About the Author

Sarah Ogilvie teaches at the University of Oxford, and specializes in language, dictionaries, and technology. As a lexicographer she has been an editor at the Oxford English Dictionary and was Chief Editor of Oxford Dictionaries in Australia. As a technologist she has worked in Silicon Valley at Lab 126, Amazon's innovation lab, where she was part of the team that developed the Kindle. She originally studied computer science and mathematics before taking her doctorate in Linguistics at the University of Oxford, and then taught at Cambridge and Stanford.

Reviews

Proof that not only do our words have extraordinary lives, but so do the people who have documented them for us. A lively, entertaining, and illuminating read. I loved it
*Susie Dent*

Utterly fascinating, entertaining, astonishing and as clever as a box of monkeys... I am bowled over by Sarah Ogilvie's book and every home should have a copy. I completely love it
*Joanna Lumley*

Who knew such mysteries lay behind the Oxford English Dictionary? This is a fascinating, unique and original book which uncovers the people behind the words. A jaw-dropping cross-section of society are revealed for the first time in all their complexity
*Janina Ramirez, author of Femina*

Exquisitely written ... A lively, funny book full of eccentrics
*Jamaica Kincaid*

Enthralling and exuberant, Sarah Ogilvie tells the surprising story of the making of the OED. Philologists, fantasists, crackpots, criminals, career spinsters, suffragists, and Australians: here is a wonder-book for word-lovers
*Jeanette Winterson*

I love words and I cherish my OED ... having the background of it explained was fascinating
*Val McDermid*

Astonishing
*Kathryn Hughes, The Sunday Times*

Fascinating
*Observer*

'An erudite and vivid exploration of the origins of the OED in the first crowdsourcing of contributions from thousands of individuals - including murderers, lunatics and cannibals. Marvellous, witty and wholly original'
*Alan Rusbridger*

'Sarah Ogilvie has brought to light in glorious and surprising detail the creation of one of the greatest reference works of all time. She has laboured in the archives to reveal a new history - one that illuminates the astonishing stories of the extraordinary men and women who gave us the OED'
*Richard Ovenden, Bodley's Librarian and author of Burning the Books*