Sometimes even the most monumental achievements of modern civilization are taken for granted. Before Samuel Johnson, for instance, no one had really compiled English-language definitions into one convenient dictionary, though the famous man-about-town is probably the last person people think of when they're backing up their Scrabble claims. The same holds true for the mammoth multiple volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary. The OED was not the product of just one man, and the dictionary took 70 years to complete, but the results are so literally definitive—and the OED so illustrative of everything in the English language from etymology to slang—that it's a wonder the tomes didn't just drop from the sky. Yet Simon Winchester illuminates the oddest, and perhaps most human, facet of the OED's creation early on in The Professor And The Madman: One of the dictionary's most prolific contributors was Dr. William Chester Minor, an insane but brilliant American surgeon writing from an institution. Winchester's fascinating book revolves around the relationship between Minor and OED editor James Murray, who corresponded with Minor for 20 years before discovering the strange truth behind the shy contributor. Obviously, the book isn't a mystery, but the tale is told with a simple yet descriptive tone reminiscent of Arthur Conan Doyle, a comparison enhanced by the black-and-white, Strand-worthy illustrations. Winchester skillfully fleshes out the tangential and sad story of Minor and Murray with a great deal of biographical information, historical context, and erudite asides regarding the nature of language, knowledge, friendship, reference books, and madness.