The release date for the English version of 'The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary' by
Simon Winchester is Jan 2005. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
Expertly researched and beautifully written, The Professor and the Madman is a unique narrative of lunacy, creativity, and the astounding obsessions of two exceptional individuals that inspired the creation of literary history—the Oxford English Dictionary. Commencing in 1857, the OED compilation was one of the most ambitious endeavors ever carried out. Under the direction of Professor James Murray, the supervisory committee gathered definitions and found that one guy, Dr. W. C. Minor, had provided over ten thousand. A startling revelation emerged when the committee insisted on paying tribute to him: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War hero, was also a prisoner in a hospital for the criminally ill.