Amy Wallace (July 3, 1955 – August 10, 2013) was an American writer. She was the daughter of writers Irving Wallace and Sylvia Wallace and the sister of writer and populist historian David Wallechinsky. She was co-author of the bestselling book The Book of Lists (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 and during school breaks, worked with him and their father on what was to become a bestseller, The Book of Lists. 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 (2007) and The Book of Lists: Horror (2008) co-written with Del Howison and her boyfriend Scott Bradley (b. 1972).

She also wrote The Prodigy, a biography of William James Sidis, published in 1986, and an erotic novel, Desire (1990).

Personal life

Wallace was married for seven years to the musician Josef Marc. She dedicated her biography of William James Sidis, The Prodigy, to him. They divorced in 1986.

In 1990 she entered a relationship with anthropologist Carlos Castaneda, which she wrote about in her memoir, Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda, published in 2003. The book was the first to reveal the private life of Castaneda, and detailed his hitherto mysterious "inner circle" of women who lived with him on a closed compound.^[3]

Death

Wallace died of a heart condition in August 2013, aged 58.^[4]