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

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

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 863 ratings · 248 reviews

An obsessive word lover's account of reading the Oxford English Dictionary cover to cover.

"I'm reading the OED so you don't have to. If you are interested in vocabulary that is both spectacularly useful and beautifully useless, read on..."

So reports Ammon Shea, the tireless, word-obsessed, and more than slightly masochistic author of Reading the OED. The word lover's Mou...more

Hardcover, 223 pages

Published July 2nd 2008 by Perigee Trade (first published 2008)

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The Oxford English Dictionary by John Andrew Simpson

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester

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Jan 13, 2009 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2009, words-and-language

Ammon Shea read the OED "so that you don't have to". This account of the experience has one chapter for each letter of the alphabet; each chapter is roughly equally split between a selection of words and definitions and Shea's musing on some aspect of dictionaries, lexicography, or the logistics of his current project, many of which have to do with finding good places to do his reading.

I enjoyed the book, but not nearly as much as I had expected to. Shea is a genial guide, and one admires his st...more Ammon Shea read the OED "so that you don't have to". This account of the experience has one chapter for each letter of the alphabet; each chapter is roughly equally split between a selection of words and definitions and Shea's musing on some aspect of dictionaries, lexicography, or the logistics of his current project, many of which have to do with finding good places to do his reading.

I enjoyed the book, but not nearly as much as I had expected to. Shea is a genial guide, and one admires his stamina and enthusiasm. But ultimately the gimmick is a little flimsy to support an entire book. Ammon's random musings are fascinating, quirkily charming, or dull in roughly equal measure. His writing isn't bad, though it is a little clunky at times, and there are surprising lapses into imprecision:

"One of the things that has been painfully apparent as I read through the enormity of the English language is just how little of it I know."

Use of the skunked term 'enormity' distracts the reader unnecessarily here; and even if one allows the meaning of 'great size' or 'hugeness', the construction remains clumsy.

In another passage, he refers to the tribe of library denizens (people who spend their days in the New York Public Library reading room) as 'elusive', having told us a paragraph earlier that one of their defining characteristics is their tendency to occupy the same seats, day in, day out.

However, it seems unfair to come down on him too harshly for this. Each of us has surely had the experience of staring at a word on the page for too long, until it starts to look really bizarre, just a weird concatenation of random-looking syllables. Or just repeat any word out loud ten times -- by the time you're done it will seem like gibberish. Reading the OED could be enough to unhinge one altogether.

Ammon Shea deserves our admiration for having made it through intact. In this account of the journey he has not been completely successful in overcoming a fundamental difficulty, which is that the pleasures of the dictionary are generally private, idiosyncratic, and personal. So that it's hard to banish the thought that, rather than read his book, it might be more fun to use the time to browse the dictionary itself.(less)

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Oct 20, 2008 Dawn rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone!

I'm still reading this, but give it 5 stars in advance! This is the best fun I've had in a long, long time. This guy reads dictionaries for fun, and read the Oxford English Dictionary in one year (21,730 pages). He's grumpy and hilarious. He starts each chapter (by letter: "A", "B", etc.) with a description of something--like "Library People"--people who hang out in libraries and how he's afraid he's turning into one. But the best is the random list of words at the end of each chapter and his co...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Roberta rated it 3 of 5 stars

When I was in college I kept a short list of my favorite words. My very favorite word at that time was pensive. It conveyed such a clear description to me. I thought I was pensive. One of my friends ridiculed me for even having a favorite word. She said had never known anyone who did. I believe everyone has favorite words - not just words they use over and over - but words they really, really like.

So, as one who likes to dictionary-surf, I was thrilled by the concept of this book. Actually readi...more

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Oct 19, 2008 Grace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: oed, language

The book read like a travel diary, detailing Ammon Shea's travels through the approximately 21,000 pages of the Oxford English Dictionary. He begins each chapter (each one dedicated to a letter of the alphabet) with interesting and sometimes insightful commentary about libraries, dictionary conventions, or his failing eye sight before delving into the words that piqued his interest, followed by a brief commentary on the word. I now know that the gunk in the corner of my eye is called gound. My b...more

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Dec 17, 2009 Elizabeth rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who will never open up the OED

Shelves: 2009, books-about-books, reviewed

Let's do a little math. I promise it won't be scary math or anything. I'm writing about the OED after all.

