OED Adventure

What a treat it has been to read of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Yep...you got it...I'm certifiable, I guess. The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester (Harper Press 1998) is the story of the making of the Dictionary with special emphasis on the extrordinary lives of two of the most notable contributors to its successful completion. It is subtitles "A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary". It is one of the few books that I have had to read non-stop for the sheer obsession that it engenders. Having an English B.S. and also having been out of academia since that degree was generously bestowed upon me, I found the experience very envigorating...intellectually. I was surprised to find that I cheered on the contributions of the Madman with much the same enthusiasm as would a baseball fan the scoring of runs...a bit geeky (a word?), I suppose.

Anyway, if you love scolarly adventure (narrow genre, to be sure) you would sure appreciate this literary success.