2010 Reading #30: The Professor and the Madman
Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
21. And Now We are Going to Have a Party by Nicola Griffith.
22. A Black Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew Henson.
23. Cinnamon Kiss by Walter Mosley.
24. Killdozer!: Volume III: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, by Theodore Sturgeon.
25. Justice League of America, Volume 1 by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, et al.
26. Hellboy: The Wild Hunt by Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo.
27. Merlin's Wood by Robert Holdstock.
28. Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel.
29. Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley.
30. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester. With a subtitle like that, how can you go wrong? Winchester tells the story without sensationalizing it; how an American ex-military doctor, born in Sri Lanka and with schizophrenia-like symptoms, ended up committing a murder of mistaken identity in Great Britain and took up lexicography from his asylum cell. The real focus here, the object of fascination around which the narrative orbits, is the making of the OED, an ambitious, cooperative, and paradigm-changing task, but Winchester chooses the right personalities to tell the story with; Dr. William Minor, the delusional but erudite Civil War veteran, and Dr. James Murray, the man charged by Oxford University and the Philological Society with producing the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language, a work begun before him and continuing after his death, taking seventy years before it was completed. If that's at all interesting to you, you should enjoy this brief but engaging book.
Books 11-20.
21. And Now We are Going to Have a Party by Nicola Griffith.
22. A Black Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew Henson.
23. Cinnamon Kiss by Walter Mosley.
24. Killdozer!: Volume III: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, by Theodore Sturgeon.
25. Justice League of America, Volume 1 by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, et al.
26. Hellboy: The Wild Hunt by Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo.
27. Merlin's Wood by Robert Holdstock.
28. Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel.
29. Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley.
30. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester. With a subtitle like that, how can you go wrong? Winchester tells the story without sensationalizing it; how an American ex-military doctor, born in Sri Lanka and with schizophrenia-like symptoms, ended up committing a murder of mistaken identity in Great Britain and took up lexicography from his asylum cell. The real focus here, the object of fascination around which the narrative orbits, is the making of the OED, an ambitious, cooperative, and paradigm-changing task, but Winchester chooses the right personalities to tell the story with; Dr. William Minor, the delusional but erudite Civil War veteran, and Dr. James Murray, the man charged by Oxford University and the Philological Society with producing the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language, a work begun before him and continuing after his death, taking seventy years before it was completed. If that's at all interesting to you, you should enjoy this brief but engaging book.