The Professor and the Madman – Simon Winchester
100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: Although it’s always been part of our lives, the Oxford English Dictionary didn’t just appear one day. It took 70 years of research and collaboration from people all around the world, including a criminally institutionalized former U.S. Civil War surgeon.
Expectation: A somewhat salacious micro-history about how we came to define words.
Reality: Not very salacious, but a streamlined, engaging history none-the-less.
Recommended For: Non-fiction fans and those that love reading, writing and celebrating language.
Why I Read It: Not sure what motivated me to add it to my queue more than two years ago, but it probably had something to do with the tagline: “A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary.” I mean, who wouldn’t want to read that?
My take:
As readers we’re obviously mesmerized by words. How they sound. What they mean. And, how, when the right combination is brought together, they can elicit every emotion – from love and hate to fear and happiness – in the span of inches on a page.
Learning how to use and understand words is a powerful tool for personal development and fighting against hate and injustice. Yet that right has been kept from certain groups of people for millennia because there has long been recognition that words are one of the strongest weapons humans can wield.
For me, words are like oxygen or gravity; a constant presence but one I don’t think about regularly.
Well, Simon Winchester has changed that with this precise, but far from all-encompassing, exploration of the development of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
Like many non-fiction stories of the past 20 years, Winchester homes in on two important people in the development of the definitive historical account of the English language:
Professor James Murray, the primary editor of the OED who developed the methodology – basically crowd sourcing – and vetting process for categorizing and defining words.
Dr. William Chester Minor, an American Army surgeon and one of the largest contributors to the OED while institutionalized for murder and mental illnesses (likely PTSD, OCD and schizophrenia).
Each person’s backstory, and the moments in time when their lives intersect, is compelling enough to stand on its own.
Winchester also doesn’t bog down the text with too many “you should also knows,” and instead smartly weaves supplemental information – such as Minor’s Civil War record to a general exploration of how people knew what words meant before the OED – seamlessly into the story to help ground the reader without being tangential. This make “The Professor and the Madman” accessible to readers of all interests.
My biggest complaint, besides a rather lackluster narration by Winchester in the audiobook, is the story is far too slim given the nature of language itself.
Winchester may not have set out to write the definitive history of English, but he does touch on a few of the philosophical and moral aspects of the story, including cultural appropriation and accessibility, without going deep.
Sure, this was published 15 years ago, so maybe in today’s climate he would’ve put those discussions more front and center, specifically for Murray’s sections, and I don’t think it would detract from Minor’s contributions to the story, which are, let’s be honest, the more salacious and attention-grabbing.
Overall, this is a solid from start-to-finish micro-history.
Rating (story): 4/5 stars
Rating (narration): 2.5/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: July 14 – July 19, 2020
Multi-tasking: Okay, but you’ll miss some important details.
