The Man Who Made Lists | 
 enlarge | Author: Joshua Kendall
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 207162
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0399154620
Dewey Decimal Number: 413.092
EAN: 9780399154621
ASIN: 0399154620
Publication Date: March 13, 2008
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Boring July 20, 2008
I picked this one out because I loved The Professor and the Madman and thought the story of thesaurus-making might be similarly interesting.
It's not.
In fact, I bailed about 1/3 of the way through. The Man Who Made Lists turns out to be a fairly average biography with lots of amateur psychology and tales of young Roget's early life. His family was prone to depression and madness, his mother was clingy and lived her life through him (Behind every great man is a needy mother?) and etc. Pretty much the usual stuff, and not terribly well told. Oh, the prose is good enough, at least I didn't notice any glaring errors, but the author utterly failed to make me care at all about Roget or his list making.
Pity.
Interesting subject, poorly executed June 9, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Interesting book abut the Peter Roget, the creator of the ubiquitous Thesaurus, but it is a dry read, jumps around. At times the book feels as if it were written by the Peter Roget it describes: emotionally absent the author simply narrates events in Roget's life.
In the hands of a more skilled writer like Eric Larson this would have been a most excellent book. Like other reviewers have said, finishing it was a struggle, which I did out of interest purely in the subject matter.
Credible biography of a fascinating figure June 8, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A good utilitarian biography about a figure in history whose contributions are little thought about today. Roget, who created the Thesaurus at a time when there was nothing close to it and the need was great, also invented the modern slide rule led major scientific societies, and contributed to the natural sciences. A good handling of an unusual man, and well worth the time to learn about the man. My only real complaint is that Kendall seems to apply a 21st century sense of judgement on Roget's relationships (and difficulties therein). This sense may be somewhat due to the lack of cited evidence when such opinions are interjected.
Still, a recommended read for a word maven, list keeper, organizer, or just to fill in a hole in one's knowledge of the movers and shakers of the early days of what became modern science.
Disappointed May 29, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was disappointed in this book because I wanted to know all about the creation of Roget's Thesaurus and the author spends less than 10 pages (actually more like 5 pages) on that topic. In fact, by the time the book gets around to this topic, it is very close to the end.
Just didn't really grab me May 9, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I don't know how much of that was poor writing, how much of it was an often two-dimensional Roget, and how much of that was lack of source materials.
I vote primarily for the former, though.
Given the amount of near-psychotic depression in Roget's family, Kendall could have done much more interplay between that and Thesaurus categories than he actually did. Just telling us he was a "word person" rather than a "people person" could have been done in a book of 50-70 fewer pages.
In short, Kendall didn't develop a good enough "hook" or work with it well enough.
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