What’s it like?ĭetailed, thoughtful and written in such a way that you are drawn into Minor’s affairs with a sympathetic eye. This is a book partly about their friendship, partly about that murder, but mostly about the making of the mighty OED. As well as being a star contributor to the important dictionary, Minor is a lunatic, consigned to stay indefinitely at Broodmoor lunatic asylum after committing a murder. During this struggle, Murray communicates extensively with many keen contributors, but builds a particular friendship with one: Dr William Minor of Crowthorne. Lexicographer James Murray is attempting to compile the first OED, a vast undertaking that eventually consumes 70 years and is not completed until 12 years after his death. Such is the full title of Simon Winchester’s intriguingly titled ‘The Surgeon of Crowthorne’, a book all about, well, murder, madness and the OED, though there’s more on the latter than the former. A tale of murder, madness and The Oxford English Dictionary.

The surgeon of crowthorne book review