Before I started reading this book, I’d never truly considered just how much work went into compiling a dictionary. Dictionaries just exist, somehow. So one very important thing you get from this book is a sense of just what an incredible achievement it was to create the OED. Unfortunately this is also the smallest part of the book, so while we get a feel for the awe-inspiring work it was, we only get a brief taste of the more than seventy years it took to create the first edition.

The story was already known. The journalist and author Simon Winchester first came across it, he tells us, in Jonathan Green’s 1996 study, Chasing the Sun: Dictionary Makers and th e Di ct ionari es They Made, which sent him on to Caught in th e Web of Words, a biography of James Murray, the first editor – in effect, the maker – of the twelve-volume Oxford English Dictionary, written by Murray’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Murray. I have been meaning to read this book for years – I couldn’t even tell you when I first saw it or heard about it and thought it would be a good idea to read. Then I saw a copy in a bookshop that was going cheap and bought it on my way to my mother’s place. I showed it to her and then lent it to her. She told me she enjoyed it – so that made me keen to read it too. That was a couple of years ago – as you see, I was in no rush. I think mum even lent it to my sister to read.

Winchester is a true story teller. He does explain an awful lot of what might appear to be extraneous material, but I found all of this utterly fascinating anyway, so wasn’t put off in the least. The book smashes together not just the story of a insane murderer – and so providing an interesting excuse to discuss 19th Century definitions of insanity, murder and the laws pertaining to these – but a remarkable range of other ‘events’ from that century and the early years of the next. Central to all this, of course, is also the story of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary and the lives of two central figures in the making of the big dictionary. Winchester, Simon (2001). Le Fou et le Professeur (in French). Librairie générale française. ISBN 978-2-253-15082-4. The professor and the madman". Common Sense Media. 11 May 2019. Archived from the original on 29 December 2019 . Retrieved 29 December 2019.

The three main characters, Murray, Minor, and the dictionary itself, are vividly portrayed, and the murder victim, George Merrett, is not forgotten - indeed, the book is dedicated to G.M. Winchester, Simon (1998), The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary (1sted.), New York: HarperCollin/Publishers, ISBN 978-0-06-017596-2, OCLC 38425992 ).AskOxford.com interview – Winchester speaking about the book to John Simpson (Chief Editor of the OED) In 1969, Winchester joined The Guardian, first as regional correspondent based in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was later assigned to be the Northern Ireland Correspondent. Winchester's time in Northern Ireland placed him around several events of The Troubles, including the events of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast Hour of Terror. One would assume that in a book about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, every single word would be chosen with deliberate care. So why does Winchester refer to the murdered man George Merret's family as "the widow and her brood"???? If Winchester had bothered to look up the OED definition of "brood" he would have known it refers to animals exclusively and is insulting to call a human family a brood. Shame upon shame. Sometimes Winchester is tripped up by the threads of his own embroidery. Because it was annoying me, I noticed he wrote that on 5 November, “darkness had fallen on London soon after half past five” - which is about an hour later than is actually the case. Sloppy, again.

Tatiana Siegel (21 February 2005). "Mel Gibson, Sean Penn to Star in 'Professor and the Madman' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 2 August 2016. Calling all bibliophiles! Have you ever wondered how that magnificent beast, the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary (OED), came into being? Well, this is the book for you. Maddaus, Gene (1 August 2017). "Mel Gibson Sues Voltage Pictures Over Final Cut of 'Professor and the Madman' ". Variety. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017 . Retrieved 8 September 2017.Several times, Winchester refers to “Doctor Murray”, even though the nearest he got to such a title was an honorary doctorate, the year before he died, aged 78. Sloppy. As a completely fledged bibliopsychotic and an ever-striving-to-be cunning-linguist , I was all aquiver with anticipation to bury my face in this purported history of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Alas, despite being well-written and thoroughly researched, I’m having to fake it a bit to give this a full 3 stars. Zorianna Kit (13 December 2000). "Icon, Par Refer To Boorman For 'madman' Helm". The Hollywood Reporter (republished by AllBusiness) . Retrieved 21 February 2012.