Title:

The Professor and the Madman

Author:

Simon Winchester

Category:

Non-fiction

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

October 31, 2025

he Professor and the Madman was awarded a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times, but I have enjoyed other books by Simon Winchester more than this one. The Professor and the Madman tells the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, an enormous task that took 70 years to complete. The final published edition (there have been revisions since the 1927 completion of the first edition) required twelve volumes to contain the 414,825 defined words. Such an epic project required an enormous amount of labor, but that is not what makes the book interesting. That many dedicated men devoted their lives to the creation of the dictionary can be appreciated but that fact is not especially interesting. What makes The Professor and the Madman worth reading is the story of Dr. W. Minor, an American who had volunatarily contributed thousands of definitions. Minor was confined to a British insane asylum during all the years that he worked on the dictionary, mailing in his research contributions from the confines of his cell.

I was surprised to learn that British declared that Minor was not guilty due to reasons of insanity, and that he must be confined for the rest of his life due to his dangerous delusions. I thought the insanity defense was a late 20th century legal concept. But Minor shot George Merrett on Febuary 17, 1872. Merrett was simply walking down the street to his next shift at his job when Minor gunned him down. Minor thought that Merrett was an Irishman who had broken into his home to threaten him (Merrett was not Irish). A modern diagnosis for Minor would be schizophrenia. But back then the authorities thought Minor had gone mad because of his experiences in the American Civil War.

When he was a young doctor, Minor joined the Union army prior to the bloody battle of the Wilderness. Minor witnessed scenes of horrific violence and trauma. There was a big problem with desertions from the army, and so brutal punishments were meted out to those who were caught - the generals were hoping to deter other men from running away. Some men were executed, but others were branded. As a doctor, Minor was ordered to place a red hot brand on the cheek of an Irish deserter. Performing this terrible act so traumatized Minor that for the rest of his life he expected the Irish to seek revenge. Even while locked safely away at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, Minor thought the Irish would climb down through the roof or come up from the floor to get at him (Minor lined the floor of his cell with a sheet of zinc to keep the vengeful Irish at bay).

Yet there were many hours where Minor acted like a rational, educated man. He loved books and collected many rare volumes in his cell. Referencing these books, Minor was able to sending thousands of quotes demonstrating how English words were used in sentences. Working industriously on word definitions had a calming effect on Minor, it gave purpose to his life, it made him feel like a useful member of society, even though he was locked away.

The professor from the book's title was James Murray. He was the chief editor for the Oxford English Dictionary for most of his life, though he did not live to see it completed. At one point, Murray decided to visit the prolific Dr. Minor, who had contributed so much valuable material to the dictionary, but whom Murray had never met. Minor had declined many invitations to come to Oxford. So Murray determined that he would go visit Minor. The legendary tale is that Murray is taken to the correct address, and his astonished to discover that Dr. Minor is actually an inmate in an insane asylum. Nevertheless, the two men become friends, and Murray would visit as often as he could.

Winchester has written a lot of non-fiction books in his career. He has just released The Breath of Gods - the History and Future of Wind, which sounds like it would be a book more interesting to me than this one. The Professor and the Madman is an okay read, but it didn't fascinate me. Mostly it is the sad, tragic tale of Dr Minor.