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The Surgeon of Crowthorne

The Murder, Mystery and Madness of the Oxford English Dictionary

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The Surgeon of Crowthorne

By: Simon Winchester
Narrated by: Simon Winchester
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About this listen

The compiling of the Oxford English Dictionary was a monumental task. It took 50 years, even with the help of numerous contributors. Among the most prolific was William Chester Minor, who sent editor James Murray thousands of extracts.

On many occasions, Murray invited this mysterious correspondent to Oxford, but the invitation was always declined. Finally stirred by curiosity, Murray himself went to visit Minor. What he found was shocking: Minor lived in Broadmoor asylum. He was a millionaire, an expert on the English language, and a qualified surgeon, but he was imprisoned as a lunatic for murder.

©1998 Simon Winchester (P)2005 W. F. Howes Ltd Historical True Crime Words, Language & Grammar Funny
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What a fascinating story of dictionaries, lexicography, the Oxford English Dictionary, murder, mental illness, genius, flawed humanity, dedication, compassion, and a chance meeting which changed many lives. This book is beautifully and sensitively written and beautifully and sensitively narrated by the author.

My read of the year so far

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Brilliantly told story. Sad but uplifting too. If you are interested in dictionaries, language, mental illness or the late 19th century, you will not be disappointed.

Wonderful story

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I really enjoyed this narration by the author. Having recently read the fictional novel 'The Dictionary of Lost Words' with its intriguing descriptions by the young female protagonist, collecting the slips of lost words and giving voice to the usually silenced females while referring to the painstaking collection and dedication of the team in the Scrippy, as she affectionately referred to the Scriptorium. Simon Winchester acknowledges, the gender bias of the OED and the diligence of those with a love for words. I appreciate the research and references where possible to primary sources as well as the explanations of the process and effort required. This account has the drama and emotions of any great fiction, relaying a tale of an extraordinary feat which gave a deeply troubled man a reason to live. I thorough recommend.

Fascinating! I

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Well worth a read. I don't think I'll ever approach the Dictionary the same way again!

Surprising and engaging!

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What is English? What meanings do words have? Is grammar important? How are dictionaries made and more importantly how was the greatest English dictionary ever compiled, made?
This is NOT a work of fiction, it is the true, well researched story of how the Oxford English Dictionary was meticulously, researched, compiled and willed into existence by many many English and American studious and diligent readers, compilers, editors, typesetters and a University that continued to believe in the absolute necessity to document the English language.
This story focuses primarily on three men who devoted their lives to this exercise in endurance, one involuntarily and indirectly being Mr George Merritt (English) one with captured time Mr William Merritt (American) and a methodical and meticulous Scotsman, Mr James Murray (later knighted).
This is a facinating tale, one which causes a renewed appreciation for the great Oxford English Dictionary, read by the author with the exact pitch, pace and power required.
I will need to purchase this book in a tangible tomb to enjoy it all over again.

The importance of English

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This was such a great read . Although dry in small parts it’s gave such a thorough look into the making of the dictionary and the steady decline of one of its main contributors. It’s an intelligently written honest book. Highly recommend

So very interesting

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The underlying stories of WC Minor and James Murray are extremely interesting, in their parallels and divergences, and the story of how an inmate at a Victorian insane asylum came to be one of the most effective contributors to the OED is extremely interesting and could easily take up 18 chapters by itself. However, I feel that this book pads around the story with so much fluff that we end of losing this main narrative amongst all the author's side trails and supposings. One example is early in the text when the author goes on a tangent about the different definitions of the word protagonist, the development and history of its usage etc.
I'm not begrudging the author diverging into histories of the development of different English dictionaries or different words and their usages, but some of them were extensive beyond their actual relation to the main focus on the OED that it became distracting and boring.

As to the performance itself, Winchester's voice is pleasant and he reads the text very well, but there are odd bursts of classical music throughout - not just between chapters (which are not announced) but randomly within chapters.
The last three chapters are really not related to the main narrative at all - they are acknowledgements and an interview.

Overall, it's an interesting story, told with too many diversions.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did

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