Simon Winchester: The Surgeon of Crowthorne

Simon Winchester

The Surgeon of Crowthorne

This review refers to the British audio book read by Tim Pigott-Smith which is out of print.

In the US the book has been published under the title "The Professor and the Madman". There are different editions of it available.

Monika says:

In THE SURGEON OF CROWTHORNE Simon Winchester tells the story of American surgeon William Chester Minor who was one of the most productive collaborators of James Murray, publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, for twenty years without ever meeting him.

The story begins with a murder. The horrors he witnessed during the American Civil War were he served as an army surgeon induced paranoia that leads Minor to shoot a passer-by in a London street. The court pronounces him insane and sends him to the psychiatric institution Broadmoor in Crowthorne. Because he is a wealthy man he has many privileges, e.g. living in two cells instead of one and having books sent to him. One day he takes notice of a call for volunteers by James Murray looking for helpers with his dictionary project who will search the literature of past centuries for quotes. Minor becomes one of the most ardent collectors, but although Crowthorne is only about an hour away from Oxford by train Minor never attends any of the meetings and celebrations he is invited to. After many years Murray decides to go to Crowthorne himself and visit this strange Dr. Minor he believes to be a retired surgeon.

Simon Winchester’s narrative of the bizarre life of W. C. Minor that is closely connected to the origin of the Oxford English Dictionary feels almost like a novel. The abridged version is well done; at least I didn’t notice any inconsistencies. Tim Pigott-Smith is a very expressive reader who managed to draw me right into the story of this rather unusual life that very well might have been the product of a writer’s fantastic imagination. On the side you learn a lot about the composition of the dictionary and the life in a psychiatric institution at the turn of the 19^th Century.

All in all a very enjoyable book.

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Monika Hübner

Last changes: 17-03-03