Winter Book Festival and Giveaway: Patrick Robinson and Operations Manual for Humankind

Tell me about your book, “An Operations Manual For Humankind”.  What is it about?

What the book started out to be was a rather concise guide that, like the owner’s manual for a washing machine or new automobile, would ensure that the reader would know how to obtain maximum longevity and smooth performance of his or her body. However, it morphed into a “How To” explanation for the reader, showing how to make informed lifestyle choices that can add Years to your Life and Life to your Years. it also became a “How Not To” primer of how to avoid those things that are known to decrease our longevity and impair our state of health. “Preppers”, especially, need to be in the best possible state of health in order to maximize their survival, so this book is a natural for both their preparation and their libraries.

There are simply no cookie-cutter recipes for healthiness that apply to everyone. And yet there are a few basic similarities in all of humankind in terms of being able to achieve a state of enduring good health. There are shared lifestyle patterns that lead to optimum health and resistance to disease. Once we know the common qualities that define these, we can apply the strategies and technologies that are known to enhance and enrich our lives and those of our loved ones. That is what this Operations Manual For Humankind is all about.

A “manual” is defined as a book of instructions. The value of any manual is that it be useful and simple to understand. The trick is to explain the problems clearly and then offer actionable solutions. And that is precisely what we have tried to do throughout the book. I had hoped that the book would be something that would be gifted by parents and friends to young couples starting out their lives together. According to the feedback I have received, however, most of the gift-giving was to older uncles, aunts and grandparents. This makes sense, since it is never too late to regain one’s “misplaced” health. And this book tells you how.

The core of the book is built around the Centenarians of Vilcabamba in the Ecuadorian Andes, one of the four or five most long-lived populations on Earth. It reveals the so-called ‘secret’ of their fabled longevity and then juxtaposes those who have maintained the olden ways against what is happening with the younger generation who will, unfortunately, live much shorter and less healthy lives than their elders …. and the book explains why.

It goes into some detail about the change that has taken place in this last fifty or so years in the nutritional intake of the human family. It also covers in considerable depth the cutting edge science of life extension. One of the more interesting discussion revolves around water and hydration with special emphasis on the fabled Sacred Water of Vilcabamba. That chapter alone is worth the price of the book ….. or, as our friend George Ure says, “Got $4.99 worth of curiosity?”

I have really tried to be persuasive without being pedantic, thorough without being long-winded, and light-hearted without trivializing the serious matters under discussion. The book offers a wealth of useful information on how to ensure that your quality of life is never compromised by poor health or illness that can be prevented by simple, natural means.

What type of research did you have to do while writing An Operations Manual For Humankind?

The short answer is that I spent thirty years researching this book. It didn’t start out as a book at all, but rather as trying to find ways in which to maximize my own health. I took up the practice of Ashtanga Yoga when i turned fifty and was introduced to a whole new way of looking at diet and exercise. That is when I began my research, seeking knowledge that spanned a period of time from 3,000 years ago to the present day.

The natural health of olden times was easy to understand and put into practice. The problem was that in modern times the data kept shifting. What was stated as gospel one year was proven false the next. Then, too, there was the difficulty in determining whose information to trust. Remember, when I began gathering information, the Internet and Google had not yet been invented, so it was slow going.

Perhaps I should also point out that for the past thirty years I’ve traveled widely, trotting the globe to study traditional cultures, their foods and medicines. I have read and studied book after book, research papers, abstracts and whatever I could find that discussed nutrition, health and longevity and how they affected the quality of one’s life. I even went back to the classroom to study biochemistry to make better sense of all the scientific literature I was absorbing. The results of all this research has first been applied to myself, and then shared with my readers

How long did it take to write?

A little over two years. The tranquility of Vilcabamba, the little community in which I chose to live, allowed me to write four or five hours a day. Then came the proof-reading and editing process. Those two years proved to be some of the most creative and enjoyable times in my life.

Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself?

I moved to Ecuador some four years ago from what has been said to be THE healthiest place in the U.S., the Hawaiian Islands and specifically Maui. I was fortunate enough to live there  for thirty-five years in a village about the same size as Vilcabamba, a place called Hana. I’d just retired at the age of eighty as the managing partner of one of Hawaii’s premier companies.

Mine has been a very long and blessed life, so I had better capsulate it a bit. As one recent reviewer said:

“When he decided to make Maui his year-round home in the late 1970s, Patrick had already been a Wyoming cowboy, Marine Corps officer, a monastic monk, Retreat Center director, award-winning restaurateur and ski lodge entrepreneur. And sometime during those Life Adventures, he had also been a husband . . . Oh, and a specialist in international art thefts at a alphabet soup governmental agency in his young and more derring-do days.”

As you can see, I have managed to cram in several lifetimes of adventures into my years on the planet …. and this might also give you an idea of why I have had to keep healthy all these years. Now, in my “Golden Years”, the trick would be to enhance my state of health and vitality. In other words, walk my talk and practice what I’ve been preaching all these years.

Do you have plans for additional books?

After two published non-fiction books I am immensely enjoying the writing process. I have just completed a novel and am already at work blocking out another fictional piece. So, the Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise I will keep on ponding away on my computer keys well into the future.

Is there anything else you would like to share with my readers?

Yes. One of the reasons that I published this book on Amazon.com was because I could revise and update it as new research and information became available. I have recently added an entire new chapter and will continue to do so. In that way the book will always remain fresh and timely.

This is an invitation to your readers to explore the possibilities of making better, healthier lifestyle choices. These choices come not so much from scientific research as from common sense, tradition and the innate wisdom of our women-folk. The research tells us why. Our mothers and grandmothers tell us how. Women, as you know, are the Keepers and Guardians of the wisdom of nourishment in its broadest meaning. We merely need to remember their teachings.

THE BOOK GIVEAWAY