Crazy is as Crazy Does

The Professor and the Madman
Simon Winchester
Harper Perennial

You've probably all figured out by now that the D-E-S is a bit of a word nerd. It could be because my given name rhymes with Librarian, or maybe it's because my parents encouraged me to read from a very early age -- I'm not sure. What I do know is that I unapologetically love language and I get genuinely excited when I add something new to my vocabulary.

It was with utter delight and a great deal of excitement that I started The Professor and the Madman -- a non-fiction work that tells the story of the creation of the OED -- the Oxford English Dictionary. I know, you're thinking "there she goes again -- spinning that EMBS propeller," but honestly, this book was fascinating. Started in 1857, the first full edition of the OED took over 70 years to write. In this account, we are introduced to two of the main contributors to this ambitious project -- Professor James Murray, one of the principle editors of the first edition, and Dr. Charles Minor, a prolific contributor, Civil War veteran, and resident in a facility for the criminally insane.

Murray and Minor corresponded for over twenty years before they actually met face-to-face. Minor, who killed a man in a fit of paranoia was to be incarcerated "until Her Majesty's Pleasure be known." He entered an asylum when he was 37 and died, in custody at the ripe old age of 85. During that time, he contributed thousands of words and quotations to the OED and managed to carry out his meticulous research while suffering from what would now be diagnosed as severe schizophrenia. James Murray, while a little less colourful, was no less interesting. He came from family so poor that he had to leave school at the age of 14. His thirst for knowledge, however, was unquenchable and by the time he was a young man, he had a seat on the Royal Philological Society. It was a short hop, skip and jump from there to full-fledged lexicographer and editor of the most exciting, ambitious dictionary project the world had ever seen.

Even if you're not a word nerd, The Professor and the Madman is still a very interesting read. So much so, in fact, that I think I'm going to break with tradition and put it on the list for the D-E-S book of the year. I liked it that much. 4 printing plates out of 5.