Goldblatt University

Great book by Simon Winchester. Amazing that this is the first book ever to deal exclusively with the strange case of Dr. W. C. Minor’s role in creating the Oxford English Dictionary. The man cut his dick off. I mean, who doesn’t want to read a book where a guy cuts his dick off? And it really happened! Simon Winchester has created a great story out of the true lives of Minor and James Murray (the first editor of the OED). Excellent book for wordsmiths. The prose is not going to knock your socks off, but the story will keep you going. It’s short and to the point, but told well. The best part? Minor was criminally insane and Murray was a lifelong tee-totalling Puritan academe. Both were great scholars. Both had identical long white beards. Both made some of the greatest contribution to the OED. So, long white beards are in, way in. See Minor above and Murray here below. Kind of makes you think about the similiarities between the Professor and the Madman. Who’s the mad one, eh?