About Chip
Author | Journalist | Consistently Curious
Thanks for coming in for a visit. I’m a journalist, story-teller and traveler. I have a bad habit of digging into and writing about nearly everything, which may explain my former job as a CNN Bureau Chief, work as a PBS documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, author of five books of non-fiction (and an upcoming novel) plus dozens of articles for publications like National Geographic, The Economist, Wall St. Journal and Slate.
(Artwork by Molly Walter - www.mollyrosecreative.com)
My work reaches out to mainstream audiences to explore complex topics that relate to the human condition, human evolution, emotion, behavior and creativity. I like to call my non-fiction “literary science” because I work hard to make the subjects I explore accessible and engaging to every reader.
Why we do and feel and think the things we do is something I’m fascinated with, but two seemingly unrelated subjects really intrigue me – human behavior, and the increasingly rapid advance of technology and its effect upon our lives and society. There’s no technology, no matter how powerful, that can succeed unless it connects positively and effectively on a human level.
To smooth the immense and disruptive transitions that lie ahead, I feel it is crucial for us to not only understand the immense power of emerging technology, but to also better comprehend what makes you and me tick; what, in short, makes humans human. And humane. My books and writing (even my novels - coming soon) explore these questions one way or another.
I feel there is so much to learn, and so little time to learn it. Still, we can try …
Immortality, Inc.
Renegade Science, Silicon Valley Billions, and the Quest to Live Forever
My fifth and most recent book, Immortality, Inc.: Renegade Science, Silicon Valley Billions and the Quest to Live Forever, was published by National Geographic, and is available in bookstores and online everywhere. Salon wrote: “Walter has clearly gained the trust of some of the most innovative and imaginative thinkers of the early 21st century, and in doing so he's able to offer the reader a glimpse inside their minds. And what we find there is certainly colorful. Whatever one thinks of the quest for immortality, it is impossible not to be intrigued by it”. The Wall Street Journal writes, “While Immortality, Inc. is focused on aging and the efforts to defy it, the book is also a gripping chronicle of private-sector experimentation and ingenuity.” “Witty … worth the ride,” wrote Nature, and Publisher’s Weekly calls the book, “Fascinating.” In early 2020 in was chosen one of the nation’s top six science books by Malcolm Gladwell’s Next Big Idea Club.
You can find it at your favorite retailers here:
Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Amazon | Google Books | Kobo eBooks
My other books tackle a wide range of topics. (Check them out here.)
Now for the self-aggrandizing portion of my website :-) …
Articles
I’ve been fortunate enough to be paid by National Geographic, The Economist, Slate, the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American, among many other publications, to write for them. Which to me is a little bit like being paid to play shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I’ve covered subjects as diverse as the origins of kissing, laughter, human consciousness, and art. I have also written extensively about the rapid advance of digital technology. My work has taken me to all seven continents, from the Amazon rainforest and Africa’s Serengeti to the Arctic Circle, Australian outback and Antarctica. My cover story The First Artists was National Geographic’s featured story in January 2015. I am currently writing about traveling with my wife Cyndy across all seven continents, never by jet. We call it a Vagabond Adventure…
A Vagabond Adventure
I do love travel. It is the greatest library in the world. In September 27, 2021, Cyndy and I sold our house and began a pilgrimage that will take us through more than 100 countries and all seven continents, never traveling by jet. So far we have covered nearly 200,000 miles across five continents. We’ve hiked and bused, ferried and sailed to Antarctica and Morocco, Patagonia, the mountains of Peru, the rocky shores of Newfoundland and the wilds of the American West.
It’s been a remarkable experience and we are less than half way around the planet. More to come.
It’s easy to join our Vagabond-Adventure and easy to share your journeys with us and other vagabonds through our bi-monthly newsletter. You’ll also find our growing library of articles, photos and recommendations with just a click of your mouse.
Speaking …
I’m not quite sure how these things happen, but somehow I have been asked to speak at Harvard Law School, Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia University’s School of Journalism, Xerox PARC, and the Chautauqua Institution on a wide range of topics, and have often been a guest on radio stations, podcasts, and online talk shows around the world including NPR’s All Things Considered, Michio Kaku’s Science Fantastic, Irish National Radio, and The Wall Street Journal. Generally I have managed not to make a fool of myself.
Screenplays, Documentaries and Teaching
Earlier in my career, I wrote and directed several science documentaries for PBS that won some awards. Each was produced with WQED-TV and in association with the National Academy of Sciences. I co-wrote and produced two episodes of the Emmy award winning PBS series Planet Earth, and Variety called my documentary on the evolution of human intelligence, Fires of the Mind, “Handsomely produced, beautifully written…a fascinating hour.” The Village Voice wrote that it delivered “a sense of human accomplishment, which is the true ambition of science on the air.”
In between documentaries I also wrote and sold screenplays to Columbia-Tri Star, Universal and Warner Bros. My neo-noir script Sunset Grill became a major motion picture starring Peter Weller, Stacy Keach and Lori Singer in 1993.
As a former adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, I have been a faculty member in three separate schools: the Mellon Institute, the School of Computer Science, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and was Author in Residence at The Institute for Green Science at Carnegie Mellon University’s Mellon Institute.
When we aren’t on the road, Cyndy and I live in our beloved hometown of Pittsburgh (go Bucs!). Together we have four children – Molly (an artist & entrepreneur in Boston, MA - www.mollyrosecreative.com), Steven (a project manager at the Mosites Construction Co. in Pittsburgh, PA), Hannah (a doctor of pediatric physical therapy at Rady Children’s Hospital and pro ultimate frisbee player for Superbloom in San Diego, CA), and Anne (an interior designer who runs her own company - FreeRange-Interiors.com). Oh, and of course there is Enzo, Steven’s unusually human pit bull.