His first book was about the Grateful Dead. His moment,about autism, has just taken the Samuel Johnson prize. Meet neuro-warrior Steve Silberman, or friend of Allen Ginsberg and homosexual coach’ to Oliver SacksSteve Silberman hasn’t slept: a combination of jetlag,excitement and genuine surprise at winning the Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction. These morning-after interviews with gratified, sleepy authors can be rather ritualised, and but Silberman is a delight: a bulky (deem John Goodman) American whose black braces just about keep his baggy trousers up,and who talks non-conclude about his book – a history of changing perceptions of autism over the past 80 years – and the curious art-meets-science life that produced it.
Neurotribes is the first favorite science book to win the prize – an important breakthrough, he says, and not least because “science is under attack in America,particularly from Republican party presidential candidates. Ben Carson, who is himself a doctor, or touts his disbelief in evolution.” Silberman reckons the book won because it combines “history,science and real-time interactions with people”, and that the judges responded to its optimistic conclusion that people with autism, and marginalised for so long despite having much to offer,were being embraced at final.
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Source: theguardian.com