Turn Left - Paperback

by Illah Reza Nourbakhsh (Author)

For readers of Martyr! and The World I See, Turn Left is a groundbreaking memoir that maps author Illah Nourbakhsh's journey from the Iranian Revolution to the frontiers of artificial intelligence, revealing how true belonging is found not in a single culture but in the spaces between them.For fifty years, Illah Nourbakhsh has wrestled with one relentless question: "Where do I belong?" As an Iranian-born immigrant who rejected the neat labels of "bicultural" or "Iranian-American," he discovered that his true home wasn't in one world, but in the powerful, often chaotic space between them. From the Iranian Revolution to NASA's Mars landings, from the dot-com boom to the frontiers of artificial intelligence, Nourbakhsh has always been an observer of conflict and a pioneer of innovation. Turn Left is the electrifying memoir of a man who built robots for space while searching for his place on Earth, proving that our most authentic identity is forged not in belonging, but in bridging.

Author Biography

Illah R. Nourbakhsh is Professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he has taught for twenty-eight years. He is vice president of the school board for Winchester Thurston School and on the board of directors of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project. He is also a trustee of the Benedum Foundation, which provides funding for local health, education, and small business development. Currently, Nourbakhsh is honored as a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, a Hastings Fellow, and an inductee of the June Harless West Virginia Hall of Fame. Whether with NASA, the Jet Propulsion labs, or otherwise, Illah's research centers on ethics and technology, engaging with communities around the world to co-invent technologies that provide power and agency to marginalized populations that have a right to shape their own destiny. He has also authored Robot Futures, AI and Humanity, and Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots.