William Alexander

William Alexander is the author of is "Flirting With French," about his often riotous attempt to fulfill a life-dream of learning French. His previous books include the best-selling memoir, "The $64 Tomato," and "52 Loaves: A Half-Baked Adventure," his funny but moving account of a year spent striving to bake the perfect loaf of bread, including a visit to a 1300-hundred-year-old monastery in Normandy, where, weirdly enough, he helps French monks restore their lost art of baking French bread.

The New York Times Style Magazine says about Alexander, "His timing and his delivery are flawless." He has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC, and was a 2006 Quill Book Awards finalist. Alexander has been a frequent contributor the New York Times op-ed pages, where he has opined on such issues as the Christmas tree threatening his living room, Martha Stewart, and the difficulties of being organic.

When not gardening, baking, or writing, Bill keeps his day job as director of technology at a psychiatric research institution, where, after 28 years, he persists in the belief that he is a researcher, not a researchee.