Steve Silberman

One of the most hardcore Grateful Dead fans, who has written numerous essays and liner notes for official releases, also wrote a New York Times Best Seller: NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. Steve Silberman discusses the Grateful Dead, autism, and his book.  































http://stevesilberman.com/







Transcript:







Cory:               00:02          This is DeadAirRadio.org. It’s a Grateful Dead radio program that features the official releases from the Grateful Dead. From time to time, we get an interview and we like to upload that to our website and get it up as a podcast. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast. That way you can get these interviews delivered to your “Handy Dandy” smarty pants phone. The month of April is “Autism Acceptance Month” and one of the most hardcore Grateful Dead fans who has written numerous essays and liner notes for the official releases. He also wrote a New York Times best seller. It’s called “NeuroTribes: the Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity.” Here we chatted up with Steve Silberman who talks a little bit about autism and he also makes these fascinating connections to the Grateful Dead and autism.Steve Silberman:    01:04          My name is Steve Silberman and I confess I lead a double life. Most of the people who know me in the world know me as the author of a New York Times bestselling history of autism called “Neurotribes, the Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity.”Cory:               01:29          That book came out in 2015 and translated in about 15 different languages. Now, as for the other set of people who know the name “Steve Silberman,” they speak the language of the Grateful Dead. He wrote a book about the band as well and that came out in the early 90’s – along with another Dead Head – David ShenkSteve Silberman:    01:46          Called “Skeleton Key, a Dictionary for Deadheads” and then went on to co-produce the box set So Many Roads.Cory:               01:54          He’s also written many liner notes for several Grateful Dead releases, solo releases for Jerry Garcia plus other liner notes he’s provided for Crosby, Stills and Nash, Crosby – Nash, and David Crosby.Steve Silberman:    02:06          I have this sort of interestingly weird, which has probably suitable for me, life that is half devoted to science writing and that’s the part that pays the rent, and half devoted to Grateful Dead liner note writing, which 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.Cory:               02:30          Now this might surprise some people, but there are connections of autism in the Grateful Dead society. I first learned about autism in the Grateful Dead when I was reading Peter Conner’s book, “Cornell 77, the Music, the Myth, and the Magnificence of the Grateful Dead’s concert at Barton Hall”Peter Conners:      02:47          I felt like the idea of doing a whole book about a single show was a little batty. It seemed a little extreme.