Steve Silberman, award-winning science journalist, advocate of autism rights, and author of NeuroTribes, died Wednesday night. He was 66. 

“It’s my very sad duty to inform you all that @stevesilberman.bsky.social, my wonderful husband and best friend, passed away last night,” Silberman’s husband Keith Karraker wrote Thursday in a post on the social media platform Bluesky. “I’ll have more info later. For now, please take a moment to remember his kindness, humor, wisdom, and love.”

Silberman was a longtime contributor and friend to Lion’s Roar, authoring a number of pieces on topics of Zen Buddhism, music, literature, disability, and culture. He was renowned for his writing on science and his 2015 book NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, which changed the way many people think about cognitive differences. Silberman was also known for his fanship and writing for the Grateful Dead, having written liner notes for the band and notably working on their box set So Many Roads (1965-1995).

A practicing Zen Buddhist since he was 19, Silberman worked as Buddhist beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s teaching assistant at Naropa University in 1987, and as Zen Buddhist poet Philip Whalen’s personal assistant in 1993. 

Silberman moved to San Francisco in 1979 to learn to meditate at San Francisco Zen Center. In a 2011 article for SFGATE, Silberman shared that his most treasured book was Shunryu Suzuki Roshi’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. “I was overjoyed to find a sunny one-bedroom apartment in the Haight for (gasp!) $200 a month,” wrote Silberman. “One of the most amazing things about the apartment, however, was the one thing that the previous tenant had left behind: an old, tattered copy of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind — a book of lectures by the monk who founded Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki-roshi.”

“In playful language that dances on the edge of the unsayable, the book provided me with a warm introduction to the spirit of Zen practice… At the same time, whenever I pick the book up again, Suzuki’s gentle advice — to value slow, steady mindfulness practice over fleeting flashes of illumination — seems uncannily relevant to my life,” he wrote.

In a Facebook post from August 2023, Silberman reflected on his own mortality, writing: “When I die, please don’t say that I’ve crossed over into the spirit realm, gone to the Other Side, moved on to a better place, rejoined my ancestors, or any other of those comforting fables. Just selfishly or selflessly use my own impermanence to WAKE UP to your own.”

Lion’s Roar would like to extend our condolences to Steve’s husband, Keith, and all those who knew and loved him. We invite you to read some of his work for Lion’s Roar here.