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Book Summary and Reviews of The Man Who Made Lists by Joshua Kendall

The Man Who Made Lists by Joshua Kendall

The Man Who Made Lists

Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus

by Joshua Kendall

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Mar 2008, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

'Although Roget is a tantalizing subject, Kendall never lights the necessary spark to make the legendary wordsmith come alive." - Publishers Weekly.

"The earlier part of Roget's 90 years is emphasized, including narrative and quotations to portray his family life, developing interest in language and science, and early efforts to categorize his learning. Another recent biography by Nick Rennison (Pocket Essentials, 2007) generally illumines Roget's scholarly background instead of the personal theme." - Library Journal.

"Kendall’s style is plain and sensible; he gets the job done with sympathy and speed, occasionally entertaining the reader with a novelistic flourish." - New York Times.

"As for Kendall's own book, it is well-written and persuasive but largely devoid of narrative tension. It ought to build toward the climactic event of Roget's life, the publication of the Thesaurus, but that arrives almost as an afterthought and is given only a few perfunctory pages." - The Washington Post.

"The Man Who Made Lists is brisk and vivid, with Kendall coloring between the lines left by history. " - Los Angeles Times.

This information about The Man Who Made Lists was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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