21,730 pages
365 days
equals
about 418 pages per week

So Ammon Shea wants to read the OED. Someone decides to pay him (or advance him) to do this. The conceit of the exercise is he has to do it in a year. He has all day long. He reads for 10 hours a day, but some how he struggles to read 400 pages a week. Now, I know it's the dictionary. It's not like there is a plot and he is taking notes, but...more Let's do a little math. I promise it won't be scary math or anything. I'm writing about the OED after all.

21,730 pages
365 days
equals
about 418 pages per week

So Ammon Shea wants to read the OED. Someone decides to pay him (or advance him) to do this. The conceit of the exercise is he has to do it in a year. He has all day long. He reads for 10 hours a day, but some how he struggles to read 400 pages a week. Now, I know it's the dictionary. It's not like there is a plot and he is taking notes, but still, assuming that he's reading only Monday to Friday, that's fifty hours of reading time. That means he's reading fewer than 10 pages an hour.

Considering how much unconstrained whining he does in this book, I can't make this math work. 10 pages an hour, right? It's not like he needs to retain all the information either; he's just doing it for the book deal, and, apparently, because he wants to tell us how much his eyes hurt and his head and his back, and how he's worried about turning into one of the crazy people in the library (just a hint, Ammon, if you're worried about it; it's probably already happened).

I am totally into literary obsessions. Hello Jane Austen Society! But if you are going to undertake exercising yours, don't whine, whimper, and complain about something that isn't that hard. Hard enough, okay, but if you're already into reading dictionaries straight through, not really that much of a challenge. I'd forgive all of this if only the book were interesting. It's not. For the few laughs that he manages to draw out, there's just a lot of nothing. Tell me something new about the OED, not the same stuff that I've already read in The Professor and the Madman. I did get the story of how he got new glasses. He used nauseated correctly but he used it twice in one paragraph, even when he had three different words for vomit in his list of words in the book. In fact, there were more definitions related to vomiting than any other activity.

I didn't get definitions though. Ammon Shea, for some reason I cannot explain, did not include the definitions from the OED. He decided to provide his own definitions for the words he cites, but they were short, pithy things. The thing that makes the OED great is the detail. The references that go back centuries - the earliest usage in the English language. That is fun to read. Shea's ode to his coffee cup is not.

Apparently Shea's girlfriend is a former lexicographer (we hear a lot about her too) and they have 1,000 dictionaries at home, and Shea thinks reading the dictionary is better than reading anything else could possibly be. I think we should all pray for their children.(less)

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Mar 29, 2009 Bill Hall rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoirs

Ammon Shea has done something most of us will never do--read the Oxford English Dictionary from cover to cover in a year, all twenty volumes and 21,730 pages of it. He's brought us the story of this marathon in "Reading the OED," and the result is a verbal feast for anyone who loves words. The tale unfolds in twenty-six chapters, one for each letter of the alphabet. Each chapter opens with a narrative section followed by a selection of some of Shea's favorite words beginning with that letter. Al...more

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Feb 12, 2009 Dana rated it 3 of 5 stars

There are some pretty unusual and absurd words in the English language. I don't think this book did them justice, but it did have some curious inclusions.

Particularly memorable are Kakistocracy - government by the worst citizens, Obdormition - the falling asleep of a limb and Misdelight - pleasure in something wrong, which could just as easily be the name of a hip hop artist...maybe it is. But my all time favorites of his discoveries were Psithurism - the whispering of leaves moved by the wind...more

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Jan 17, 2009 rmn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction-other

This is an entertaining book chronicling one man’s successful attempt to read the entire Oxford English Dictionary (20 volumes, ~25k pages) in one year, reading 8-10 hours a day. The author writes in a lively style that actually makes reading the dictionary sound interesting.

