The Professor and the Madman

Note: I finally finished reading Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day! Yes, the book I was supposed to have read for my January book club meeting. :) However late I am to that party, that was my sixth read and it was truly delightful. I endorse Elizabeth's review of that novel, found here.

My 7th book of 2012 is The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by Simon Winchester. I give it four stars. 

I don't think it's any secret that I am a big fan of the OED. It is one of my life's goals to someday own it. (I think I will wait until I have a majestic and impressive library in which to display the unabridged set of volumes.) So naturally, I was very interested in reading this book. Simon Winchester did a fantastic job of creating a book worth reading, going into the back stories of some very interesting characters, particularly James Murray and WC Minor. 

The compilation of the OED began in 1857. Clearly one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken, it was headed by an overseeing committee led by Professor James Murray. As the committee went about collecting definitions for use in the dictionary, Murray discovered that one man, WC Minor, had submitted more than 10,000. Interestingly enough, Minor, an American Civil War veteran, also happened to be an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane. Curioser and curioser, indeed.

I have to say, after reading such a detailed account of all that went into the making of the OED, I am honestly surprised that it was finished. I am surprised that people agreed to participate in the first place and that it actually came about. What an undertaking! I loved reading about how they went about gathering volunteer readers to compile words and usage quotations from all sorts of books. I would have loved to be involved in that.

I also loved that this is a book one would do well to read with a dictionary by one's side. Here's just a smattering of some of the words you will come across: hugger-mugger, plaudit, encomium, decussated, redoubtable, amanuenses, genuflective, diktats, manque, desultory. Beautiful. I found myself wondering why so many of English's fantastic words are so rarely used these days. People just go for the easiest ones, I guess.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I have to say, though, if I weren't so interested in the OED and words in general, I may not have finished. Fortunately for us all, I am and I did. If you wouldn't put yourself in either category, you may want to pass. 

Oh, I should also note that this is not a read for the easily offended or squeamish. I won't go into specifics, but WC Minor was a very troubled soul. His life was not a very happy one, and certain events at the end of it were quite disturbing. I think it is no exaggeration to say that his work contributing to the OED brought him some of the only happy times in his life-- and I am just one of the many individuals who have benefited from that work.