Death to the Grinagogs

I just finished a book called Reading the OED, and I had a blast. For those of you who don't know, OED stands for Oxford English Dictionary, the biggest, longest, and most thorough lexicographic enterprise ever. The author, Ammon Shea, loves to read dictionaries, and he decided to read the OED. He proceeded to read all of its over 21,000 pages in the course of a year, and then he wrote a book about his experience reading the multiple volumes of the most famous dictionary of the English language.

Shea's writing is witty and humorous, and the collection of words he presents for us (so that we don't have to read the OED) is truly priceless. Since I love words, I found the book fascinating, but by now it should be pretty obvious that, unless you are into words and linguistics and meanings and semantics, this book might just not be for you. If you are, though, make sure you get a copy of Reading the OED, because I guarantee you will enjoy it tremendously.