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Book Review By Carmen Flak
The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester

Winchester has written a history of the people who envisioned the making of the first complete English dictionary. In 1860 two main dictionaries existed, Samuel Johnson's and Noah Webster's. The British Philological Committee wanted a new dictionary that not only defined a word, supplied the best pronunciation but gave its history. It must be free of political bias, give all variant spellings and definitions and include obsolete words. Seventy years would pass before the project was completed. Seventy years during which time politics, penury and pomposity threatened to sink the project.

Thousands of volunteers in England, America – anywhere in the English speaking world – were recruited to read books dating from 1250 AD. The readers' task was to list words with the pertinent quotations that illustrated their meaning. Each reader submitted each word on a separate slip of paper. These slips were collected, checked and collated in special pigeonholes constructed to mange them. The editor then painstakingly reviewed each submission and determined the final meaning.


Kind Of History
Time of history: - 19th century
Nationality?
History of words/phrases? Yes

Subjects of this Historical Account
Is the portrayal sympathetic? - Sympathetic
From a certain profession/group? - journalists
Intelligence of subject of history: - Smart

Main Adversary
From a certain profession/group?
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
Nationality? - British
Ethnicity? (if plays big part) - White/European
Is the portrayal sympathetic? - Sympathetic

Setting
Europe Yes
European country: - England/UK

Writing Style
How much gore? - 1 ()
How fast-paced is the book? - 7 ()
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How much focus on stories of individuals? - Focuses mostly on history of key players
How much romance? - 1 ()
Is book humorous? Yes
How much humor? - 2 ()
If humorous, kind of humor - eccentric personalities - gentle humor
How much emphasis on small details? - 5 ()
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