Peter Bowler

Peter Bowler is an Australian lexicographer and author of The Superior Person's Book of Words, The Superior Person's Second Book of Weird and Wondrous Words, and The Superior Person's Third Book of Well-Bred Words. He specializes in esoteric, arcane, archaic, and otherwise unusual words, which he has catalogued humorously in his three books, along with "real-life" situations in which such words might come in handy.

A short biography, which amounts to two sentences, is printed on the inner back flap of each of his books: "Who exactly is Peter Bowler? On questioning, the author becomes noticeably tongue-tied, and indeed has been known to break down completely and admit to being just an easily confused fat man with a poor memory."

His books about words are published in the USA by David R Godine of Boston and in the UK by Bloomsbury of London. His other books have included: The True Believers; What a Way to Go; the crime novel Human Remains; The Creepy-Crawly (a book of verse for children) and Your Child From One to Ten (a manual for parents on child development). He has also written and edited books on emergency care and its theoretical medical foundations. One or another book in the Superior Person’s series has been in print at all times since 1979.

He lives near Brisbane in Australia with his wife Diane, and when not writing collects old 78rpm records, wind-up gramophones, and old English pewter.