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The Man Who Made Lists |
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Joshua Kendall - Author
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| Book: Hardcover | 9.25 x 6.25in | 304 pages | ISBN 9780399154621 | 13 Mar 2008 | Putnam Adult | Adult |
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Click here for other formats
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The extraordinary true story of Peter Mark Roget and his legendary Thesaurus.
Peter Mark Roget-polymath, eccentric, synonym aficionado-was a complicated man. He was an eminent scholar who absorbed himself in his work, yet he also possessed an allure that endeared him to his mentors and colleagues-not to mention a host of female admirers. But, most notably, Roget made lists.
From the age of eight, he kept these lists with the intention of ordering the chaotic world around him. After his father's death, his mother became, at once, overbearing and despondent. Soon, his sister would also descend into mental illness. Despite these tragedies, Roget lived a colorful life full of unexpected twists and discoveries-including narrowly avoiding jail in Napoleon's France, assisting famed physician Thomas Beddoes by personally testing the effects of laughing gas, and inventing the slide rule.
Evocative and entertaining, The Man Who Made Lists lets readers join Roget on his worldly adventures and emotional journeys. This rich narrative explores the power of words and the everlasting legacy of a rediscovered genius.
“Madness did not just run in [Roget’s] family; it galloped, sped, sprinted, dashed and made haste. If the title of Joshua Kendall’s fine new biography of Roget has a clinical Oliver Sacks feel, the material pretty much justifies it. . . . [Kendall] convinces a reader of the psychological roots and therapeutic success of the Thesaurus.”
—New York Time Book Review
“The Man Who Made Lists is brisk and vivid, with Kendall coloring between the lines left by history. . . . Word geeks may find something to get their temperatures up.”
—Los Angeles Times
“A readable and informative, if not masterful treatment of a worthy and fascinating subject.”
—Seattle Times
“Who knew that the man behind the thesaurus also invented the slide rule, volunteered to test laughing gas, and barely avoided jail in revolutionary France?”
—Library Journal
“Josh Kendall’s biography trace[es] an intricate career and vividly depict[s] the early development of this extraordinary, quirky mind . . . Roget’s achievement was certainly unique, and now the story of this troubled life and how he overcame his demons comes as pure revelation.”
—California Literary Review
“Joshua Kendall has written a fascinating account of Roget’s life. The book is dense with details and cleverly organized . . .”
—New Haven Register
“In The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus, U.S. journalist and word-lover Joshua Kendall tells the life of Peter Mark Roget, thesaurus-maker to the world, and tells it very well indeed. There are enough sidelines and footnote-candidates (Roget tested laughing gas on himself, noticed the visual persistence-of-memory phenomenon that eventually allowed the cinema projector to be made, and participated in the making of the slide rule), and Kendall is a good enough storyteller to keep the pages turning.”
—Simon Winchester, The Globe and Mail
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