The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
The compilation of the OxfordEnglish Dictionary was one of the most ambitious and challenging language projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the vast over-seeing committee, led by professor James Murray, discovered that more than 10,000 definitions had been submitted by one man, Dr. W. C. Minor. When the committee insisited on honoring him, the incredible truth came to light: Dr. Minor was really a brilliant but severly ill inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane. This is the fascinating, unforgettable true story of a man who became the most prolific contributor of the English language and to history itself.
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Simon Winchester is the acclaimed author of many books, including The Professor and the Madman, The Men Who United the States, The Map That Changed the World, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and Krakatoa, all of which were New York Times bestsellers and appeared on numerous best and notable lists. In 2006, Winchester was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen. He resides in western Massachusetts.
"An extraordinary tale, and Simon Winchester could not have told it better. . . . [He] has written a splendid book."--The Economist
"Elegant and scrupulous."--David Walton, New York Times Book Review
"There is much truth to be drawn [from The Professor and the Madman] about Victorian pride, the relation between language and the world, and the fine line between sanity and madness."--Wall Street Journal
"Winchester combines a reporter's eye for detail with a historian's sense of scale. His writing is droll and eloquent."--USA Today
"One of the great strengths of this book is historical mise-en-scene, particularly for nineteenth-century America and England...[a] marvelous work of historical and philogical imagination."--Linda Bridges, National Review
"Remarkably readable, this chronicle of lexicography roams from the great dictionary itself to hidden nooks in the human psyche that sometimes house the motives for murder, the sources for sanity, and the blueprint for creativity."--Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"The Professor and the Madman...is the linguistic detective story of the decade.... Winchester does a superb job of historical research that should entice readers even more interested in deeds than words."--William Safire, New York Times Magazine
"Winchester's history of the OED is brisk and entertaining"--Mark Rozzo, Washington Post Book World
