A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO THE SHAKESPEARE AUTHORSHIP QUESTION

AKA Shakespeare—comprising this website and the accompanying book—offers a do-it-yourself kit to help you solve the mystery of the identity of the Great Author who was either named Shakespeare or adopted that name as his nom-de-plume.

AKA Shakespeare develops a scientific approach to this intriguing, four-hundred-year-old, question. To explain the approach and develop the necessary concepts and to enliven the discussion, the book is written in the form of a dialog. To begin with, one participant is a Stratfordian, and a second participant is a skeptic. Two more participants try to be impartial and to steer the debate along scientific lines.

Each reader is encouraged to enter his or her own judgments (in a simple numerical form) concerning each of several separate issues. An electronic magician, affectionately known as Prospero, will analyze those judgments and return the results to the reader.

After we have received input from one hundred or more readers, we plan to publish a summary of their results, such as 95% of respondents consider that the author is most likely to be XXX; etc.