The book is structured into 26 chapters, one for each letter. Each chapter is ~8 pages long with the first ~4 pages chronicling the author’s experience reading the OED or some experience he has had relating to dictionaries...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Manny marked it as to-read

- Have you come across a book called Reading the OED, Professor?

- Yes, I believe I leafed through it in bookshop once. Frightfully vulgar little volume. Do pass the port, there's a good fellow.

- By all means. And what fault did you find with it, if I may ask?

- Oh, the author attempted to entertain his readers with words he had found in the Oxford English, which he apparently believed were unusual and obscure. Some of his choices were, how shall I put it, a little surprising to me.

- Would you car...more

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May 16, 2012 Ensiform rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

After a lifetime of studying lexicography and reading dictionaries for fun, Shea, a professional author, spends one year reading the entire OED – for eight or ten hours a stretch, six days a week. It’s a very lightweight example of the “feat memoir” genre that can be so entertaining. About half the book is taken up with lists of unusual words and Shea’s exegesis on their definitions, some of which are very clever indeed, laugh-out-loud funny.

Unfortunately, Shea doesn’t seem to have anything of n...more

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Jun 30, 2011 Shannon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Growing up, my sister and brother and I knew the OED well. If we ever dared to ask our dad the meaning or spelling of a word, we sighed as he predictably would say, "Break out the OED." We would slide open the drawer in the top of the two-volume condensed set and pull out the magnifying glass before choosing the appropriate gigantic book and seeking out our word among the super-thin pages. We would learn the meaning and spelling, but we would also learn the etymology and how its roots compared w...more

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Jan 06, 2011 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Book Report: Ammon Shea, whom I suspect of autodidacticism, was a New York City furniture mover and dicitionary freak living with his recovering lexicographer girlfriend when he conceives of a way to get paid for sitting in a corner and reading: He will, in one year, read the entire 20-volume print version of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and report on the experience of doing so, what lexicological gems he found while doing so, and what the experience does to his sneaking-up-on-forty...more The Book Report: Ammon Shea, whom I suspect of autodidacticism, was a New York City furniture mover and dicitionary freak living with his recovering lexicographer girlfriend when he conceives of a way to get paid for sitting in a corner and reading: He will, in one year, read the entire 20-volume print version of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and report on the experience of doing so, what lexicological gems he found while doing so, and what the experience does to his sneaking-up-on-forty body. (Nothing good, as one can imagine.) I strongly suspect he thought this wheeze up so someone would buy him the whole thousand-dollar kit and kaboodle. I have no evidence to support this conjecture, just a little quiver in my antennae. What the heck, he'll never see this review, so where's the harm?

My Review: I confess: I am such a nerd that, at age 11, I set out to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica (1947 edition) that my mother prized above all her other books. Originally, I approached the task sternly alphabetically. I understood very little of what I was reading, so I abandoned this approach and instead began jumping around to cross-references as entries confused, excited, angered me; I learned a lot more that way, and before six months were out, I got my first major dictionary (Random House Dictionary of the English Language 1966) so I would stop pestering my mother to tell me what words she'd never heard before meant.

My mother, my sisters, and my First Great Love all made gentle fun of me at first, but mostly left me to get on with it because it was *such* a relief that I no longer wanted to talk only about cars. The charm of this, inevitably, waned as I discoursed upon late Imperial/early Republican China's woes; motifs in Greek painting; the apple and its manifold wonders (though my mother, the foodie, was more willing to listen to this than most of the other stuff) (oh, and that last is still a source of abiding fascination to me), etc etc. Soon I faced open hostility as I approached, big brown volume in hand, gleam of joy in newfound knowledge lighting my face; I learned quickly how very little fondness most people have for someone smarter than they are, better informed than they are, and unafraid to show it.

