Discussion:
Simon Winchester's "The Professor and the Madman"
(too old to reply)
Richard Ellis
2018-08-13 16:11:30 UTC
Permalink
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.
Francis A. Miniter
2018-08-14 00:49:17 UTC
Permalink
Post by Richard Ellis
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.
I am very glad you enjoyed it!


Francis A. Miniter
Nancy Spera
2018-08-14 12:33:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by Francis A. Miniter
Post by Richard Ellis
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.
I am very glad you enjoyed it!
I've got that sitting in my TBR pile. Maybe it's time to pick it up.

Nancy


---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com
Carol Dickinson
2018-08-16 03:02:27 UTC
Permalink
Post by Nancy Spera
Post by Francis A. Miniter
Post by Richard Ellis
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.
I am very glad you enjoyed it!
I've got that sitting in my TBR pile. Maybe it's time to pick it up.
Nancy
---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com
Mike Burke
2018-08-15 00:22:34 UTC
Permalink
On Mon, 13 Aug 2018 09:11:30 -0700 (PDT), Richard Ellis
Post by Richard Ellis
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.
i read it years ago, and agree that it was a wonderful book. In fact,
I've read several of Winchester's books and they are uniformly
excellent.

Mique

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
Continue reading on narkive:
Loading...