At a recent appearance, author Tom Robbins talked about the time he was questioned by the FBI in connection with the Unabomber case. They had noted similarities in his book “Still Life With Woodpecker” and the then-anonymous manifesto. Of course the Unabomber was well known for his opposition to modern technology. And it turns out that Robbins had, in the days before the FBI visit bashed an electric typewriter with a two-by-four.

Robbins usually writes in longhand on legal pads, but had given the typewriter a try and found it to be “mean and demanding.” One day, in frustration he “beat it and destroyed it.” Then the feds showed up and of course that wreckage caught their attention. All turned out well, as history shows, but to hear more about it you could pick up his newest book, “Tibet Peach Pie”, a pseudo-memoir due out in May.