Big Secrets is a series of books written by William Poundstone

William Poundstone

William Poundstone is an American author, columnist, and skeptic. He has written a number of books including the Big Secrets series and a biography of Carl Sagan...

, and also the title of the series' first book.

History

In each book, Poundstone seeks to explore a number of mysteries, and reveal "the uncensored truth about all sorts of stuff you are never supposed to know" (the series' tagline

Tagline

A tagline is a variant of a branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising. The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of a brand or product , or to reinforce the audience's memory of a product...

 and the first book's subtitle).

Some of the mysteries Poundstone explores are urban legends (such as what happened to Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 after his death), while others are day-to-day matters which many people may not think to contemplate, such as what barcode

Barcode

A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...

s mean, the Coca-Cola formula

Coca-Cola formula

The Coca-Cola formula is The Coca-Cola Company's secret recipe for Coca-Cola. As a publicity, marketing, and intellectual property protection strategy started by Robert W...

, secret air

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

 frequencies, or what makes up KFC

KFC

KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...

's 11 herbs and spices recipe.

Other mysteries explored in the series include Mount Weather

Mount Weather

The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center is a civilian command facility in Virginia, U.S. used as the center of operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency...

, the number stations, backmasking

Backmasking

Backmasking is a recording technique in which a sound or message is recorded backward on to a track that is meant to be played forward...

 on records, the secrets of Scientology

Scientology

Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...

, the true identities of The Residents

The Residents

The Residents is an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs....

, the initiation rites of the Freemasons and of college fraternities, anti-counterfeiting devices on money and documents, and the magic of David Copperfield

David Copperfield (illusionist)

David Copperfield is an Emmy Award-winning American illusionist, and was described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history. Copperfield's network specials have been nominated for 38 Emmy Awards and won a total of 21 Emmys...

.

The three Big Secrets books are:

• Big Secrets (1983; ISBN 0-688-04830-7)
• Bigger Secrets (1989; ISBN 0-395-53008-3)
• Biggest Secrets (1994; ISBN 0-688-13792-X)

Big Secrets and Biggest Secrets were later re-released in a joint volume called The Big Book of Big Secrets.