Cover Image

Reading the OED : one man, one year, 21,730 pages

by Shea, Ammon.

Format: Print Book 2008
Availability: Available at 4 Libraries 4 of 4 copies

Available (4)
Location Collection Call #
CLP - Main Library Second Floor - Non-fiction PE1617.O94 S54 2008
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  Second Floor - Non-fiction
 
Call Number  PE1617.O94 S54 2008
 
 
Northern Tier Regional Library Nonfiction 423.028 SHEA
Location  Northern Tier Regional Library
 
Collection  Nonfiction
 
Call Number  423.028 SHEA
 
 
Penn Hills Library Non-Fiction 423.028 SHE
Location  Penn Hills Library
 
Collection  Non-Fiction
 
Call Number  423.028 SHE
 
 
Shaler North Hills Library Non-Fiction 423.028 S
Location  Shaler North Hills Library
 
Collection  Non-Fiction
 
Call Number  423.028 S
 
 

Summary
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.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Shea's engougement ( irrational fondness ) for dictionaries led him to spend a year reading through all 20 volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary, and he describes this account as the thinking man's Cliff Notes to the greatest dictionary in the world. For each letter of the alphabet he  provides a handful of his favorite words and his own humorous glosses, along with musings on the history of the OED, dictionaries in general, and his reading life. (He does most of his OED reading at the Hunter College Library and finds himself turning into one of those Library People as the year goes by.) He shares a number of words that, though they have fallen out of the common vocabulary, could be put to excellent use today: empleomania: a manic compulsion to hold public office ; zabernism: a misuse of military authority.  The book will happify ( make happy ) word and dictionary lovers, who will be able to read it in an hour or two, much less time than it takes to read the OED.--Quinn, Mary Ellen Copyright 2008 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Additional Information
Subjects Oxford English dictionary.
Encyclopedias and dictionaries -- History and criticism.
English language -- Lexicography.
English language -- Etymology.
Publisher New York :Penguin Group,2008
Edition 1st ed.
Language English
Notes "A Perigee Book."
Description xvi, 223 pages ; 22 cm
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 9780399533983
0399533982
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