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The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by Simon Winchester
Free Ebook The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by Simon Winchester
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The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- and literary history. The compilation of the OED, begun in 1857, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W.C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.
This audio also includes a conversation between Simon Winchester and John Simpson, editor of the Oxford English Dictionary
- Sales Rank: #257714 in Books
- Brand: Winchester, Simon/ Winchester, Simon (NRT)
- Published on: 2005
- Released on: 2005-10-04
- Format: Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 6
- Dimensions: 5.50" h x 5.00" w x .75" l, .38 pounds
- Running time: 27000 seconds
- Binding: Audio CD
- 6 pages
Amazon.com Review
The compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary, 70 years in the making, was an intellectually heroic feat with a twist worthy of the greatest mystery fiction: one of its most valuable contributors was a criminally insane American physician, locked up in an English asylum for murder. British stage actor Simon Jones leads us through this uncommon meeting of minds (the other belonging to self-educated dictionary editor James Murray) at full gallop. Ultimately, it's hard to say which is more remarkable: the facts of this amazingly well-researched story, or the sound of author Simon Winchester's erudite prose. Jones's reading smoothly transports listeners to the 19th century, reminding us why so many brilliant people obsessively set out to catalogue the English language. This unabridged version contains an interview between Winchester and John Simpson, editor of the Oxford dictionary. (Running time: 6.5 hours, 6 cassettes) --Lou Schuler
From Publishers Weekly
The Oxford English Dictionary used 1,827,306 quotations to help define its 414,825 words. Tens of thousands of those used in the first edition came from the erudite, moneyed American Civil War veteran Dr. W.C. Minor?all from a cell at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Vanity Fair contributor Winchester (River at the Center of the World) has told his story in an imaginative if somewhat superficial work of historical journalism. Sketching Minor's childhood as a missionary's son and his travails as a young field surgeon, Winchester speculates on what may have triggered the prodigious paranoia that led Minor to seek respite in England in 1871 and, once there, to kill an innocent man. Pronounced insane and confined at Broadmoor with his collection of rare books, Minor happened upon a call for OED volunteers in the early 1880s. Here on more solid ground, Winchester enthusiastically chronicles Minor's subsequent correspondence with editor Dr. J.A.H. Murray, who, as Winchester shows, understood that Minor's endless scavenging for the first or best uses of words became his saving raison d'etre, and looked out for the increasingly frail man's well-being. Winchester fills out the story with a well-researched mini-history of the OED, a wonderful demonstration of the lexicography of the word "art" and a sympathetic account of Victorian attitudes toward insanity. With his cheeky way with a tale ("It is a brave and foolhardy and desperate man who will perform an autopeotomy" he writes of Minor's self-mutilation), Winchester celebrates a gloomy life brightened by devotion to a quietly noble, nearly anonymous task. Photos not seen by PW. Agent, Peter Matson. BOMC selection.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
YA-This unusual and exciting account centers on two men involved in the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary-Professor James Murray, its editor, and Dr. William Chester Minor, a true Connecticut Yankee who was one of the resource's most prolific contributors. The most surprising aspect of this long and productive partnership was that Dr. Minor, probably a schizophrenic, was incarcerated in England's most notorious insane asylum during the whole of their working relationship. He was a scholar and medical doctor whose fragile mental condition was probably exacerbated by duty as a surgeon during the American Civil War. His imprisonment was not harsh and his devotion to the cause of the dictionary and his precise and prolific contributions probably helped him hold on to some sense of reality. Winchester's descriptions of Civil War battlefields and the search for definitions of words such as aardvark or elephant are intriguing and compelling. This is a fine tale for both word lovers and history buffs. The momentum of the beginning scenes of warfare and murder are followed, not disappointingly, by descriptions of the trials and tribulations of dictionary crafting. Readers will meet some extraordinary men and an unusual woman, and find themselves well and truly ensconced in the late 19th century.
Susan H. Woodcock, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Words, madness and wonder.
By samssis
Did you ever wonder just how the Oxford English Dictionary came to be? Simon Winchester, another fine historical novelist, tells the story of this monumental achievement as the life-work of the modest and brilliant scholar, James Murray. When he publishes a call to men of letters to start a compilation of all the words in the English language replete with all the semantics and origins of such words, he begins a twenty year correspondence with a prolific and tireless contributor. This person, Dr. W. Minor, is one of the more tragic and unknown figures of American history. His semantic acumen is only matched by his hughly unfortunate fate caused largely by the war of brothers, the Civil War. To reveal more is to give away the plot of this remarkable true story of two unsung heroes in the world of academics.
A must read for the lover of the English language, for the conissour of words, for another indictment on war and its collateral damages, on the tragedy of mental illness and in the end the perseverance and resiliency of the human spirit.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Tragic and Amazing
By QA
This was the April book for our Library Book Club. Wow! This was a very well written book. I found it to be very interesting and informative. The creation of the Oxford English Dictionary took place before many mental illnesses were officially diagnosed. I found it very interesting that one of the main contributors was a Civil War veteran, Dr. W. C. Minor, a medical doctor who had committed murder and was an inmate at an English asylum for the criminally insane. Today he would probably be diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and treated with medication. Dr. Minor’s story is tragic but it is amazing that he was able to turn his madness into brilliance in his contribution to the Oxford English Dictionary. He answered the call when Professor Murray sent out requests for contributors to read several books and contribute page number references to words found in recommended books that should be added to the dictionary. This was a huge undertaking. He loved to read and both he and Professor James Murray were obsessed with creating the Oxford English Dictionary. This is an amazing dictionary and I have used the online version often in my work as a quality assurance coordinator. This is an amazing story and well worth the read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
A fascinating book, marred by a bad last chapter.
By Martin van Creveld
An absolutely fascinating account of the origins of the largest lexical enterprise in history, the Oxford English Dictionary, as well as the men who initiated it and worked on it.
Among the latter, the most interesting was William Minor. An American and a doctor by training, he served in the US Army during the last years of the Civil War when he went through, and participated in, some gruesome events indeed. These events may or may not have triggered his paranoia which caused him to murder an innocent laborer in London, where he moved after the war's end. Whereupon he was judged insane and committed to an asylum for life. It was from his cell, in reality two comfortable rooms, that he made a vast contribution to the Dictionary.
The weakest part of the book comes towards the end, There Winchester, speculates--speculates is the right word--about what may have caused MInor's paranoia and mental illness. Comparing the symptoms to those of PTSD, he claims that the latter was first identified during the 1991 Gulf War! A pity, for I would gladly have given his book five stars.
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