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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
Yet another look into the genius of the OED. Super recommended to word fans--the amount of playful word fun is amazing. There is also a lot of "behind-the-scenes" information in this volume--great stuff on Murphy, the madmen, the OED Publishing politics, etc.--seriously fun reading.
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
I thought this was pretty fascinating. I've been hit or miss with Winchester in the past, but this was a hit. He was to provide a readable account of the OED creation process, keeping all the major names as distinct personalities and providing insight into what does it take to create a dictionary, which is something I had never considered. While there wasn't much tension, I did find myself picking it up frequently to see what minor hurdle or personality issue was going to slow things down this time, which I guess is a sign of a good author.
I'll try something else by him soon.
I'll try something else by him soon.
slow-paced
Very interesting to learn what an effort it was to make the OED. I didn't know that there was so much drama as well.
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
Audio book read by the author was spectacular.
The story of a seven decade endeavor to gather for all time the meaning of every word in the English language is a yarn worth a few hours of your time. Reading the book would have paled for me compared to hearing the author enunciate and expound like he was beside me in the passenger seat on the best 10 hour car ride.
Besides, any book in which gallimaufry is used twice is a book I'll heartily recommend.
The story of a seven decade endeavor to gather for all time the meaning of every word in the English language is a yarn worth a few hours of your time. Reading the book would have paled for me compared to hearing the author enunciate and expound like he was beside me in the passenger seat on the best 10 hour car ride.
Besides, any book in which gallimaufry is used twice is a book I'll heartily recommend.