NEI Essay The background behind the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary- at first glance, what comes

to mind is a bunch of people sitting around a round table, discussing word etymologies origins, and definitions of words that are to be included. Simply put, it does not seem like the foundation for an intriguing story. However, The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester, is definitely not about the aforementioned. The book enthralls one by providing insight into the lives of two of the most prolific contributors to the creation of the dictionary- Professor James Murray, and William Minor.

The first unique feature which immediately caught my attention was how a word from the dictionary was placed before the start of each chapter. After reading through, I realized that these words were connected to the story presented during the chapter. For instance, the preface starts with defining the word mystery, going on to briefly mention the enigmatic conversation that took place during the late autumn afternoon of 1896 between our protagonists, but never specifying their topic of discussion, ending with a sense of ambiguity. The first chapter which begins with the definition of murder sheds light on the dark life of Dr. Minor, illustrates how he went from sane to psycho, and accidentally killed a man named George Merrett. Likewise, the next chapter, which focuses on James Murray, who was a bright student with a voracious learning appetite, learning multiple languages at a young age, began with the definition of polymath.

The second unique feature that stood out was the intriguing organization of the story. An ambiguous preface leads us to the life of Dr. Minor, which turns out to be a complete

chaos. This is contrasted closely by James Murrays mind-boggling achievements which help him become one of the most valuable resources of an organization based in Oxford. The group becomes dedicated to creating a new dictionary. The following chapters proceed to describe this process, occasionally giving out random facts, for instance-the initial name of the Oxford Dictionary was just New Dictionary, there were roughly 418,825 words, 1,827,306 illustrative quotations, and 227,779,589 letters used during the time the first 12 volumes were printed in 1928, and the total length of type (hand-set) is 178 miles, the distance between London and the outskirts of Manchester. The story keeps revolving around specific achievements, milestones, and life of the protagonists such as these, ultimately reaching the climax-when Murray finally meets Minor in 1889. Another aspect of organization was how the book was made to be interactive. Occaissionaly, a specific activity, event or description in the text would be accompanied by an eye catching pictorial illustration. These illustrations helped understand some of the situations in depth, and allowed for an eye catching treat in the otherwise swamp of monotonous lines of text.

However, one thing that I did not appreciate greatly was the fact how the some of the events in the book is randomly divided into non-chronological orders, making it increasingly hard to follow the story. For instance, during the chapters where William Minors history was presented, the book kept flashing between his early childhood in Sri Lanka, army life in the States, and his life in London, occasionally presenting comparisons to his life in the asylum as well. I also felt that the book dives into the ending quickly after explaining Minors struggle with dementia praecox, and manic

depression ultimately causing his death in 1920. I was expecting a more profound buildup, which would specifically state his achievements per se, or continue further in the remaining life of Murray, rather than simply stating overall dictionary statistics again.

Thus, in all, I felt that the book was solid in providing an excellent storyline to the events which carved the Oxford Dictionary. It was a nice contrast seeing how even a madman such as William Chester could have such a huge contribution to the creation of a masterpiece.