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

Ammon Shea takes on the task of reading the entire Oxford English Dictionary over the course of one year. His quest involves working through all 20 volumes, from start to finish, spending hours each day in libraries and at home with the massive text. Throughout this linguistic marathon, Shea documents his discoveries of rare and obsolete words while sharing observations about language evolution and etymology. He intersperses his word-centered narrative with personal anecdotes about the physical and mental challenges of such an intensive reading project. The memoir chronicles both Shea's relationship with dictionaries and his experiences as a word collector and language enthusiast. His background as a furniture mover and his long-standing fascination with reference books provide context for this lexicographical pursuit. At its core, this book examines the intersection of obsession and scholarship, raising questions about the nature of knowledge and the human drive to catalog and understand language in its entirety.

Readers describe this as an entertaining blend of memoir and vocabulary exploration, with many comparing it to a blog-style series of casual observations. Book enthusiasts and language lovers connect with Shea's passion for words and his self-deprecating humor. Liked: - Short, digestible chapters - Amusing personal anecdotes mixed with word discoveries - Selection of obscure and interesting words - Balance between education and entertainment Disliked: - Repetitive format becomes tedious - Some chapters feel like filler - Too many references to headaches and reading struggles - Limited depth on etymology Ratings: Goodreads: 3.7/5 (2,100+ ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (80+ ratings) Common reader comment: "Fun in small doses but best read a few chapters at a time rather than straight through." Multiple readers noted it works better as a bathroom book or bedside reader than a continuous narrative.

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester The true story of a murderer in an insane asylum who became one of the Oxford English Dictionary's most prolific contributors.

The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester A chronicle of the seventy-year quest to create the Oxford English Dictionary from its first conception to completion.

Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper A behind-the-scenes look at the process of writing dictionaries at Merriam-Webster through the eyes of a lexicographer.

The Story of Ain't by David Skinner The tale of Webster's Third Dictionary and the controversy it sparked in 1961 when it challenged how dictionaries define language.

Dictionary Days by Ilan Stavans A lexicographer's memoir of reading through multiple dictionaries while exploring the nature of words and their meanings.

📚 While reading through the entire Oxford English Dictionary, author Ammon Shea consumed 8 bottles of aspirin to combat the headaches from eye strain. 🔍 Shea read the OED in the basement of the Hunter College Library in New York City, surrounded by the building's heating pipes and mechanical equipment. 📖 The author discovered that the shortest word in the OED is "i" (a medieval form of "in") and the longest is "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis." 🕰️ Shea had already read multiple other dictionaries before tackling the OED, including Webster's Second International and the Random House Unabridged Dictionary. 📝 The book includes a chapter for each letter of the alphabet, featuring the author's favorite obscure words discovered during his reading journey, such as "deipnophobia" (fear of dinner parties).