Chip Walter
Chip Walter is an author, journalist, National Geographic Fellow, educator, filmmaker and former CNN bureau chief with an unusually broad background that spans both science and entertainment. Chip’s fourth book, Immortality, Inc. -- Renegade Scientists, Silicon Valley Gurus and the Future of Cheating Death for National Geographic Books will be available in bookstores everywhere September 2019. His previous four books include–Last Ape Standing: The Seven-Million-Year Story of How and Why We Survived; Thumbs, Toes and Tears – And Other Traits That Make Us Human (Walker –– Bloomsbury Publishing); I’m Working on That with William Shatner (Simon and Schuster); and Space Age for Random House, the companion volume to the primetime PBS series Chip developed.
Each book reaches out to mainstream audiences to explore scientific topics that relate to the human condition, human evolution, emotion, behavior and creativity. The New York Times Book Review, called Last Ape “a lively journey… that takes an antic delight in the triumphal adaptations and terrifying near misses of human evolution.” The New Yorker called it “engaging” and “fascinating.” Futurist Ray Kurzweil said, “Read it! You’ll never see yourself or anyone else the same way.” And Booklist called it, “captivating, informative, exceptionally well-written and accessible.” Thumbs, Toes and Tears also received rave reviews: Publisher’s Weekly hailed it as “fascinating and superbly written,” while Kirkus Reviews said, “Walter narrates with flair and enthusiasm.”
Chip’s articles have appeared in National Geographic, The Economist, Slate, the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American and Scientific American Mind, among many other publications, and have covered subjects as diverse as the origins of kissing, laughter, human consciousness and art. He has been lucky enough to travel to six continents as a journalist and documentary filmmaker, from the Amazon Rain Forest and outback of Australia to the Serengeti and remote islands of the Pacific. His cover story The First Artists was National Geographic’s featured story in January 2015. His books have so far been translated into eight languages reaching readers from Kyoto to Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Hong Kong and Seoul.
Chip has also spoken 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 has twice moderated scientific panels at the United Nations on child brain development at the request of UNICEF Director Anthony Lake. He recently moderated a third in Beijing.
Previously in his career, Chip has served as National Programming Executive at WQED-TV, CEO of Digital Alchemy Inc., Vice-President and Executive Producer of ENGAGE Games Online, Senior Strategic Communications Manager at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Author in Residence at The Institute for Green Science at Carnegie Mellon University’s Mellon Institute. He is a member of the adjunct faculty at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center, is a National Geographic Fellow and has been a faculty member at CMU at three separate schools: the Mellon Institute, the School of Computer Science and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He currently lives in Pittsburgh with his wife Cyndy where they both try to keep track of their four children – Molly, Steven, Hannah and Annie. (They are thinking of building a Harry Potter-Weasley Clock to help keep track of them.)
Each book reaches out to mainstream audiences to explore scientific topics that relate to the human condition, human evolution, emotion, behavior and creativity. The New York Times Book Review, called Last Ape “a lively journey… that takes an antic delight in the triumphal adaptations and terrifying near misses of human evolution.” The New Yorker called it “engaging” and “fascinating.” Futurist Ray Kurzweil said, “Read it! You’ll never see yourself or anyone else the same way.” And Booklist called it, “captivating, informative, exceptionally well-written and accessible.” Thumbs, Toes and Tears also received rave reviews: Publisher’s Weekly hailed it as “fascinating and superbly written,” while Kirkus Reviews said, “Walter narrates with flair and enthusiasm.”
Chip’s articles have appeared in National Geographic, The Economist, Slate, the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American and Scientific American Mind, among many other publications, and have covered subjects as diverse as the origins of kissing, laughter, human consciousness and art. He has been lucky enough to travel to six continents as a journalist and documentary filmmaker, from the Amazon Rain Forest and outback of Australia to the Serengeti and remote islands of the Pacific. His cover story The First Artists was National Geographic’s featured story in January 2015. His books have so far been translated into eight languages reaching readers from Kyoto to Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Hong Kong and Seoul.
Chip has also spoken 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 has twice moderated scientific panels at the United Nations on child brain development at the request of UNICEF Director Anthony Lake. He recently moderated a third in Beijing.
Previously in his career, Chip has served as National Programming Executive at WQED-TV, CEO of Digital Alchemy Inc., Vice-President and Executive Producer of ENGAGE Games Online, Senior Strategic Communications Manager at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Author in Residence at The Institute for Green Science at Carnegie Mellon University’s Mellon Institute. He is a member of the adjunct faculty at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center, is a National Geographic Fellow and has been a faculty member at CMU at three separate schools: the Mellon Institute, the School of Computer Science and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He currently lives in Pittsburgh with his wife Cyndy where they both try to keep track of their four children – Molly, Steven, Hannah and Annie. (They are thinking of building a Harry Potter-Weasley Clock to help keep track of them.)
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