So imagine my rapturous surprise when my eye lit on this book in the bargain bin! (Sorry, Mr. Shea, but if it's any consolation, it's from the third printing. I owe you a cup of coffee.) There exists in the world a bigger nerd than I am! W00t!

I read the book with a delight that's rare, the eager and guilt-laden urgency to see how far *this* big ol' nerd will go out of his cave. It was an impressive distance. He's a very, very curmudgeonly person, at least as he portrays himself; and he's unafraid of social opprobrium, which is laudable in a smartypants.

But in the end, much as I liked reading his alphabetical listings of the weird and wonderful discoveries, I was left wanting something more than the brief introductory essays in each letter provided: I wanted some synthesis, which he implies he did; he mentions several times compiling lists of synonyms and antonyms and words that define the same concept in slightly different ways, which lists and definitions I really wish had been in the book.

I suspect this is the work of his editor, who then is proof of my contention that no editor is always right, and occasionally should be fought. Oh well. Maybe next book.

Still and all, minor quibbles aside, this is a wonderful read and should be read ASAP by word freaks everywhere; and also by those socially inept folk in need of reassurance that, somewhere in New York City, there is a man who can give them a solid run for their awkward money. Recommended.(less)

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Aug 23, 2010 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: usa, non-fiction

I admit it, as a teenager I did read my school dictionary sometimes, when I was bored with sitting in the car waiting for my mother to do the shopping on our way home after school. However chez T&L where we have the two-volume Shorter Oxford, the Oxford Concise, the Oxford Reference, the DK Ultimate Visual, three versions of the Macquarie, a Webster and half a dozen foreign language dictionaries, I have never been tempted to do it in adulthood. I’m interested in words, but these days I mostl...more

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Jan 23, 2010 Robert rated it 4 of 5 stars

I suppose I should start this review by admitting that I know Ammon Shea. I went to school with Ammon Shea. I've gone to the same gym as Ammon Shea. (And, Senator, you're no Ammon Shea.)

(With apologies to Lloyd Bentsen, but no apologies to Dan Quayle.)

But, even without knowing Ammon, I would have found this book fascinating. He read the entire Oxford English Dictionary! All 20 volumes! 21,730 pages!

The book is both an honest account of the experience of reading such a huge work (including head...more I suppose I should start this review by admitting that I know Ammon Shea. I went to school with Ammon Shea. I've gone to the same gym as Ammon Shea. (And, Senator, you're no Ammon Shea.)

(With apologies to Lloyd Bentsen, but no apologies to Dan Quayle.)

But, even without knowing Ammon, I would have found this book fascinating. He read the entire Oxford English Dictionary! All 20 volumes! 21,730 pages!

The book is both an honest account of the experience of reading such a huge work (including headaches, large amounts of coffee, and the difficulty of finding a good place to read), and a sampling of some of the wonderful, odd word gems that one can find in such a huge dictionary.

Each chapter has two parts. The first part will tell you about the experience of reading the OED, or give you more information about the author, or tell you about some of the interesting people he knows. (Like Madeline, who I keep thinking of has his dictionary "pusher".) I found myself thinking of these portions as a travelogue of sorts: telling you about his trek across the vast lexicographic landscape, and the interesting inhabitants he met in his travels.

The second part is a list of words he found interesting. To continue the travelogue analogy, I suppose these would be a sampling of the curious items he found in his travels, and brought back with him. Each word comes with a definition (most of them courtesy of Ammon), and his ruminations about the word. And this is where it gets really fun. The ruminations are erudite, funny, and often seem to show that Ammon is in touch with his inner curmudgeon (and we can all be thankful for that).

One of my favorite sections starts with the definition of "Goat-drunk" ("Made lascivious by alcohol"), which Ammon (bless him) follows up with the full list of 8 types of drunkenness, as enumerated by Thomas Nash, which proves once again that in the olde dayes, they did more than just sit around, read the bible, and die of plague.

