The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary | 
 enlarge | Author: Simon Winchester
Publisher: Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
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Rating:  413 reviews
Sales Rank: 202784
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Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.4
ASIN: B000H2N4U4
Publication Date: July 31, 1999
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Condition: nice hardcover copy slight tear to dust jacket otherwise in good condition
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Amazon.com Review
When the editors of the IOxford English Dictionary/I put out a call during the late 19th century pleading for "men of letters" to provide help with their mammoth undertaking, hundreds of responses came forth. Some helpers, like Dr. W.C. Minor, provided literally thousands of entries to the editors. But Minor, an American expatriate in England and a Civil War veteran, was actually a certified lunatic who turned in his dictionary entries from the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Simon Winchester has produced a mesmerizing coda to the deeply troubled Minor's life, a life that in one sense began with the senseless murder of an innocent British brewery worker that the deluded Minor believed was an assassin sent by one of his numerous "enemies." p Winchester also paints a rich portrait of the OED's leading light, Professor James Murray, who spent more than 40 years of his life on a project he would not see completed in his lifetime. Winchester traces the origins of the drive to create a "Big Dictionary" down through Murray and far back into the past; the result is a fascinating compact history of the English language (albeit admittedly more interesting to linguistics enthusiasts than historians or true crime buffs). That Murray and Minor, whose lives took such wildly disparate turns yet were united in their fierce love of language, were able to view one another as peers and foster a warm friendship is just one of the delicately turned subplots of this compelling book. I--Tjames Madison/I
Product Description
PMysterious (mistie ries), a. [f. L. mysterium Mysteryi + ous. Cf. F. mysterieux.] BR1. Full of or fraught with mystery; wrapt in mystery; hidden from human knowledge or understanding; impossible or difficult to explain, solve, or discover; of obscure origin, nature, or purpose. /PPIt is known as one of the greatest literary achievements in the history of English letters. The creation of the IOxford English Dictionary/I began in 1857, took seventy years to complete, drew from tens of thousands of brilliant minds, and organized the sprawling language into 414,825 precise definitions. But hidden within the rituals of its creation is a fascinating and mysterious story--a story of two remarkable men whose strange twenty-year relationship lies at the core of this historic undertaking. PProfessor James Murray, an astonishingly learned former schoolmaster and bank clerk, was the distinguished editor of the IOED/I project. Dr. William Chester Minor, an American surgeon from New Haven, Connecticut, who had served in the Civil War, was one of thousands of contributors who submitted illustrative quotations of words to be used in the dictionary. But Minor was no ordinary contributor. He was remarkably prolific, sending thousands of neat, handwritten quotations from his home in the small village of Crowthorne, fifty miles from Oxford. On numerous occasions Murray invited Minor to visit Oxford and celebrate his work, but Murray's offer was regularly--and mysteriously--refused. PThus the two men, for two decades, maintained a close relationship only through correspondence. Finally, in 1896, after Minor had sent nearly ten thousand definitions to the dictionary but had still never traveled from his home, a puzzled Murray set out to visit him. It was then that Murray finally learned the truth about Minor--that, in addition to being a masterful wordsmith, Minor was also a murderer, clinically insane--and locked up in Broadmoor, England's harshest asylum for criminal lunatics. PIThe Professor and the Madman/I is an extraordinary tale of madness and genius, and the incredible obsessions of two men at the heart of the IOxford English Dictionary/I and literary history. With riveting insight and detail, Simon Winchester crafts a fascinating glimpse into one man's tortured mind and his contribution to another man's magnificent dictionary.BR/P
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| Customer Reviews: Read 408 more reviews...
The Professor and the Madman November 21, 2008
D. E. W. Turner (Hereford, AZ, USA)
It is an interesting book, explaining how the Oxford English Dictionary was put together by volunteers supplying definitions and quotes for every word in the English language. In the back of the book is a call for additional volunteers to work on keeping the dictionary current! The man who made the largest number of contributions was Captain William Chester Minor, late of the United States Army, whose residence at the time he was making contributions was Broadmoor Asylum for the criminally Insane, Crowthorne, Berkshire. He was committed to Broadmoor for the murder of George Merrett in February 1872. Captain Minor suffered from what today would be diagnosed as Schizophrenia - although his problem was not diagnosed until 18 November 1918 after the British government formally returned the aged Civil War captain to the United States Army. Interestingly, the author makes the statement that schizophrenia, then called dementia praecox, is early onset Alzheimer's, or at least it was so believed in 1918.
