Steve Silberman

Steve Silberman is an American writer based in San Francisco, California. Silberman is best known as a writer for Wired magazine, where he has been an editor and contributor for 14 years. In 2010, Silberman was awarded the AAAS "Kavli Science Journalism Award for Magazine Writing." His featured article "The Placebo Problem" discussed the impact of placebos on the pharmaceutical industry.
Silberman's 2015 book, Neurotribes, about autism and neurodiversity was awarded the Samuel Johnson Prize. Silberman's Wired article "The Geek Syndrome", which focused on autism in Silicon Valley, has been referenced by many sources and has been described as a culturally significant article for the autism community. Silberman's Twitter account made Time magazine's list of the best Twitter feeds for the year 2011.

Silberman studied psychology at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, then received a master's degree in English literature from Berkeley, where his thesis advisor was Thom Gunn.

Silberman moved to San Francisco in 1979, drawn by three factors: so that he could live "a gay life without fear"; because of the music of Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Grateful Dead, and others; and so he could be near the San Francisco Zen Center.

Silberman studied with Allen Ginsberg at Naropa University in 1977. After Silberman interviewed Ginsberg for Whole Earth Review in 1987 the two became friends and Ginsberg invited Silberman to be his teaching assistant the next term at Naropa University. The Beat Generation are a regular subject in Silberman's writings. Silberman lives with his husband Keith, a middle-school science teacher, to whom he has been married since 2003.

• 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize, winner, NeuroTribes

• "The 2015 Shortlist". The Samuel Johnson Prize. 11 October 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2015. 

Books

• Silberman, Steve (2015). NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently (1st ed.). Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-760-11363-6. 
• Shenk, David; Silberman, Steve (1994). Skeleton Key: A Dictionary for Deadheads. New York: Main Street Books. ISBN 978-0-385-47402-3. 

Essays

• "My Hero: Allen Ginsberg". The Guardian. London. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015. 
• "Autism Speaks Needs to do a Lot More Listening". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif. 24 August 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015. 
• "Lessons from an Old Copy of 'Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind'". Lion's Roar. Shambhala Sun Foundation. 5 January 2011. 
• "Wise Heart: A Profile of Jack Kornfield". Lion's Roar. Shambhala Sun Foundation. 1 September 2010. 
• "Impossible Happiness: An Elegy for Peter Orlovsky (Featuring never-before-seen photos)". Lion's Roar. Shambhala Sun Foundation. 1 June 2010. 
• "Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why". Wired. 17 (9). August 2009. 
• "Happily Ever After" (PDF). Lion's Roar. Shambhala Sun Foundation: 23–24. May 2009. 
• "The Only Choice is Kindness". Lion's Roar. Shambhala Sun Foundation. 1 January 2008. 
• "The Fully Immersive Mind of Oliver Sacks". Wired. 10 (4). April 2002. 
• "The Geek Syndrome". Wired. 9 (12). December 2001. 
• "Ginsberg's Last Soup". The New Yorker. 19 March 2001. 

Reviews

• "Kerouac and Ginsberg Letters; A Beat History". San Francisco Chronicle. 18 July 2010. 

Interviews

• Billings, Lee (2 October 2012). "Five Billion Years of Solitude: Lee Billings on the Science of Reaching the Stars". NeuroTribes (blog) (Interview). Public Library of Science. 
• Ne'eman, Ari (6 September 2010). "Exclusive: First Autistic Presidential Appointee Speaks Out". Wired (Interview). 
• Sacks, Oliver (1 September 2010). "Oliver Sacks on Vision, His Next Book, and Surviving Cancer". NeuroTribes (blog) (Interview). Public Library of Science. 
• Mukpo, Diana (1 November 2006). "Married to the Guru". Lion's Roar (Interview). Shambhala Sun Foundation. 
• Ginsberg, Allen (16 December 1996). "An Interview with Allen Ginsberg". HotWired (Interview). 
• Ginsberg, Allen (September 1987). "No More Bagels: An Interview with Allen Ginsberg". Whole Earth Review (Interview).