The Meaning of Everything
Author | : Simon Winchester |
Publisher | : Oxford University Press, USA |
Total Pages | : 294 |
Release | : 2004 |
ISBN-10 | : 0192805762 |
ISBN-13 | : 9780192805768 |
Rating | : 4/5 (62 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: "We visit the ugly corrugated iron structure that Murray grandly dubbed the Scriptorium -- the Scrippy or the Shed, as locals called it -- and meet some of the legion of volunteers, from Fitzedward Hall, a bitter hermit obsessively devoted to the OED, to W.C. Minor, whose story is one of dangerous madness, ineluctable sadness, and ultimate redemption. The Meaning of Everything is a scintillating account of the creation of the greatest monument ever erected to a living language. Simon Winchester's supple, vigorous prose illuminates this dauntingly ambitious project -- a seventy-year odyssey to create the grandfather of all word-books, the world's unrivaled uber-dictionary. Book jacket."--Jacket.