Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages

by Ammon Shea

Overview

An obsessive word lover's account of reading the entire Oxford English Dictionary, hailed as "the Super Size Me of lexicography."

"I'm reading the OED so you don't have to," says Ammon Shea on his slightly masochistic journey to scale the word lover's Mount Everest: the Oxford English Dictionary. In 26 chapters filled with sharp wit, sheer delight, and a documentarian's keen eye, Shea shares his year inside the OED, delivering a hair-pulling, eye-crossing account of reading every word.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440634482
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/02/2008
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	404 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ammon Shea is the author of two previous books on obscure words, Depraved English and Insulting English (written with Peter Novobatzky). He read his first dictionary, Merriam Webster’s Second International, ten years ago, and followed it up with the sequel, Webster’s Third International. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Oddly inspiring...Shea has walked the wildwood of our gnarled, ancient speech and returned singing incomprehensible sounds in a language that turns out to be our own."
-Nicholson Baker, New York Times Book Review

"Delicious...a lively lexicon."
-O, The Oprah Magazine

"Readworthy."
-William Safire, The New York Times Magazine

Editorial Reviews

an oddly inspiring book about reading the whole of the Oxford English Dictionary in one go…Shea's book offers more than exotic word lists, though. It also has a plot. "I feel as though I am eating the alphabet," he writes halfway through, and you want him to make it to the end. This is the "Super Size Me" of lexicography.
—The New York Times

Nicholson Baker

This chronicle reads half like the journey of a madman and half like a word-of-the-day calendar. In it, Shea (coauthor, Depraved English; Insulting English) wittily describes his headache-inducing descent into the 21,730 pages of the Oxford English Dictionary(OED), which he spent a full year reading. Shea sees a dictionary as a work of literature whose words are all alphabetized, and here, he offers readers a rare glimpse into the most obscure corners of the English language, from oddities such as cellarhood(to be a cellar) to the curious quisquilious(garbagelike). Many of these words are modern yet underused gems, but some are so obscure that the OED does not even include a corresponding pronunciation key owing to the word's lack of circulation in recent history. Regular use of these bizarre, sometimes long-forgotten words, writes Shea, will neither inspire advanced social status nor wisdom. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
—David L. Reynolds

Library Journal

"Oddly inspiring...Shea has walked the wildwood of our gnarled, ancient speech and returned singing incomprehensible sounds in a language that turns out to be our own."
-Nicholson Baker, New York Times Book Review

"Delicious...a lively lexicon."
-O, The Oprah Magazine

"Readworthy."
-William Safire, The New York Times Magazine

From the Publisher

Call Shea crazy. He reads the entire OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY in one year and extols upon the fascinating, unusual, and useless words it compiles. William Dufris is the perfect narrator for this book. The words trip easily and clearly from his lips as he brings the many mysteries of the English language to listeners, including the meanings of words we have never known, long forgotten, or always wondered about. Never boring, often funny, Shea describes his experiences reading in his local library as well as the reactions of his friends to his yearlong project. Best of all, Dufris reads every word with enthusiasm, tempting the listener to delve into a dictionary just for the fun of it. M.B.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2008 - AudioFile

Call Shea crazy. He reads the entire OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY in one year and extols upon the fascinating, unusual, and useless words it compiles. William Dufris is the perfect narrator for this book. The words trip easily and clearly from his lips as he brings the many mysteries of the English language to listeners, including the meanings of words we have never known, long forgotten, or always wondered about. Never boring, often funny, Shea describes his experiences reading in his local library as well as the reactions of his friends to his yearlong project. Best of all, Dufris reads every word with enthusiasm, tempting the listener to delve into a dictionary just for the fun of it. M.B.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2008 - AudioFile