Michael Chorost (pronounced “kor-ist”) is a book author and public speaker. His first book,
Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human, is a memoir of going deaf and getting a cochlear implant. It won the PEN/USA Award for Creative Nonfiction and was
applauded by the L.A. Times as “the first cyborg memoir.” His second book, World Wide Mind, is about the science of brain scanning and the prospect of enabling direct communication from one brain to another.
He has written for Wired, Technology Review, New Scientist, Slate, and the Chronicle for Higher Education, among others. He has given over 170 lectures at many universities and at corporations such as Google, IBM, and Procter & Gamble. He also has made numerous radio and television appearances.
He has a B.A. from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition from the
University of Texas at Austin. After graduating, he worked at SRI International, a research
institute in Silicon Valley, and then became a full-time freelance writer. In 2008, he spent a year as a visiting professor at Gallaudet University. Since 2016 he has been a grassroots political activist, founding the D.C. chapter of Sister District, a group that supports progressives running for state office. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Victoria and their two cats. He is now working on his third book, a science-fiction novel
