The Professor and the Madman

The beginning was quite catchy, with the whole ordeal with the murder and how the author portrayed the city of Lambeth--I thought it really gained my attention, but then I was unsure where the plot line was going to go. However, a few things were quite interesting to learn & will add to the reportoire of random knowledge I have inside this 3 pound organ in my head. This wad of information about the Oxford English Dictionary began on page 25, "It took more than seventy years to create the twelve tombestone-size volumes that made up the first edition of what was to become the Oxford English Dictionary...Just as English is a very large and complex language, so the OED is a very large and complex book. It defines well over half a million words. It contains scores of millions of characters, and, at least in its early versions, many miles of hand-set type." I think this emphasizes the fact that this project is HUGE! Not only is it a massive project, it is a project of pure genious.

The relationship between Murray and Minor is well-maintained throughout the making of the OED. One of the suprising things about Minor is that he was a surgeon who gave significant contributions to Murray, sending thousands of handwritten items to Murray who was nearly fifty miles away. I thought about this. And today, fifty miles doesn't seem like much, but if you think back to the earlier days, and the lack of technology available, I bet that was considered far distance. So I think the relationship they maintained in this project is pretty impressive. It's kind of funny that the two never truly met, until Murray seeked Minor out, only to find out that he was a murder, seriously insane, and locked up in an asylum (apparently England's harshest).

I think one of the main focuses of this book is how two very unlike men maintain such an unusual relationship. Not only is this book educational, but it is a story one might not believe until they have read it!