Book Review: Surgeon of Crowthorne

So, the Oxford English Dictionary. A masterpiece in itself. But did you know they couldn’t have done it without a murderer? An insane, Yale graduate surgeon who butchered a man and spent his life in a mental asylum devouring books, through which he developed the skill of compiling quotations which were used to illustrate ways particular words were used, making him one of the biggest contributers to the OED.  This isn’t fiction, it’s all true, but the book is so well written it flows like fiction. It made me squirm, it made me squeal, but it also fascinated me. You never get through to understanding this intelligent man’s thought process, but at the same time you are left questioning what the borderline is between insanity and genius. How do the two fit so easily together with this one man? I guess we’ll never know. Am I being too generous with my ratings? No, I just happen to have some fantastic books recently. ★★★★★