Richard Ellis
2018-08-13 16:11:30 UTC
Thanks to Francis A. Miniter's recommendation I have just finished reading "The Professor and the Madman" by Simon Winchester. I found the book to be both a delightful and educational read. It is a carefully documented but brief history of how the Oxford English Dictionary was created coupled with a fascinating relationship between two of the men partially responsible for its creation, one of them locked up in Broadmoor, an asylum for criminal lunatics. How did Dr. Minor end up in the asylum? How did Dr. Murray learn of Minor's ability to research deeply into the source of words? Where were Dr. Minor's sources and how did the two of them meet? A great story well written!
Winchester did a wonderful job of organizing the book so we were carried along the development of the OED along with the fascinating characters involved in the process.
Thanks, Francis. I loved the book and recommend it to anyone interested in words, how dictionaries are researched and developed and specifically the OED.
Winchester did a wonderful job of organizing the book so we were carried along the development of the OED along with the fascinating characters involved in the process.
Thanks, Francis. I loved the book and recommend it to anyone interested in words, how dictionaries are researched and developed and specifically the OED.