Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

13 reviews

kstericker's review against another edition

informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Body horror and Murder

Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual assault

thesonnetsilence's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Body horror, and Self harm

Moderate: Murder

kelsea's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Mental illness, Murder, Body horror, and Self harm

Minor: War and Suicide

evelix's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

This book was so well written and really enjoyable, especially for a non fiction book, which is a genre I don’t usually dive into. The story of the Oxford Dictionary is so fascinating, and the way Winchester intertwines the stories of both James Murray and William Minor is masterful. I found that he was able to write in the tone of the time while also handling the subject matter sensitively, making sure to finish the book in remembrance of George Merrett. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Mental illness

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Pedophilia

ssione5's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Murder, Violence, Suicide, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Dementia

nerdglasses08's review against another edition

informative inspiring sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

cami_stokes3859's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Humorous, eloquent, micro-history, thoughtful

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

ireadinbed's review

informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I can see why this book is so well lauded. The story is impossible to stop reading and it almost feels like it is intentionally cribbing the style of the dictionary. It's easy to devour and I found myself very loved by the way a person in such dire circumstances was able to contribute to scholarship in such important ways. 

But I didn't like a few sections where the author dramatized or presented dramatized accounts only to later say 'except that's not how it happened' it felt cheap. 

It also felt weirdly graphic in how it described Minor's pedophilic obsessions (not in the subjects own words but as the authors descriptions of young girls) and honestly I have no idea why an editor didn't ask him to change it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Mental illness

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Sexual content

auntie_em's review against another edition

challenging informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Self harm, and Physical abuse

julied's review against another edition

informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Dementia, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Suicide