As I look over this review, I realize that I'm not doing the book justice. It's funny, it's clever, it's interesting. I'd recommend it for anybody who likes words.
(less)

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Jun 03, 2009 Bruce rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone and everyone who enjoys words and wordplay

This will have to be a quickie; I’ve been involved in other projects and so sitting on this too long. Reading the OED marks the third of my personal OED triptych that began with the two Simon Winchester books, and I’ve gotta say, I absolutely loved this one. I would read more of this before bed each night and be constantly giggling, snorting, and otherwise laughing out loud. Can’t say how many, “Here, ya gotta listen to this’” I initiated with whomever was nearby whenever I had this book open, b...more This will have to be a quickie; I’ve been involved in other projects and so sitting on this too long. Reading the OED marks the third of my personal OED triptych that began with the two Simon Winchester books, and I’ve gotta say, I absolutely loved this one. I would read more of this before bed each night and be constantly giggling, snorting, and otherwise laughing out loud. Can’t say how many, “Here, ya gotta listen to this’” I initiated with whomever was nearby whenever I had this book open, but suffice it to say there were a lot.

The plan of the book is pretty straightforward, and as such, it’s an extremely quick read. Ammon Shea begins each chapter with an explanatory anecdote or observation (usually tremendously witty), and then follows with a catalog of words from the letter of the OED appropriate to the chapter (fully alphabetized) that he feels are worthy of note and commentary. Also, a prologue and epilogue. Basically, this is a silly travelogue of the sort you might expect from a Douglas Adams or Michael Palin, only Shea’s riding the word train through the woolly lands of the English language (all 615,000 headwords of it as of the Second Edition, published in 1986). Is “irregardless” a word? It is if people use it in a relatively continuous and consistent fashion over time, since that’s what causes the language of Carroll, Heinlein, Shakespeare, and Twain to grow. Don’t see it in the dictionary? Well, ‘bondmaid’ was mislaid out of the first edition of the OED, an oversight that took all of 70 years to correct, given the editorial cycle. There will be many, many more headwords in the OED when the third edition is completed sometime within the next decade or so.

Who knew that there was a word (or even a need for one) to describe beer mixed with urine (to harshen the taste, the beverage to avoid here being “lant”)? And I think everyone within 5 miles of me is now tired of having me demonstrate the word “scouge” (the act of standing obnoxiously close to someone or leaning annoyingly on them in a way that screams out ‘overcrowded subway’) or explain that any time our parents group goes away for a collective weekend with the kids, a veritable storgy breaks out. Y’see, the awkward-sounding “storge” means “the affection a parent feels for his/her progeny,” hence my neologistic preference to extend it lexicographica-logically to “storgy.”

Oh, and by the way, that reciprocal love a child feels for a parent is “antipelargy.” As Shea puts it, “there is, to the best of my knowledge, no word to describe the irritation that either parents or children feel for the other.” (p. 10) How snarky is that? (Not that it matters, as following this briefest of mentions here I won’t be using such a dorky word as ‘antipelargy’ anytime soon.)

I’m going to leave you with one short quote from the book that I think neatly sums up just why I found practically every page so gosh-darned hilarious. Shea gets to the letter ‘U’ and casually mentions to his dictionary-editing girlfriend that he will soon encounter words beginning with the prefix “un-.” She bemoans this as horrifically tedious reading, since the meanings of nearly all such words are intuitively obvious (basically, not followed by the definition of the prefix-modified word). Here’s Shea, at pp. 186-7:

un- goes on for 451 pages, and reading a 451-page list composed largely of self-explanatory words is only slightly more exciting than reading the phone book.

After ten pages of this I think to myself, “This isn’t so bad.”

After twenty pages I begin entertaining thoughts of just skipping ahead to the end, reading the last un- word and pretending the whole thing never happened.

After fifty pages I sink deep into a petulant rage and turn the pages violently, occasionally tearing one, as though this whole enterprise was the invention of some cruel taskmaster other than myself.

By the time I’ve read one hundred pages I am near catatonic, bored out of my mind, and so listless I can’t remember why I wanted to read any of this in the first place….

