Best-selling author
William Alexander
~ About the Author ~
William Alexander, when not burning bread, under-watering his garden, choking on a French r, or writing, is the director of technology at a psychiatric research institute, where he has spent the past three decades, (he believes, perhaps naively, as a researcher, not a researchee). He attended Duke University until, after spending two years in the basement of the engineering building trying to get a picture on the oscilloscope, he wisely changed his major to English Literature, transferring to the University at Albany, where he graduated in 1974. Unable to find work related to his field (deconstructing Kafka) he did a short stint as a math teacher, finally re-entering the technology field as the computer age dawned (and, more importantly, oscilloscopes faded from the scene), in 1981.

Bill is a regular contributor to the New York Times op-ed page, where he has opined on such varied issues as Martha Stewart's release from prison, his offbeat view (published on Christmas Eve, no less) on Christmas trees, what the honeybee crisis means to the home gardener, the relevance of Arbor Day, and the difficulties of being organic, and The Benefits of Failing at French, which achieved the distinction of being the most viewed, e-mailed, tweeted, and Facebook-ed article of July 16, 2014.

Bill's other hobbies include cooking, woodworking, kayaking, and swimming. His former hobbies include home renovation (never again) and child-rearing (never, ever again).

Having broken into writing with the critically-accliamed, bestselling memoir The $64 Tomato Bill returned to his, um, roots with Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World (Grand Central, 2022), a biography of the world's most popular vegetable.

Bill's other hobbies include cooking, woodworking, kayaking, and swimming. His former hobbies include home renovation (never again) and child-rearing (never, ever again). Bill and his incredibly patient, long-suffering wife live in Washington State, after a lifetime in New York's Hudson Valley.

He can be contacted at

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