Michael M. (mcwong) reviewed on 8/16/2009 + 7 more book reviews

This is a terrific read. There are a class of nonfiction books lately that take one thing and examine it down to a level that would never occur to you would be interesting - Cod, Salt, Longitude - but they really, really are. And this similar class of an unexamined, strange, fascinating twist in history.

The madman is an American physician who served on the bloody battlefronts of the American Civil War, then moved to England, where apparently he went mad, and killed a man. Confined to prison for the rest of his life, he got it in his head to answer an ad in the paper to contribute words, definitions, and examples of usage to the new comprehensive dictionary that would, in the end, take decades to complete: The Oxford English Dictionary. This madman became, over the years, the single most prolific contributor to the project. His samples of usage are still in the Oxford.

Even stranger, the editor of the dictionary did not know his most valued contributor was a madman and murderer confined to prison for life -- it was only many years later, when he went to visit his contributor that he found out.

Very well written, the right length, well paced, and very interesting. Highly recommended. (This same author's other nonfiction books are equally interesting!)

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