Just when you think the dictionary is dying, in saunters Word by Word- at once a delightful romp through the vagaries of the English language, and an exclusive insider’s look into the workings of what is perhaps one of the world’s most taken-for-granted industries. Kory Stamper propels us through the many parts of a word definition in a colourful narrative that not only entertains but also discusses at length world history, class, racism and sexism and their constantly evolving places in the modern dictionary, as only a linguist could do. 

We are taken through drab cubicles, obscure citations, hate mails and into the labyrinthine mind of a lexicographer caught at the cusp of birthing a definition – with copious amounts of wit and self-jabs, all thoroughly hilarious and never once pitiful (one of the many pieces of gold I gleaned from the book includes the line ‘Lexicography moves so slowly that scientists classify it as a solid’). 
Stamper elegantly steers us from the nitty-gritties of word-building to asking the larger questions in the context of language– do records of the written word matter so much as the word itself? Is language puritanism the way to go? Lexicographers see English as a writhing, many-tailed beast that infinitely evolves and refines and redefines, and their struggle is to record its every twitch and spurt. Taming it was never in the job description, contrary to popular opinion, and Stamper wrote an entire book to set this record straight once and for all. Duly noted, Kory. 

Pick up this book if you’re a fellow logophile ready for a wild lexical goose chase. Be prepared to unlearn what you thought you knew of the English language, because you’re about to find out that the dictionary isn’t just a paperweight anymore. 

Best paired with strong coffee and an endless night of self-reflection.