Strathmore Speaker Series Archive

Firebarn Chats, Episode 2 – The authors of “Hardly Harmless Drudgery”

by Ron Lombard

June 12, 2024

What’s interesting about the history of our dictionary? Plenty! And it can be a lot of fun too, as we find out in this edition of Firebarn Chats, the radio spin-off of the popular Strathmore Speakers Series. In this show, co-hosts Courtney Black and Patricia Black talk with lexicographers Jack Lynch and Bryan Garner, co-authors of the new book “Hardly Harmless Drudgery,” a richly-illustrated historical account of English-language dictionaries, and the people who made them, from the dawn of printing to the present day. Booklist calls it “A delight.” Publishers Weekly says “Bibliophiles will swoon for this sweeping survey.”