April 2024 – Now I've Heard Everything

Conspiracy Theory Debunker Brad Meltzer

April 29, 2024April 28, 2024Bill Thompson

Do you have a favorite conspiracy theory?

History is replete with them. To start a debate all you have to do is say “John Wilkes Booth” or “DB Cooper” or “JFK.”

And sometimes it takes someone with the analytical mind of a great fiction writer to unravel them.

And so it was in 2013 that bestselling author Brad Meltzer published a book called History Decoded, In which he set out to find the truth behind the ten greatest conspiracy theories of all time.

So Are you ready for some debunking? Here now, from 2013, Brad Meltzer .

Brad Meltzer is 54. He and his family live in Florida. His most recent novel was 2022’s The Lightning Rod.

Wendy Wasserstein’s Guide to Slothful Living

April 26, 2024Bill Thompson

About 20 years ago, the New York public library assembled a list of books on the seven deadly sins.

One of which, of course, is sloth.

But if you’ve always been a little fuzzy about exactly what sloth is playwright essayist and satirist Wendy wasserstein to the rescue.

You may remember wasserstein best for her 1989 play The Heidi Chronicles, which won a Tony award and a Pulitzer prize.

Her 2005 book Sloth is a parody of self-help books, with detailed instructions on how you too can acquire sloth.

I interviewed Wendy several times, but this was the most fun one. So here now from 2005. Wendy Wasserstein.

Wendy Wasserstein died in 2006, She was 55.

Dick Williams: Crafting World Series Champions

April 22, 2024April 21, 2024Bill Thompson

Only a few Major League baseball managers get their teams to the World Series. Even fewer get their teams to more than one World Series. And only a handful have gotten three teams to the Series.

Meet Dick Williams, who guided the Boston Red Sox to the pennant in 1967, the Oakland A’s to three championships in the ’70s and the San Diego Padres to the National League title in 1984.

Along the way, Williams earned a reputation as a hard driving manager who expected nothing but the highest performances from his teams.

It was perhaps natural then that his 1990 memoir would be called No More Mr. Nice Guy. That’s when I had the chance to meet him. So here now from 1990. Dick Williams

Dick Williams was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2008. He died in 2011, at the age of 82.