I am convinced there must be some other use for this section of dictionary aside from it being an extraordinarily thorough scholarly record of some small corner of the alphabet…. It could be used in much the same fashion that some convenience stores use Muzak, blasting it into their parking lots at night in order to repel idle teenagers….

[I:]t is at times such as this… that the true appeal of reading the dictionary makes itself known. It’s not that I’m a great fan of boring activities, but they do make the rest of life that much more special when they come alive.

Now that I’ve read Shea’s one-year odyssey through 21,730 pages of alphabetized English, it’s impossible for me to unlove this writer.(less)

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Aug 07, 2009 Euletha rated it 5 of 5 stars

now i can say with pride that, yes! i, too, read the dictionary! can't say i've read the OED. more like, a page or two of different ones here and there, and only when i feel like it.
he describes dictionary-reading as a great many things. it could start from the love-at-first-sniff ink, to the dog-eared yellow or brown pages, and that somewhat moldy scent draws you in; you love all of those things! but it can turn into a time-consuming, tenacious monster, and it is terribly taxing on your eyes!...more

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May 01, 2012 Marsha rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: education, non-fiction

Did you know there are eight different phrases for eight different types of drunkenness? Do you know the word for the stretching you do when you first wake up? What’s that crusty stuff that collects in the corner of your eyes? What do you call that gray, nasty water that flows down the drain after you’ve had your bath? Wouldn’t you like to know?

Ammon Shea made it his mission to read the entire Oxford English Dictionary in one year—all 20 volumes of it. In doing so, his eyesight deteriorated, hi...more

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Nov 11, 2010 William Blair rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is not what I was led to believe it would be. That does not mean it's a bad book. The book part (about actually reading the OED) is only about 60 pages. The rest of this 223-page book is a list of odd, old, rare, unusual, or interesting words that the author found in the OED that he wants to call to our attention. The 60 pages are very interesting. The rest are not. I already knew of about 5% of these words, which, despite their being interesting in their own right, are basically useless to...more

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Oct 22, 2010 Simon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, english

If you don't already know, OED stands for the Oxford English Dictionary. Not the version that you probably have in your bookcase or by your desk, but the complete 20-volume edition that attempts to capture every word in the English language, past and present. Ammon Shea, who is a self-confessed word collector, read all 20 volumes – 21,730 pages – in a year, which is an incredible achievement. Fortunately for us, Shea has written a much shorter book about his experience, interspersed with the mos...more

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Apr 19, 2010 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

A lovely book that should definitely read by those who love words and lament the falling away of finer words from the English language. On more than one occassion I found myself more than delighted to find words that I never knew existed, but so aptly describe things one encounters often. I also appreciate that Shea's ultimate reason for reading dictionaries is not to impress others, but to have a greater awareness of what exists in the world. For once you have a word to describe something, you...more

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Nov 27, 2009 Carolyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a fun book written by a man who actually read the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) cover to cover. It took him a year of pretty much full time reading. I have no idea how he supported himself during that time. The book is divided into, of course, 26 short chapters by letter of the alphabet, each one with some anecdote about his year and a few of his favorite words from that letter. Some of my favorites are "acnestis" (on an animal, the point on the back that lies between the shoulders and...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Kasey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-about-books, nonfiction, memoir

I did not think I would actually laugh out loud at a book about reading the dictionary (though I guess the idea is inherently funny). I loved, loved this book, which is a sort-of memoir, sort-of tribute to the year Ammon Shea spent reading the OED. Each chapter is named after a letter and starts with a little essay about his process, his thoughts about the OED and dictionaries in general, the history of the language, etc., and ends with a selection of words beginning with that letter that Shea f...more

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Jan 18, 2009 F.R. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Whimsy is something I can take or leave (mostly leave) and a more whimsical idea than a man writing about his time reading the OED it would be difficult to find. However as a writer - with a natural love of words - the idea of this book did whisper sweetly to me and get passed my occasionally hard heart.

