does! I'm also interested in the etymology. We have the compact edition of the OED, complete with large magnifying glass, handsomely boxed, and now I look at it with new affection.

The week I finished listening to this book, the Voyager space probe left our solar system, after 36 years of flight. It's an interesting echo of the years of work that went into the production of the original OED. Only a rare and special kind of person devotes a career to an achievement that won't be finished during his/her lifetime.

I had read the print version before, but as usual the audio version was much better. Simon Winchester reads the book himself, and has a lovely British accent that's perfect for the book. Finally, thanks to Harper Audio for giving us the full unabridged book, and in a very well designed box too.

Placed in imawinn2's Cassette Audio Book Box

Pulled this one from KateKintail's Earreading Audiobooks on Cassette Bookbox #2. I started listening to this one in the car today, and I'm already hooked. I was happy to read gnissorckoob's comments as history, words and mental illness are three things I'm very interested in, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

My wife and I listened to this one on the road. Fascinating story! It's going into imawinn2's "Cassette's Are Still Alive" bookbox.