Amy Wallace (July 3, 1955 – August 10, 2013) was an American writer. She was the daughter of writers

Irving Wallace Irving Wallace (March 19, 1916 – June 29, 1990) was an American best-selling author and screenwriter. He was known for his heavily researched novels, many with a sexual theme. Early life Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Bessie Liss a ...

and Sylvia Wallace and the sister of writer and populist historian

David Wallechinsky David Wallechinsky (born David Wallace, February 5, 1948) is an American populist historian and television commentator, the president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) and the founder and editor-in-chief of AllGov.com and ...

. She was co-author of the bestselling book ''

The Book of Lists The ''Book of Lists'' refers to any one of a series of books compiled by David Wallechinsky, his father Irving Wallace and sister Amy Wallace. Each book contains hundreds of lists (many accompanied by textual explanations) on unusual or obscur ...

'' (1977).

Career

Wallace is best known for her books of lists, with topics that ranged from the rare, curious and unusual to crime and horror. In 1977, she lived in Berkeley on her brother's

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

and during school breaks, worked with him and their father on what was to become a bestseller, ''

''. The book ran to three versions. Wallace used the lists format in two other books: ''The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists'' with

Handsome Dick Manitoba Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba (born Richard Blum; January 29, 1954) is an American punk rock singer and radio personality, best known as the original lead singer of New York City-based band The Dictators and the reunion singer of MC5. Backg ...

(2007) and ''The Book of Lists: Horror'' (2008) co-written with

Del Howison Del Howison (born June 3, 1953) is an American horror author, editor and actor. Life and career Howison was born in Detroit, Michigan but moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting; with his distinctive long white hair, he was a natural ...

and her boyfriend Scott Bradley. She also wrote ''The Prodigy'', a biography of

William James Sidis William James Sidis (; April 1, 1898 – July 17, 1944) was an American child prodigy with exceptional mathematical and linguistic skills. He is notable for his 1920 book ''The Animate and the Inanimate'', in which he speculates about the origi ...

, published in 1986, and an erotic novel, ''Desire'' (1990).

Personal life

In 1990 she entered a relationship with anthropologist Carlos Castañeda, which she wrote about in her memoir, ''Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castañeda,'' published in 2003. The book was the first to reveal the private life of Castañeda, and detailed his hitherto mysterious "inner circle" of women who lived with him on a closed compound. She was married for seven years to the musician Josef Marc. She dedicated her biography of

, ''The Prodigy'', to him. They divorced in 1986.

Death

Wallace died of a heart condition in August 2013, aged 58.

Bibliography

*''

''. William Morrow, 1977. (with

and

) *''The Two: The Story of the Original Siamese Twins''.

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, 1978. (with Irving Wallace) *''The Psychic Healing Book''.

Delacorte Press Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...

, 1978. (with Bill Henkin) *''The Book of Lists #2''. William Morrow, 1980. (with Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky and Sylvia Wallace) * '' The Book of Predictions''. William Morrow, 1980. (with David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace) *''The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People''. Delacorte, 1981. (with Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky and Sylvia Wallace) *''The Book of Lists #3''. William Morrow, 1983. (with David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace) *''Significa''. Dutton, 1983. (with Irving Wallace and David Wallechinsky) *''The Prodigy: A Biography of

, America's Greatest Child Prodigy''. Dutton, 1986. *''Desire''. Houghton Mifflin, 1990. *''The Book of Lists: The '90s Edition''. Little, Brown, 1993. (with David Wallechinsky) *''Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda''. North Atlantic Books, 2003. *''The New Book of Lists'', 2005. . (with

) *''The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists''.

Backbeat Books In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a pi ...

, 2007. . (with

)
''The Book of Lists: Horror''
Harper, 2008. (with

and Scott Bradley)

References

External links

Amy Wallace at GoodreadsAmy Wallace at Library ThingAmy Wallace RIP
Feral House blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Amy American information and reference writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American novelists American women non-fiction writers American women novelists Jewish American writers Jewish women writers American book editors Writers from Los Angeles American people of Russian-Jewish descent 1955 births 2013 deaths 21st-century American Jews