The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus

by Joshua Kendall

Overview

In the tradition of The Professor and the Madman, a "brisk and vivid"( Los Angeles Times) account of an obsessive scholar.

Polymath, eccentric, and synonym aficionado, Peter Mark Roget had a host of female admirers, was one of the first to test the effects of laughing gas, invented the slide rule, and narrowly escaped jail in Napoleon's France. But Roget is best known for making lists.

After the tragic turmoil of his early life (both his mother and sister were institutionalized), Roget longed for order in his chaotic world. At the age of eight, he began his quest to put everything in its rightful place, one word at a time. This is the fascinating story of a driven man and a brilliant scholar-and the legacy he has left for generations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101207727
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/13/2008
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	641 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joshua Kendall is a language enthusiast and an award-winning freelance journalist whose work has appeared in such publications as The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and Psychology Today. He lives in Boston.

Table of Contents

Preface     1
Prologue: Stained by the Blood of a National Hero     9
Formations (1779-1808)
The Boy Without a Home     21
The Brilliant Student     53
The Idle and Depressed Young Man     83
Napoleon's Captive     111
Manchester: Both the Thesaurus and a Medical Career Begun     145
Bloomsbury Doctor, Inventor, and Scientist (1809-1848)
The Best-Looking and Most Gentlemanly Bachelor in England     181
Mary     211
Mourning, Scholarly Triumph, and a Secret New Love     233
Wordsmith in Retirement (1849-1869)
Back to the Thesaurus     251
Vibrant Until the Last Breath     267
Epilogue: The Thesaurus Through the Years     281
Acknowledgments     285
Index     290

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Brisk and vivid" —-Los Angeles Times

Editorial Reviews

If the title of Joshua Kendall's fine new biography of Roget has a clinical Oliver Sacks feel, the material pretty much justifies it…Kendall's style is plain and sensible; he gets the job done with sympathy and speed, occasionally entertaining the reader with a novelistic flourish…
—The New York Times

Thomas Mallon

Mr. Kendall's account of this unusual man is very readable and shows no signs of excessive reliance on the thesaurus. If his writing has a fault, it's a tendency toward mind reading and novelization…But this is an almost forgivable lapse, because Roget is a hard subject to warm to. He led an extremely interesting life without being very interesting himself.
—The New York Times

Charles McGrath

First published in London in 1852, Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrasesbecame popular in America with the 1920s crosswords craze and has sold almost 40 million copies worldwide. According to freelancer Kendall in this Professor and the Madmanwannabe, Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869) compiled the thesaurus as a means of staving off the madness that pervaded his family-the classification of words was a coping mechanism for his anxiety. Burdened by his father's early death and a mentally unstable mother and grandmother, young Roget was shy and melancholy. In the wake of the suicide of his uncle and surrogate father, Samuel Romilly, a distinguished MP, Roget's mother slid into paranoia, and a depressed Roget left a flourishing medical practice. But in his 40s, he found happiness: he married a wealthy, intellectually curious woman; developed a lively social circle; and became a first-rate scientist, lecturer and science writer for the masses. His thesaurus, which he tinkered with for nearly half a century, borrowed principles of classification from Roget's hero, the naturalist Carl Linnaeus. Although Roget is a tantalizing subject, Kendall never lights the necessary spark to make the legendary wordsmith come alive. B&w illus. (Mar. 13)

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Publishers Weekly

How did a physician produce a masterpiece linguistic work? Journalist Kendall provides a very personal answer, namely, that Dr. Peter Roget originally pursued his thesaurus to benefit his own writing and stay mentally occupied despite numerous tragic deaths in his family. Thus, through making scholarly contributions, Roget also avoided the mental illness that plagued other relatives. Drawing upon letters, diaries, and other family documents, Kendall blends historical research with storytelling to support the theme of personal battles and educational experience. For example, Kendall begins by narrating how Roget discovered the suicide of his famous barrister uncle, Sir Samuel Romilly, citing this as one of many tragedies Roget endured. Kendall also discusses Roget's 15,000-word precursor (1805) to the 1852 thesaurus. The earlier part of Roget's 90 years is emphasized, including narrative and quotations to portray his family life, developing interest in language and science, and early efforts to categorize his learning. Another recent biography by Nick Rennison (Pocket Essentials, 2007) generally illumines Roget's scholarly background instead of the personal theme. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
—Marianne Orme

Library Journal

"Brisk and vivid, with Kendall coloring between the lines left by history."
-Los Angeles Times

"Kendall's style...gets the job done with sympathy and speed."
-New York Times

"Well written and persuasive."
-Washington Post

From the Publisher

Anyone who has turned to ROGET’S THESAURUS for that perfect word will be fascinated by this look at the man behind the lists. Peter Roget's early life was traumatic, leading him to develop such coping skills as compiling lists to impose order on chaos. Joshua Kendall's unique biography uses drama and wit to put a face on the brilliant but odd man behind this English language standard. Stephen Hoye renders the text flawlessly. His agreeable voice and crisp, clear articulation make the text particularly easy to follow. He even manages to make the lists of synonyms that begin each chapter interesting to listen to. This is a much more intriguing and dramatic story than one might expect. M.O.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

OCT/NOV 08 - AudioFile