A very interesting historical account of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. The writing did keep me relatively engrossed for most of the book, but I did have times where it went a little too in depth with word meanings and other historical accounts that were less interesting to me than the story of Sir James Murray and Dr. Minor. ( )

I couldn't get through the book. The premise was very interesting, but I had a very difficult time with the author's writing style. BTW - the book group LOVED it. ( )

Enjoyable read on the making of my favorite dictionary, the OED. Although the main focus is on the lives and interaction of Minor and Murray, also provides some highlights on the other major contributors. Chapters begin with word entry from OED, word gives small preview of what to expect. ( )

Short but quite interesting. Winchester is a good storyteller who leavens his main tale with quick looks at the world passing by as the OED is being produced. ( )

W.C. Minor was an American army surgeon who began to suffer from paranoid delusions and guilt-ridden fantasies, and was eventually incarcerated in Broadmoor for the random and senseless murder of a man in London. His story is both tragic and fascinating; from his suite of two cells, this educated and disturbed man became the most prolific contributor to the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary, all the while maintaining a correspondence with - and keeping his secret from - James Murray, the dictionary’s editor.

There's a vividly compelling story here, but it's a little over-told for the sake of adding drama and pathos to the history of the OED; it's a complete enough tale without the 'and THEN guess what' that the author tries -needlessly - to inject into the writing. Winchester's real strength is delivering history and biography in an accessible manner, having a keen sense for important detail and rich seams of interest; where he lets the reader down is in assuming we will not realise these things for ourselves, but must be pointed at them repeatedly.

That said, for anyone who does not already know the stories that are intertwined with the collaboration and creation of the largest, most authoritative, and first complete collection of English words (and/or has any interest in lexicography at all) will find this an interesting and touching story, well worth reading. ( )