Man finishes reading the Oxford English Dictionary

NEW YORK (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - For literature lovers there's nothing like getting lost in a good book. But one man's latest read might leave you scratching your head.

"Reading the dictionary is just like reading any other great book, but the words happen to be chopped up and alphabetized," said Ammon Shea. "It has all the same emotions and qualities that a great book would normally have."

The Oxford English Dictionary defines 59 million words. Ammon Shea read all of them.

He spent the past year reading the 21,000 page dictionary set cover to cover.

All of that reading came with some side effects. Ammon says his brain ended up on word overload and he often found himself at a loss for words.