What could not be thrilling about a book about writing a dictionary?! Right?
Well, OK, maybe its not everyone's thing. But if you stop to think for a minute about what a dictionary is, how many words are in it, its pretty astounding that they exist at all. And even more so that they were created prior to modern databases. To sit in a room, reading books, making words lists, and writing definitions for years or even decades.. you might just have to be a little bit mad.
The Professor and the Madman is the story of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Its a love story to words and how language evolves. Its also a story about the people involved, their lives, and idiosyncrasies. Its a story about what it means to be mad now and what it meant in the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s.
Long Story Short - For anyone who has ever had in interest that absorbs than more than what might be deemed healthy, you might find yourself in this story.
Well, OK, maybe its not everyone's thing. But if you stop to think for a minute about what a dictionary is, how many words are in it, its pretty astounding that they exist at all. And even more so that they were created prior to modern databases. To sit in a room, reading books, making words lists, and writing definitions for years or even decades.. you might just have to be a little bit mad.
The Professor and the Madman is the story of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Its a love story to words and how language evolves. Its also a story about the people involved, their lives, and idiosyncrasies. Its a story about what it means to be mad now and what it meant in the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s.
Long Story Short - For anyone who has ever had in interest that absorbs than more than what might be deemed healthy, you might find yourself in this story.
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