The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary - The Meaning of Everything

Lovers of history and interesting words will adore this book, and even the most casual reader will find it easy to read. I read The Meaning of Everything over the course of three days while on vacation, and although it isn't what I would call "beach reading" it was light and fun.

Winchester seems to have a good sense of when to move on to a new idea, which is part of what makes this so painless to read. There's no belaboring any points.

Also, there's an abundance of interesting side information in the book. For example, J.R.R. Tolkien was once a contributor to the OED, and Winchester discusses his contributions.

A must-have for the budding English major, certainly.

Absolutely one of the finest books/audio Cds one can pick up! This is a wonderful, elucidating account of the creation of the OED. The author, whose prose has graced the subjects of Krakatoa and `The map that changed the world' now sheds light on the processes by which the OED was created. His enlightening sketches of the many gifted souls who lent their knowledge and intimate knowledge of the English Language is a tale of greatness and heritage. Reading this will make you feel like a flower that has just been watered, enriched by the greatness of the English language and its diversity and many influences. The authors grasp on his subject is overwhelming and many topics are covered. This book should not be missed. The audio version, read by the author, is truly perfect.
Seth J. Frantzman

Before reading this book, I knew a little about how how the OED was created. This book explains how the project started, who worked on it, and how the entries were compiled. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and learned a lot. I especially liked knowing about the little cubbyhole cabinets in which entries were kept. And now, whenever I consult the OED, I'm even more appreciative of the source material quotes. A very inspiring story!

Winchester's stress on personalies demonstrates that the OED was the work of amateurs in the main. Their procedure and philosophy was correct, namely, that a dictionary reports meanings and usages; it does not determine them, pace my teachers in the schools. The professionals of the French Academy had, and have, it wrong. You cannot control the growth of a living language. Furthermore, I very much doubt that the "Immortals" were or are anywhere as interesting as the strong, pungent individuals who put the OED together.

Winchester's book will fascinate those interested in the history of what is generally accepted to be the greatest dictionary produced for any language. The opening chapters provide a good background to the history and nature of the English language and previous attempts to create comprehensive dictionaries for it. This is essential to understanding the massive scope of the project undertaken by the OED's editors, publishers and contributors. As for the project itself, Winchester does an excellent job of portraying the challenges, triumphs and unique personalities involved in the project. His strength lies in taking a subject as seemingly uninteresting as producing a dictionary and making the personages, the historical context and the document itself come alive. Winchester's other strength is his attention to detail. There is no question raised in this book that is not answered, either in the text itself or the footnotes. Highly readable and highly enjoyable, this book is great for those interested in language, dictionaries or even just nineteenth century society in general.

After reading this book, I have a great respect for the work that went into this magnificent undertaking, and the men who did it. The book reads like a novel, and I bought Winchester's other book The Madman and the Professor. But my grandest book is the Compact Edition of the Oxford Dictionary. It takes a certain type to like this story. It requires an inquiring mind.

I thought that after reading the professor and the madman, i knew everything that was interesting about the OED and language but I was very wrong. This book is not just a source of knowledge, it's extremely entertaining. The history of the OED continues to amaze me and the way in which this book informs the reader is amazing. This book should be mandadory reading in every school!

What I was expecting was a fascinating back story into the characters and challenges of assembling the most comprehensive dictionary of the most important language in the world. What I got was a detailed account of the letter C, and the letter A, and the letter Q, and . . . well you get the idea.

It wasn't without value, of course. There were tidbits of detail that added to my own compendium of internal trivia - like the manner in which scraps of paper sent in by thousands of readers created a monumental work in an ugly tin shed. There was a good account of the second editor who wasn't up to the task and instead allowed the whole operation to sag, losing or destroying much of the initial investigative work through neglect. And there were vignettes describing a couple of the various readers and how disparate an assortment assembling such an august work.

But those were few and far between. It seems that Winchester was most concerned with bring the reader to share the feeling of what creating a dictionary was about - slow painstaking work that only an actuary or proofreader could appreciate. I finished the volume, but upon the end I was relieved I'd made it as one is relieved of a heavy burden or difficult task not the light airy feeling of reward usually associated with a chronicle.

- CV Rick

Having flown past Mt. Everest fome 20 times (WWII service with the USAF's Air Transport Command's "Over the Hump" service between Assam Province and China) I felt awe-stricken even at the distance of about 100 miles. Before reading Winchester's account of the OED's birth and evolution I looked at my set this work merely as an Everest of sorts, not to be comprehended by mere beginners such as mysekf. I can now begin to understand a bit about the true historical nature of this work created "On Historical Principles."
Check this book out of the library, if possible, otherwise, BUY!

The author has written "Professor, Madman and the making of the OED" where he spends most of the time on one of the contributors, W.C.Minor to this project. He was probably one of the more colourful personalities, but the editor (for the most part) James Murray makes a good subject as well. This book is a better choice if you want to know about the entire history of the project -- one of the longest in the history of humanity -- which took 68 years! The author has an obsession with giving verbose biographical descriptions of any person who was involved. But, his flair for adjectives makes interesting reading.

Unreadable due to the author’s acute case of logorrhea. It rambles, on and on and on, about everything other than what the book is ostensibly about. I’m giving The Professor and the Madman a try next. Hopefully it will not have the same problems.

Who would have thought that the writing of a dictionary would be so fascinating. The author, Simon Winchester, takes what could be a rather drab story, and weaves an interesting and riveting tale for the ages.

wow! If you like this one, you will love the Professor and the Madman.

