The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician: Slate republishes one of the greatest magazine stories ever written. - Slate Magazine

The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician: Slate republishes one of the greatest magazine stories ever written. - Slate Magazine: In the July/August 2001 issue of the late, great magazine Lingua Franca, James Ryerson published an enthralling article about an anonymous benefactor who was paying professors huge sums of money to review a strange 60-page philosophical manuscript. Slate editor David Plotz talked about “The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician” on this week’s Political Gabfest, citing it as one of his favorite magazine articles of all time. Ryerson gave Slate permission to republish the story in full.