I was fascinated from the first page. In 1978 I treated myself to a complete set of the OED (13 volumes) and have used it ever since and have always been amazed at the wealth of information for every word including the first instance of its use and changes in the spelling, …more but gave no thought to the editor or compilers. What a delight to read, not only a history of the project but the compelling tale of the sad, brilliant, flawed mind of one of its chief contributors and his journey from America to Broadmoor. My copy of the book was published under the title above and the subtitle is 'A Tale of Murder, Madness and The Oxford English Dictionary' I loved it, will read it again and have recommended it to my book group. (less)