Reviews with content warning for Self harm - The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

This book chronicles the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, focussing on the contributions of one man writing from an Asylum after a brutal murder.

I had higher hopes for this book than it could deliver on. Aspects of the story were interesting, but I just found it too wrapped up in the British Victorian ideals, with the constant commentary on people’s backgrounds feeling more like classism than anything else. Lines about how Minor had “distinctly American hand-writing” confused me…a lot.

I will say the parts about his life and the murder he committed were what kept me reading. There were a few aspects of his story that were more than mildly shocking and I did appreciate learning about him.

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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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