"The Professor and the Madman" by Simon Winchester

Who says murder is an unjustified act?

The Oxford English Dictionary - a 20-volume work of art, which took nearly 80 years to prepare and includes over 300,000 entries (and approximately 350 million characters), quite frankly owes its existence to the aid of one William Chester Minor, an American, graduate of Yale, physician, an American Army Officer, (and yes!) a Schizophrenic and a murderer. Simon Winchester (author of the memorable "Krakatoa" and "The Map That Changed The World"), reveals in his "The Professor and the Madman" the mystery behind the creation of the biggest, most up-to-date, authoritative, and accessible reference work in the world - The Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Via his masterful narrative, he examines the life of one of the two Americans (both insane by the way) who took part in the cataloging of over 10,000 entries of the final version of the OED. Interesting, isn't it? The book is truly very engaging. It explores the darker side of the human psyche and I can't shake the bizarre feeling that has it not been for the murder, which William Minor committed one April morning in 1872, his substantial contribution to the OED might have never occurred (and subsequently the OED might have taken a lot longer to complete and might have looked a lot different). I'll leave it up to you to be the judges of that. I recommend this book to all those readers interested in the trivia that often encompasses some of the history's major works of art (and science too).

- by Simon Cleveland