The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary--and literary history. The compilation of the OED, begun in 1857, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collec...(展开全部)

The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary--and literary history. The compilation of the OED, begun in 1857, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collec...(展开全部)

不論你用的是一本得攤在閱覽架上，站著查閱，紙張邊緣泛黃的英英大字典；還是一方掌中輕巧的英漢電子辭典；還是一張張由補習班名師編寫，影印在 A4 紙上的英文講義，學習英語真有數不完、道不盡的樂趣唷……是喔，苦背單字的學生翻了翻白眼，用力將湧到嘴邊的白色唾沫嚥下去。 英語單字之多，恐怕居全球各種語言之冠，試想在缺乏電腦與影印機的英國維多利亞時代，系統化地編纂《牛津英語大字典》是一項何等浩大的工程。的確，這部字典不但集合了數千名義工投入，耗費了 70 年的韶光編纂，搜羅了 414,825 條字辭解釋的大字典，將全書字串相連可以繞地球百餘圈有餘；背後還藏著一段現代文學史上，最神祕、詭奇與悲慘的一段軼事，一直深鎖在大英帝國官方機密檔案之中，封存已逾百年，一直到《瘋子‧教授‧大字典》這本書出版，才獲公諸於世。 一個終身監禁的瘋狂殺人醫生，一位孜孜不倦、嚴以律己的博...(展开全部)

With the assistance of: Friedrichsen, G. W. S.; Unknown function: Burchfield, R. W.

With the assistance of: Friedrichsen, G. W. S.; Unknown function: Burchfield, R. W.

From the best-selling author of The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, and Krakatoa comes a truly wonderful celebration of the English language and of its unrivaled treasure house, the Oxford English Dictionary. Writing with marvelous brio, Winchester first serves up a lightning history of the English language--"so vast, so sprawling, so wonderfull...(展开全部)

西蒙•温切斯特（Simon Winchester，中文名文思淼），英国著名作家、记者。1944年生，1966年牛津大学地质系毕业后，担任《卫报》（Guardian）及《星期日泰晤士报》（Sunday Times）的海外特派员。为《纽约时报》、《史密森学会月刊》（Smithsonian）、《观察家》（Spectator）、《国家地理杂志》、BBC等媒体撰稿。主要作品有：《OED的故事》（The Meaning of Everything）、《世界边缘的裂缝》（A Crack in the Edge of the World）、《喀拉喀托火山爆发记》（Krakatoa）、《改变世界的地图》（The Map That Changed the World），以及《世界中央的河流》（The River at the Center of the World）、《...(展开全部)

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire. "A...(展开全部)