The Professor and the Madman is a sensational story of how a mad murderer became one of the most important contributors to the construction of the first great index to the English language: the Oxford English Dictionary.
Appeals: Reads a bit like a thriller. Inside scoop on individuals that reveals a bigger story of the work entailed in creating a dictionary. Gruesome, gritty, and sure to improve your vocabulary. For word nerds and people interested in the dark depths of the human psyche.
If you like historic tales of murderers, you might also like The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson or In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. 1998. 288 pages.
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