Robert A. Burton is an American physician, novelist, nonfiction author and columnist. His books include three critically acclaimed novels, as well as the nonfiction books On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not and A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves. His essays have appeared in The New York Times, Salon, Aeon, and Nautilus, among other others. His medical career includes being the chief of the Division of Neurology at Mt. Zion UCSF, and Associate Chief of the Department of Neurosciences.Burton graduated from Yale University and the University of California, San Francisco medical school, where he also completed his neurology residency. He is a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area.