The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

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Simon Winchester

HarperCollins, New York, 2005, 1998, English

Nonfiction, General

ISBN: 9780060175962

Biographical account of two men heavily involved in the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary during the 19th century. Author Simon Winchester details the participation of Professor James Murray, the editor, and Dr. William Chester Minor, the most avid contributor of definitions for the dictionary, who also happened to be a murderer held in an asylum for the criminally insane. Not simply an account of the making of one of the world’s most famous dictionaries, The Professor and The Madman is also an intriguing story of murder and madness.

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The design project to end all design projects, and long before the Internet and Wikipedia. An extraordinary example of participatory design.

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