Extended Biography
of Alex Boese, author of Hippo Eats Dwarf


I was born in Glenside, Pennsylvania and grew up in London and Washington DC. In 1991 I graduated from Amherst College, and then gained a Master's Degree in the History of Science from the University of California, San Diego.

One of the first questions everybody asks me is how to pronounce my last name. The answer is that it's pronounced 'Burr-za,' as if it has an 'r' in it. The reason for this odd pronunciation is that it's a German name, and that's just the way they say it over in Germany. (Though I've recently been informed that Germans don't quite pronounce it that way—they say it, as a German woman wrote to tell me, "more like the 'e' in 'German', but longer and with the mouth more closed"—which means I've been mispronouncing it my entire life.) Here in America I've heard people pronounce my name in every conceivable way possible (including Beezy, Boozer, Brose, and Boos). It would probably make more sense to pronounce the name without the 'r', but I figure that I've grown up saying it Burr-Za, so I may as well go on saying it that way.

I created the Museum of Hoaxes back in 1997. It began as research notes for my doctoral dissertation but soon made its way onto the web where it rapidly transformed into a full-time means for me to procrastinate. As proof of this, I never finished the dissertation, but the Museum, during the same period of time, grew enormously. It's hard to determine exactly how many people have visited the site, but it's averaging almost a million page views every month. (Theoretically that could be from my mother hitting the refresh button a million times every month.) I also wrote a book detailing the most outrageous hoaxes ever perpetrated. The book, like the website, is titled THE MUSEUM OF HOAXES. It was published in November, 2002 by Dutton Press.

In my capacity as a 'hoaxpert' (hoax expert) I've been interviewed by quite a few newspapers and magazines including US News & World Report, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Esquire, National Geographic News, and USA Today. I've also been a guest on radio programs such as AirTalk with Larry Mantle, The Lounge with Dirk Sutro, The Mike McConnell Show, Talking History, The DunnDeal Show, and A Touch of Grey. Finally, my television appearances include interviews on CNN, MSNBC, and ABC News.

I recently completed a second book, about modern day hoaxes (or, more accurately, about the many forms that phoniness, fakery, and BS take in modern society, including topics such as political BS, reality TV shows, fake body parts, artificial food, internet hoaxes, etc., etc.). It's titled HIPPO EATS DWARF: A FIELD GUIDE TO HOAXES AND OTHER B.S. It will be published by Harcourt in April, 2006.

I can be contacted by e-mail at: alex@museumofhoaxes.com