The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

I thought I would repost the book reviews I did on my family blog. So Professor and the Madman, Mao and Me, and Winnie the Pooh are from that site.

7 Stars

How to make the first complete English dictionary:

Step One: Read all English literature.

Step Two: Copy down every single word.

Step Three: For each word, write a clear definition for every use. Track the word's history. Illustrate each use with a quote from literature. If possible, find the earliest use of the word.

Step Four: Alphabetize and organize all words. Put into typeset. (Backwards and reverse order)

As per the Admiral's orders, I am now reviewing the books I read. I finished The Professor and the Madman about a week ago. Although the making of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) may not sound like an interesting reading topic, I thoroughly enjoyed it. In the world of the internet, computers, laser printers, and readily available dictionaries, it is hard to imagine the sheer amount of work required to create the world's first complete dictionary. As you'll learn from this book, it took thousands of contributors and nearly a century of work to make it happen. Dedicated volunteers from all over America and English read, wrote, and sent words to a single address. There, a full time staff was dedicated solely to struggling to control the madness of thousands of words being sent daily. The paper alone weighed in the tons, and had to be kept on a specially reinforced floor.

Added this amazing story of the OED is one more strange fact: one of the greatest contributors to the OED was a man who was completely and incurably insane. Articulate, educated, helpful, but insane.

In short, The Professor and the Madman provides a vivid and interesting account of a unique piece of history. Fittingly for a book about a dictionary, the vocabulary was challenging and the tone was educated. I was rarely bored, and I was always curious about what was going to happen next. The final chapter raises some interesting questions that make you think. I would recommend it for anyone looking for some interesting nonfiction.