The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's ThesaurusIn the tradition of The Professor and the Madman, a "brisk and vivid"( Los Angeles Times) account of an obsessive scholar. Polymath, eccentric, and synonym aficionado, Peter Mark Roget had a host of female admirers, was one of the first to test the effects of laughing gas, invented the slide rule, and narrowly escaped jail in Napoleon's France. But Roget is best known for making lists. After the tragic turmoil of his early life (both his mother and sister were institutionalized), Roget longed for order in his chaotic world. At the age of eight, he began his quest to put everything in its rightful place, one word at a time. This is the fascinating story of a driven man and a brilliant scholar-and the legacy he has left for generations. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 9 | |
| 19 | |
The Brilliant Student | 53 |
The Idle and Depressed Young Man | 83 |
Napoleons Captive | 111 |
Both the Thesaurus and a Medical Career Begun | 145 |
Part Two Bloomsbury Doctor Inventor | 179 |
Mary | 211 |
Mourning Scholarly Triumph and a Secret New Love | 233 |
Other editions - View all
The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's ... Joshua Kendall No preview available - 2009 |
The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's ... Joshua Kendall No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
anatomy animals Annette anxiety Baillie Beddoes Bentham Bostock Bridgewater Treatise British brother Burton Catherine Catherine's century Chauvet classification couple Darwin Davy death decade diary Dugald Dugald Stewart Dumont early Edgeworth Edinburgh edition England English Erasmus Darwin famous father feel Ferriar French frigidarium Geneva Girard Ilfracombe Jane Griffin Jane Marcet Jean Roget John Joseph Romilly Kate language later Latin lectures letter Library literary living London Madame de Staël Manchester Marcet Mary medical school mind months mother Napoleon natural never nitrous oxide notebook obsessions once paracosm Paris Peter Mark Roget Philips boys philosopher physician physiology Piozzi published Roget began Roget felt Roget wrote Roget's Thesaurus Romilly's Royal Society scientific scientists Sir Samuel Romilly sister soon Spowers Staël Stewart Street Synonymy Thesaurus Thomas Beddoes tion took town trip uncle University University of London weeks wife Wilkins word lists write