Behind the Scenes with Dr. Larry Malerba: Author Interview

In the interview below, Dr. Larry Malerba discusses his creative process, his influences and motivations, and offers a little window into the life of the author of Green Medicine: Challenging the Assumptions of Conventional Health Care. Still hungry for more? Check out Malerba’s new Huffington Post blog as his answers the question on the minds of many: What is the ‘Green’ Medicine Revolution?

What is the greatest influence on your writing? What made you decide to write this book?

Having read Richard Grossinger’s Planet Medicine just prior to entering medical school, combined with the experience of the juxtaposition between conventional medical training and the results that I was witnessing in my mentor’s homeopathic clinic, gave me a keen awareness of widely divergent medical worldviews and their profound practical implications. I have felt a sense of mission to help create an understanding of these differences, their origins, and their practical implications. Green Medicine is designed to translate some of the issues normally found only in the rarified academic world of the history and philosophy of science, and render them both accessible and practically applicable to the general public and to the conventional and alternative medical communities. I believe that an understanding of these issues is a prerequisite to the future well being of medical care.

Is there a book that changed your life? What books have made a major impact in your life and writing? Who are some writers whose work you admire?

As a young lad I read most of Jack Kerouac’s stuff.

Thomas Merton’s writings introduced me to spirituality many years ago. Contemplative Prayer is a favorite.

Thomas Mann is my favorite literary author. I love his style and precise use of words. Joseph and His Brothers has had a deep impact upon my life.

I find the writings of Carl Jung and Jungian thinkers in general to be highly enriching and edifying.

I love the accessibility of Vera Stanley Alder’s writings on esotericism, especially The Finding of the Third Eye.

I believe that Teilhard de Chardin is a widely overlooked visionary who was way ahead of his time.

When did you think about becoming a writer?

I have always loved books and reading and therefore imagined it would be nice to write my own book someday, but I didn’t want to write until I felt I had something worth saying. It only became clear to me over the past five to ten years.

What is the one thing that you want readers to take away from your book?

It is my wish that people come to understand that each and every healthcare intervention has the capacity to tip one’s general health in a positive or negative direction. The vast majority of pharmaceutical and surgical treatments tend to direct the energetic disturbance of illnesses deeper toward the interior, thus accounting for the prevalence of contemporary emotional, mental, spiritual, and societal illness. It is crucial, therefore, to discern when such interventions are absolutely necessary and when they should be avoided. And we need to transition toward other, less toxic and less harmful methods and modalities that can reverse the overall trend of medical suppression and provide genuine healing from inside out.

How do you write? Do you have a daily routine? What’s good about it? What do you hate about it?

I have always made copious notes and underlines in all books that I read, and reading over all the underlines in various books helped me to get my ideas together. For a long time I kept a long list of handwritten ideas, short phrases, and key words until one day I sat down and organized them into categories, and then refined that into an outline. I then proceeded to use the outline as a general guide. I write best in the mornings and I find that the most valuable ideas come to me right after waking from sleep and often from dreams. I last about two to three hours per morning writing session and then knock off because fatigue makes the process less efficient.

What are you working on next?

I am considering writing about the universal serpent/snake motif that winds its way (sic) throughout historical epochs, spiritual traditions, and medical and healing traditions.

What have you learned about human nature that isn’t common knowledge?

Perhaps the most important lesson that I have learned is that a person’s illness never conforms to some cookie-cutter notion of what that illness is supposed to be. Human illness is to be respected in all of its unique misery, and is almost never a purely voluntary state that a person can will himself out of. As such, all suffering persons, no matter what the nature of their condition, deserve our utmost compassion.

What single thing might people be surprised to learn about you?

I am a rabid fan of live music. My first concert was the Allman Brothers at Madison Square Garden, my first date with my wife was “A Tribute to Charlie Parker” at Carnegie Hall, and the most recent show I saw was Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at Albany Riverfront Park. Also, I was a pretty sharp tennis player back in my day.

What book is on your nightstand now?

Spiritual Growth: Being Your Higher Self, by Sanaya Roman.

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Larry Malerba, DO, DHt is the author of GREEN MEDICINE: Challenging the Assumptions of Conventional Health Care, and has been a practitioner, educator and leader in the field of holistic medicine for more than 20 years. Dr. Malerba is board certified in Homeotherapeutics, is Clinical Assistant Professor at New York Medical College, and is a frequent lecturer at Albany Medical College and the Albany College of Pharmacy. He is the author of numerous articles in alternative medical journals, was assistant editor for the American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine, is past president of the Homeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York, past vice president of the American Institute of Homeopathy, and served a term on the New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct. Dr. Malerba runs a private medical practice with his wife, Mary Malerba, RN, near Albany, New York.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Green Medicine.

CLICK HERE to visit the official  Green Medicine website.

CLICK HERE to read Larry Malerba’s Huffington Post blog.