The Professor and the Madman
The Professor and the Madman, written by Simon Winchester, is a biography about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Winchester, who is an author, journalist, broadcaster and foreign correspondent, has written for many magazines and newspapers distributed worldwide. In an interview between Winchester and a host of C-SPAN, Winchester was asked where the idea for the book came, he replies "Well, it came to me in a rather bizarre way. I was reading a book on lexicography in the bath one morning, as one does, I suppose, just before breakfast, and it was a book--a wonderful book called "Chasing The Sun" by a man called Jonathan Green. And it had a reference--it said, `Readers will be familiar with the extraordinary story of Dr. W.C. Minor, an American lunatic murderer, who was a prodigiously energetic contributor to the OED.' And I remember sitting up in the bath, Archimedeslike, dripping and saying, `Well, I know nothing about this.'" Winchester's main foundation for this book is to clarify the tale of the making of the Oxford English DictionaryThe formation of the Oxford English Dictionary began in 1857 and took seventy years to finish. Tens of thousands of individuals organized the expansive language into 414,825 exact
The story begins with the grisly murder of George Merrett, by William Chester Minor the former U. On several occasions Minor had been asked to visit Murray In Oxford, where they could meet and discuss the dictionary. Most of the book was in chronological order, except for the parts where the author backtracked in order to elaborate. Upon arrival Murray discovered that Minor was not a doctor of the asylum as he had assumed, but a resident. Winchester was very straightforward, and turned a little known tale into a well-written and very compelling book. 1998Air date: November 8, 1998 on C-SPAN, and then transferred to the internet. I forgot about the report until I was reminded a week ago. I attempted to read, but found the first chapter dreadfully boring, and returned the book to the bookstore. While in prison, he appeared to act exceptionally strange. He proceeded to chase the individual into the street, and shot at the "person" as they attempted to flee. On July 16th 1915 Murray died, surrounded by friends and relatives.
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Acceptance Essays
