Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages

I am a dictionary reader--not like Shea, who reads them straight through, but in a more desultory manner, as occasional pleasure reading. I am one of those people who list a good dictionary when asked which 5 books I'd take with me to a desert island. I am as likely as the next dictionary reader to play word golf, looking up associated words and concepts in the same or other reference books. I have two favorite dictionary reading games. One is to trace words with related etymologies, an activity that does not seem to move Shea. I would be a much slower dictionary reader than he, because I find the origins more interesting than the words themselves. The other is to read translating dictionaries, both for the satisfaction of understanding how another language's words are constructed, but primarily because the "X to English" section presents the English words in non-alphabetical order, creating a sequence of English words that may be read as a story. Who needs new books when you have a Greek-English dictionary? It is full of new tales.

I enjoyed Shea's narrative in much the same way as Jacobs's [b:The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World|28116|The Know-It-All One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World|A.J. Jacobs|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167927775s/28116.jpg|197064], Fatsis's [b:Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players|8954|Word Freak Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players|Stefan Fatsis|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165847193s/8954.jpg|3163711], or, in the non-linguistic sphere, Koeppel's [b:To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession|1188469|To See Every Bird on Earth A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession|Dan Koeppel|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181754661s/1188469.jpg|1176462]--as a tale of obsession and acquisition. I'd have liked the chronological narrative, which falls after a successive letter heading and before interesting words beginning with that letter, to relate to each letter in some way. Otherwise, why subsume it under the letter heading? Still, I enjoyed this account without feeling inadequate that I have no desire to replicate it.

To learn more about the OED, read Winchester's[b:The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary|25019|The Professor and the Madman A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary|Simon Winchester|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167571834s/25019.jpg|1628566] and [b:The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary|155396|The Meaning of Everything The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary|Simon Winchester|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172260102s/155396.jpg|4621200]. ( )

I have not laughed this much or this loudly while reading a book in public in a very, very long time.

But perhaps that says more about me than about this book; I think a book about obscure words and their definitions has a very specific audience. ( )

I love this book! It's one of the most enjoyable reads I have ever had and have read it several times. His ability to make words so entertainingly funny is wonderfully intellligent and unpretentious. I've been reading dictionaries for enjoyment for twenty or so years and he inspired me to finally break down and buy the 20 volume OED, it's the best book in the world for logophiles who love to get lost in the fascinating words of the English language." Reading the OED " is bitingly funny, smart, and edifying. Highly recommended for word lovers. ( )

I've read a few of these type of books, and this is one of my favorites. It's arranged alphabetically with each chapter starting with some of Shea's thoughts on various dictionary related topics and is followed by some choice words from the OED with the author's commentary. While this book isn't for everyone, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to lovers of language. ( )

The author is evidently a dictionary aficionado; he owns hundreds of volumes and has always enjoyed reading them for fun. Here, he sets the goal of reading the entire twenty-volume Oxford English Dictionary in a year's time. The book is divided into chapters for each letter, with a reflection on his read and a few selected words. (My favorites were penultimatum, the last warning before the ultimatum; and preantepenultimate, fourth from last.) Frankly, it was a pretty dull read, even though Shea is an engaging writer (as when he admits that he distrusts anything that becomes more expensive as it gets smaller, like his new reading glasses). His affection for the language, though, is sweet, and he seems to genuinely enjoy his task, which is enlivened by the quotations the OED uses to illuminate words. ( )