Big Secrets are a series of books written by William Poundstone. William Poundstone is an American author, columnist, and skeptic. ...

In each book, Poundstone seeks to explore a number of mysteries, and reveal "the uncensored truth about stuff you were never supposed to know about" (the series' byline).

Some of the mysteries Poundstone explores are urban legends (such as what happened to Walt Disney after his death) others are day-to-day matters which many people may not think to contemplate, such as what barcodes mean, the fomula to Coca-cola, Secrets air-frequencies, or what makes up Kentucky Fried Chicken's 11 herbs and spices recipe. Urban Legend is also the name of a 1998 movie. ... For the company founded by Disney, see The Walt Disney Company. ... Wikipedia encoded in Code 128_B A barcode (also bar code) is a machine-readable representation of information in a visual format on a surface. ... The wave shape (known as the dynamic ribbon device) present on all Coca-Cola cans throughout the world derives from the contour of the original Coca-Cola bottles. ... Sine waves of various frequencies; the lower waves have higher frequencies than those above. ... A portrait of Col. ...

Other mysteries explored in the series include Mount Weather, the number stations, backmasking on records, the secrets of Scientology, the true identities of The Residents, and the magic of David Copperfield. Photo courtesy FEMA The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center is a U.S. government facility located in Bluemont, Virginia. ... Numbers stations are shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin. ... Backmasking (also incorrectly known as backward masking) is an audio technique in which sounds are recorded backwards onto a track that is meant to be played forwards. ... Scientology is a system of beliefs and practices created by American pulp fiction[1][2] and science fiction [3] author L. Ron Hubbard in 1952 as a self-help philosophy. ... The Residents The Residents are an avant garde music and visual arts group. ... A press photo of David Copperfield copyright David Copperfield David Copperfield (born September 16, 1956 as David Seth Kotkin) is a renowned Jewish-American magician and illusionist best known for his combination of spectacular illusions and storytelling. ...

The three Big Secrets books are:

• Big Secrets
• Bigger Secrets
• Biggest Secrets

Big and Biggest Secrets were later re-released in a joint volume called The Big Book of Big Secrets. Bigger Secrets was the shortest of the three, and Poundstone's least favorite book, so it was not included.