Neurotribes author Steve Silberman dies 

Steve Silberman’s publisher has paid tribute to his “deep empathy” and “endless curiosity” following the author and journalist’s death at the age of 66 on Wednesday evening. 

Atlantic Books and Allen & Unwin released a joint statement sharing their “devastation” at the death of the “adored” author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter about People Who Think Differently. 

Silberman won the Samuel Johnson Prize (now Baillie Gifford Prize) for non-fiction in 2015 for NeuroTribes. His publishers said it “completely reframed the way we talk about autism and neurodiversity and remains one of the most important books we have published”. 

NeuroTribes traced the secret history of autism, chronicling the brave and lonely journey of autistic people and their families through the centuries and finding surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses had soared in recent years. It was shortlisted for the Wellcome prize and was both a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.  

Silberman had an adventurous life even before he became a science journalist and author. in his teens he hitchhiked from New York to Colorado in the hope that his idol, Allen Ginsberg, would take him on as an apprentice (which he did). He fell in love with San Francisco counterculture, moving there to work with the poet Thom Gunn, and became renowned as a liner-note-writing expert on the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills Nash & Young. 

Clare Drysdale, Atlantic Books associate publisher, said: “Steve’s deep empathy shone through on every page of NeuroTribes. He was endlessly curious and very careful not to overstep in his unusual role as a neurotypical spokesperson for the autistic community, a position he regarded as an absolute privilege. He was unbelievably generous, forever offering blurbs to help less-established writers on their way, and an absolute delight to work with. We are all diminished by his loss and send our deepest sympathies to his family.”