Skip to main content
Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Reading the OED

Reading the OED
Reading the OED
Author: Ammon Shea
Book Type: Hardcover
garythefowler avatar reviewed on + 65 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


Good fun, believe it or not! He read the entire work, all 20 volumes and 21,000+ pages. Each of his 26 chapters (not numbered, but lettered) begins with whimslical and/or insightful reflections on his year of reading. Chapter "O," for example, considers the "Library People," that subset of our species that apparently inhabits the stacks, and maybe makes you wonder--and he suspects he may be thought to be one of them. Then follows, in each chapter, a selection of 5-20 words of that letter that particularly caught his interest, with his own creative commenary.
I recommend his book. It teases me to maybe read the OED, too...