|
Biography, cv |
|
||
|
|
Bio & Books |
for you and yours |
|
|
Leaving New York for Europe was a big step, especially for someone who was only nine months old. The three years I lived there were the beginning of a long career of immersion and study in different cultures around the world. Altogether I have lived in and explored over twenty countries and delved into their histories -- especially that of the Mediterranean and the mysterious Phoenicians. Collecting and studying ancient books became an important part of my life and I puzzled through them in English, French, German, Greek and Latin. At MIT, I learned how to do world-class research, then earned a master's degree in the history of business from UCLA. My international background led to consulting contracts, during which time I continued to read and study. My research filled many shelves with folders and books on people and cultures around the world... especially the Phoenicians whose compelling hold remained strong. It became a private library on world history and these special people. From these studies I extracted aspects of life in different countries around the world which were unusual but fascinating, and wrote about them. The Kombucha health phenomenon in China and Japan was the subject of my first book, which researched its history and proper procedures, and contributed to a similar health wave in the United States. From South Africa came a different contribution titled Holism and Evolution, distilled from an overall look at world history. Jan Christiaan Smuts created the holistic approach to life in this book in 1926 -- which only recently came to be embraced by society at large. I carefully edited this work to produce a new edition which could reach a wider audience. It is now the best selling edition of this work. An ambitious effort to develop a companion volume on the holistic approach to life titled LifeCycle performed modestly, as did a collection of life histories titled A Special Moment in Your Life. My Phoenician studies continued throughout this time, but it was a difficult uphill climb. I was constantly assured by scholars that a complete history of these remarkable people could never be written -- that they were just a mystery. But for some reason I felt compelled to keep on with the research, while completing other books. When I discovered Ayurvedic documents from India which praised a remarkable plant called Moringa, it led to another highly successful book. This unique plant was still being grown in tropical parts of the world, and produced tremendous benefits in rounding out people's nutritional needs. It was actually saving lives in Africa. Consulting with my friends Lowell Fuglie in Senegal and at ECHO in Florida, I was able to stimulate growing interest in this remarkable discovery which came to us from antiquity. Then in 2002 my many years of research on the Phoenicians started to pay off. The work began providing answers to mysteries which had lingered for centuries. My trip to Lebanon in 2004 and to other key sites around the Mediterranean provided the catalyst which brought thousands of pieces together into a complete whole. Academic colleagues became interested, and invited me to present papers on the Phoenicians at annual meetings of historical associations. I gladly accepted. In December 2005 the publisher finally brought out my Phoenicians book, which culminated 30 years of research and a labor of love. Especially rewarding was the warm response from people of Lebanese descent whose ancestors were these same Phoenicians. The speaking engagements and media interest which followed were a rewarding opportunity to communicate much of what has been learned. The journey continues.
|
|||
|
© 2005-2008 Sanford Holst |
