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102 reviews for:
The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary
Simon Winchester
3.78 AVERAGE
102 reviews for:
The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary
Simon Winchester
3.78 AVERAGE
While I was very much looking forward to this read, I'm afraid I found it rather flatter than I'd anticipated.
Winchester often plays fast and loose with "facts", but he is always a good read
Much preferred THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN. This felt like the same material, but the characters didn't sing in the same way. Listened to Winchester reading the audiobook and for that experience I'm always grateful as he reads like a dream. Especially important as his sentences can have many a twist and turn.
informative
medium-paced
I love micro-histories/thing-biographies, so I was already positively predisposed to this book before I started, and it didn't disappoint. It was a fairly quick and interesting read, leaving me with a lasting impression of how lucky it was that the Oxford Press accepted that this was a big, important work, and to not require it to be immediately monetarily profitable to continue the work! And, of course, Kudos to Murray for making sure that the project stayed exacting and thorough, even though it took so many decades to do. I had no idea how long, or how many hundreds of people contributed so many thousands of quotes to the project, it's no wonder at all that it took so long to compile! This is a good read for anyone interested in history or language!
A rather stuffy, bland, yet mildly interesting history of the OED. The reciting of facts and stories comes across as somewhat mechanical and uninspired, but still readable. Especially at night before bed.
Loved the first section (pp. 1-18), which is on the history of the English language. The rest of the book was interesting, very much so in parts, but not enough so for me to recommend this to anyone who isn't already sure they want to learn about the making of a dictionary. I did enjoy learning how dictionaries come to be and how words are discussed among philologists. in fact, I was fascinated by the field of philology in general, a branch of study I had never heard of. (philology definition here)
Read via audiobook -- which is read by the author whose voice I liked.
I would read more by Winchester.
Read via audiobook -- which is read by the author whose voice I liked.
I would read more by Winchester.
informative
medium-paced