Supplement, Addendum, Prequel, Sequel, Corollary October 22, 2008
Grey Wolffe (North Waltham, MA United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Though it was written before "The Meaning of Everything" it could easily serve as a chapter or appendix to the book. Winchester does a superb job of telling both the early history of the OED while at the same time setting down the 'odd' collaboration between Professor JAH Murray (of Oxford) and the Madman Dr. WC Minor (or the Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum). Their relationship was to span forty years and affect the OED in a way that no other relationship did. br / br /Minor (who was an American Doctor and Civil War Veteran) had come to England to "try and get his head straight" after the horrors he saw during the Civil War. While in England he murders an innocent man and is sent to the 'Lunatic Asylum' for the rest of his life. While there he gets involved with the creation of the OED by sending in slips that demarcate word meanings and usage. His work (voluntary) is so specific and exact that he is asked by Murray to 'find' citations for certain words and to also look for earlier usages and meanings. br / br /Murray finally meets Minor after seven years of correspondence an is amazed at the work this so called 'lunatic' has been able to send into the OED over a period of years. They never become what you would call 'fast friends' but do establish a corresponding association that is both respected and admired by all those who work on the OED. br / br /I listened to this book on CD and found Winchester's reading of his own book to heighten the enjoyment of it. Knowing when to put emphasis on the proper parts of the book to specifically call your attention to a passage or section, made the book thoroughly enjoyabale. br / br /Zeb Kantrowitz
Three-and-a-half stars, really. October 12, 2008
C. Gilbert (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
The first time that I had ever heard about the Oxford English Dictionary, I was a freshman at Bryn Mawr-- straight from the sticks. I had tested out of needing to take the freshman English classes, and had plunged straightaway into classes that were aimed at upper classman. While eventually that turned out to be fine, my very first class was with a peach of a gentleman who clearly found me an unlettered barbarian who should have been sent back to the freshman comp classes-- or even worse. I was not only an unlettered barbarian, but a *stubborn* unlettered barbarian and we fought about absolutely everything. A little bit over midway through the semester, he marked me down on a paper because I used the word "meld". He scribbled in the margin: "Not a word!" Furious, I went to the library and came back with a popular dictionary and I held the entry for "meld" under his nose during his office hours. He icily slammed the book shut and glared at me. "If it is not in the Oxford English Dictionary," he said, "it is not a word!" br / br /That began my lifelong love-hate relationship with the OED. At least with the idea of the OED. I've somehow never managed to acquire my own copy. (I keep telling B. that I'd love one for my birthday, but I'm pretty sure that he doesn't believe that I'm serious.) But still, The Professor and the Madman was kind of a natural for me. People have been recommending it to me ever since it appeared; I've had several offers to lend it to me (I don't borrow books); I've had it regularly suggested on Amazon. I finally picked up my own copy second-hand. And now, reader, I've finally read the book. br / br /And-- honestly-- it's a little bit anticlimactic. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice book. It's one of these new breed of nonfiction books that read mostly like magazine articles writ large. Winchester delivers a very good magazine article writ large. It is surely entertaining, very interesting, decently written and a good story. What else could you want? br / br /I would have *perhaps* wanted a little more about the history of the Dictionary and a little bit less about Minor. But this isn't a fair remark, as that was the subject of the book. But that would have added more substance, and if I have a criticism it is surely that the book is not very substantial. br / br /Know someone who loves words? This is probably an excellent gift. It's unlikely to be controversial, and they will probably get a kick out of it. Do not expect too much, and you will not be disappointed. br / br /(I really appreciated, by the way, that Winchester included a list of suggestions for further reading. I will definitely be following some of those up.)
Psychological thriller that can't be put down August 3, 2008
Todd Stockslager (Raleigh, NC)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Absent the anti-Christian bias of his geological disaster books, Winchester writes a very good tale about a fascinating sidebar of history during the compilation of the OED. The madman was an American military surgeon (son of missionaries to Sri Lanka!) who served in the Union army during the Civil War, whose slow spiral to insanity culminated in the shooting of an innocent man in London 15 years later. The professor was the editor of the OED who corresponded with the madman for 20 years at the asylum outside London where he made a full-time career of volunteering word lists and quotes to the OED editorial team. br / br /How their histories shadowed and paths crossed, and how the OED came to be, make for a great story. The book was lavishly praised and worthily so, reading like a psychological thriller that can't be put down. I literally read through this in less than 24 hours in just a few sittings.
 the madness of scholarship July 14, 2008
N. Ravitch (Savannah, GA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Many academics and scholars border on creative madness, take Kierkegaard and Nietzsche for example. This book is marvellous reading since the dull subject of dictionary making is enlivened by eccentric personalities and mental disturbance. It reveals how a dictionary as prestigious as the Oxford English Dictionary was put together. Any author who can make such a dry subject as exciting as a murder mystery deserves a good deal of credit and acclaim.
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