I am going to pick another of Winchester's books next, I love his style.

Journalist Simon Winchester returns to the subject of his bestseller, The Professor and the Madman, to further expound on the making of the English language's definitive dictionary. The story begins with a lucid journey through the history of the English language, setting the foundation for a group of intellectuals in 1860, who decide to undertake the monumentous task of correcting the attempts of previous lexicographers. The project continues over the next 70 years, with an intriguing cast of colorful editors, publishers, and hundreds of volunteer readers who mailed in quotations from books on half-sheets of writing paper. The "slips" came in at the rate of 1,000 per day, sorted by assistants and even the children of one editor (to earn pocket money). Winchester's rich, dexterous prose details the daily workings of the project, providing personal accounts of key participants, including some of the volunteers: the "Madman," American soldier Dr. W. C. Minor, confined to a lunatic asylum for murder, and Fitzedward Hall, a self-taught philologist-turned-hermit in self-exile after a heated row with an academic rival.

Unreadable due to the author’s acute case of logorrhea. It rambles, on and on and on, about everything other than what the book is ostensibly about. I’m giving The Professor and the Madman a try next. Hopefully it will not have the same problems.

Who would have thought that the writing of a dictionary would be so fascinating. The author, Simon Winchester, takes what could be a rather drab story, and weaves an interesting and riveting tale for the ages.

wow! If you like this one, you will love the Professor and the Madman.

I am going to pick another of Winchester's books next, I love his style.

Journalist Simon Winchester returns to the subject of his bestseller, The Professor and the Madman, to further expound on the making of the English language's definitive dictionary. The story begins with a lucid journey through the history of the English language, setting the foundation for a group of intellectuals in 1860, who decide to undertake the monumentous task of correcting the attempts of previous lexicographers. The project continues over the next 70 years, with an intriguing cast of colorful editors, publishers, and hundreds of volunteer readers who mailed in quotations from books on half-sheets of writing paper. The "slips" came in at the rate of 1,000 per day, sorted by assistants and even the children of one editor (to earn pocket money). Winchester's rich, dexterous prose details the daily workings of the project, providing personal accounts of key participants, including some of the volunteers: the "Madman," American soldier Dr. W. C. Minor, confined to a lunatic asylum for murder, and Fitzedward Hall, a self-taught philologist-turned-hermit in self-exile after a heated row with an academic rival.

I'm an author of numerous published books, consultant, etc., and I implore you to read this marvelous, marvelous book by one of our most talented authors. The story is great unto itself, but I believe only Mr. Wichester could take what could easily have been written as a somewhat drab tomb on this intellectually challenged subject and make it into an adventure from which one learns more than just the overwhelming story about how the Oxford English Dictionary came into being. Take your time when reading this book and marvel in all you will find within it. And no, this is not a paid for endorsement!

I received this book from a former student who remembered that I had once aspired to be "the human OED". She correctly thought I would enjoy a book that tells the story of another book-crazy person who actually followed through on such an aspiration. I recommend this to anyone who does not break out in hivesbut rather a big grin, when they hear the word "etymology." Cheers!

I like everything by Simon Winchester..except this book just didn't grab my interest like his others have. It is still well written and informative...but it just wasn't as appealing to me as his others.

I loved Krakatoa, the only Winchester book I'd read before this, and I'm fascinated by language history and evolution, so I had high hopes for this. I was disappointed. I had noticed Winchester's tendency to lapse into flowery, overwritten prose in Krakatoa, but apparently when he wrote The Professor and the Madman he hadn't yet learned any control over it at all. This pompous style makes the elementary usage errors and sloppy style with which the book is riddled even more irritating. What is his editor's excuse, I'd like to know?

There's an interesting story here, and on the level of the entire book it's actually structured very well. I love Winchester's digressive writing style--at its best, it conveys an invigorating curiosity about the world and an almost childlike enthusiasm that's contagious. For me, though, the execrable prose style kept the book from being enjoyable--and given the position of strength it was coming from, that was a big disappointment.

Yo, G. "The Meaning of Everything" busts CAPS in the minds of those whack-a$$ pseudo-intellectuals whose bibliophilic sets be worth nothin' more than a spray tag on Draper's Corner Market in the crack ghetto. Me and my bizzitches be readin' out loud in 'tween the down-lows. Them ho's don't know junk about OG Winchester's MAD skills--they be spitting whack-a$$ lunacy about how the OED was started with "A." Man, any crip fool be knowin' they pimp-walked all the way to the "M"'s befo' stabling 450,000 words like fine ho's. Compare that to old-skool dictinary stylin' with only 40k small grand words, brother. Got to give peace and props to the O.G.'s in the Dictionary set, but Winchester's OED analysis sways the barrio with a whole new sound.
Homeboys in my hood be knockin' crack houses for bling-bling to buy this book. We be thuggin on corners and smacking our mommas just to sneak peeks at this phat lyric ISBN. Winchester be throwin' down like C-Murder in a cell, word! I pour 40's for my lost homies and bring home new words for my babies' mommas; they cheese for that cheddar like bibliophilic crack ho's.
I found Winchester's comparisons to Webster's whack-azz O.G. compilatin' to be MAD dogging. Simon's footnotes alone bust a cap on whack-minded fools like W.C. Minor (he a cracked-out skank anyway). This book be on hit, yo. Good to finally see a brother from the real inner concrete Oxfordshire 'hood representin' our set and turf with flow and finesse.
Keep it real, homies. RIP Tupac, and mad props to Simon Winchester. This cat's got it going ON, no diggity.