This is a book I have been dipping into since Christmas, and I found Shea to be a charming guide through his project, and through the dictionary. As not only does he talk about what the experienc...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Alissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought this book was decent and liked the way he interspersed his experiences spending a year reading the dictionary with the interesting gems that he found within. I must admit though, there were a couple of moments where I wanted more OED words and less narrative. Additionally some of his comments about the words seem to get repetative and tedious and I would liked to have seen the words used in witty sentences a little more.

Some of my favorite new words are:

Impedimenta (n., pl) Such thin...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: languages

This book is so good! It's the experience of Ammon Shea as he spent one year reading the OED. He has a great sense of humor. This book is full of stories about his experiences reading the dictionary mixed with stories of his life not to mention definitions of unusual words we've never heard of.

Two of these words I have already started saying in my daily life:

Prend - noun - a mended crack. Every Sunday I now look at my Sunday tea cup - the one from Colorado Capital Bank that shattered into severa...more

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Nov 08, 2010 Dustin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Sorry Mr Shea, but you managed to ruin what could have been an interesting book.

This could have been A Walk In the Woods for nerds. Instead, we get to listen to you talk about how cantankerous you are. The lists of words (which you defined yourself. What was wrong with the OED definition?) serve no purpose other than giving you something to crack wise at. Yes, there are many strange, beautiful words out there but, stripped of all context, who cares?

I chuckled occasionally so I will give you tw...more

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Feb 21, 2009 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 50-books-in-2009

This book is strange. Reading it wasn't nearly as painful as reading the OED, but it came close. But -- just like the OED -- there were moments every 10 pages or so that were pure magic to me. Now I know there are words for the phenomenon of the sun warming a cold day and the pleasant smell after a good rain. I know there is a word to describe my loathing of laziness and lack of purposefulness. I know there is a word for something that has not been peed on (unbepissed)!

And what is brilliant abou...more

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Nov 06, 2012 David rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reading-challenge, reference

no, the Butler didn't do it!

For some reason (OK, he's been paid to do so), Ammon Shea decides to read the Oxford English Dictionary. Why anyone would want to do so is beyond me, but he seems quite thrilled by the prospect. This book detials his experiences of doing so, with one chapter per letter (most of which is taken up with him trying to fond somewhere to actually read it).

The real reason anyone would read this work, of course, is not for that part of the chapter, but rather for the last pa...more

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Jul 17, 2009 TheSaint rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, non-fiction

In terms of "I read a major reference work in a year" books, AJ Jacobs' The Know It All is superior to Shea's Reading the OED. Still and all, it made a most excellent airplane book, and I do feel the need to go back and highlight some of the more interesting and useful words Shea scraped up from the OED.
See, he didn't really supply many words of great use in this alphabetical (tiny) subset of the dictionary, choosing instead to select a few sesquipedalians (mostly nouns) that seemed to strike h...more

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Feb 09, 2011 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir-and-bio, non-fiction

After reading and disliking Shea's book about the phone book, I struck this from my list. Then I realized that I owned this book and was therefore required to read it. Heh. I even read the whole thing, even though I wanted to stop 1/4 of the way through. The concept is intriguing - both in the sense of a doing-something-during-one-year memoir and as an appreciator of words, word origins and the study of nerdy things like dictionaries. But this turned out pretty boring - both the descriptions and...more

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About Ammon Shea

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.

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Books by Ammon Shea

The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads

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Quotes from Reading the OED: One M...

“. . .what does the computer know of the comforting weight of a book in one's lap? Or of the excitement that comes from finding a set of books, dusty and tucked away in the back corner of some store? The computer can only reproduce the information in a book, and never the joyful experience of reading it.” — 4 people liked it

“One of the questions I hear most often regarding my plan to read the OED from cover to cover is "Why don't you just read it on the computer?" I usually respond as if the questions was "Why don't you just slump yourself on the couch and watch TV for the year?" which is not quite an appropriate reponse. It is not so much that I am anicomputer; I am resolutely and stubbornly pro-book.” — 3 people liked it

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

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