Conversation

Steve Silberman was a longtime science journalist and author of the 2015 book “NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity.”

His work appeared in many publications, including Wired, The New York Times, the New Yorker, and Scientific American.

His TED Talk “The Forgotten History of Autism” has been viewed nearly 2 million times on the nonprofit’s website.

Silberman was also a diehard Grateful Dead fan who wrote liner notes for the Bay Area-born band’s albums, as well as the 1994 book “Skeleton Key: A Dictionary for Deadheads,” with fellow Deadhead David Shenk.

Silberman went on to produce the Grateful Dead five-disc box set “So Many Roads (1965-1995)” and worked on liner notes for other box sets as recently as this year.

“My name is Steve Silberman, and I confess I lead a double life,” the author said in an interview on the “Dead Air Radio” program.

Silberman described this “double life” as “interestingly weird,” saying his science writing “pays the rent,”
while his Grateful Dead writing “certainly does not pay the rent but is fun and allows me to listen to a lot of music that I loved seeing when I was a kid.”
https://sfstandard.com/2024/08/29/grateful-dead-autism-writer-steve-silberman-dies/