William Poundstone is an American author, columnist, and

skeptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the ...

. He has written a number of books including the ''

Big Secrets ''Big Secrets'' is a series of books written by William Poundstone, and also the title of the series' first book. History In each book, Poundstone seeks to explore a number of mysteries, and reveal "the uncensored truth about all sorts of stuff ...

'' series and a biography of

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ex ...

Early life and education

Poundstone attended MIT and studied physics.

Personal life

An enthusiast of

Harry Stephen Keeler Harry Stephen Keeler (November 3, 1890 – January 22, 1967) was a prolific but little-known American fiction writer, who developed a cult following for his eccentric mysteries. He also wrote science fiction. Biography Born in Chicago in 1 ...

, he maintains the Keeler homepage and contributed to the anthology ''A to Izzard: A Harry Stephen Keeler Companion'' (2002). He is a cousin of comedian

Paula Poundstone Paula Poundstone (born December 29, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, author, actor, interviewer, and commentator. Beginning in the late 1980s, she performed a series of one-hour HBO comedy specials. She provided backstage commentary durin ...

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * reprints ''Big Secrets'' and ''Biggest Secrets'' * * * * * * * * Released as ''How to Predict Everything'' in the UKDescription

arrow/scrollable preview.
Also summarized in Poundstone's essay
"Math Says Humanity May Have Just 760 Years Left,"
''Wall Street Journal'', updated June 27, 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2020.

References

External links

* *
Fortune's Formula official site

William Poundstone's talk at Skeptics Distinguished Lecture Series (Video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poundstone, William Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American columnists American biographers American information and reference writers American skeptics MIT Department of Physics alumni