The Giovanni Maciocia Way
Posted on June 18, 2008 by Yael
Once you start studying Chinese Medicine, probably the first name you learn to say is “Giovanni Maciocia” (or “Peter Deadman”, depends on which class you are in).
The Chinese Medicine world, according to Maciocia, is pretty simple- when you have this, you do that.
This creates a very “dry” text, things repeat themselves many times in the books.
When you remember that Giovanni was a student of the late Dr. Van Buren, you realize that there must be something not quite right here, and you start thinking that there’s more to Giovanni’s books than meets the eye.
Giovanni Maciocia speaks fluent Chinese, which opens up a wide range of knowledge for him.
Combine that with many years of clinical experience and knowledge of the Chinese culture, and you understand that Maciocia has deep understanding that goes beyond what is presented in the books.
The first book- The Foundations of Chinese Medicine
Maciocia uses words that are not very common when English is not your first language, which frustrates many students, as they are constantly reading two books- a Maciocia book and a dictionary.
But the choice of words is not meant to make our lives harder. I find that the author picks the words that are best suited for keeping the idea that is originally in Chinese. Something always gets lost in translation, I believe that Maciocia tries to keep the things that are lost to a minimum by choosing the words that are best suited to describe what the original author meant to say.
We need a book that will be our textbook, there’s no way to avoid it.
It is not easy to learn all these new concepts, all these syndromes, and we need a good book that can get us started by teaching us everything by keeping it rather simple- maybe sometimes too simple. Simple enough to start off with something.
I think Maciocia’s work on his books is very good, everything is in order: tables and lists are an easy way to remember things that we don’t understand fully.
For a start- these books are very good, which is probably the reason why these books are the main textbooks in schools for Chinese Medicine all over the world.
Personal Note
I remember being very frustrated in my early years in Chinese Medicine, mainly from the way Giovanni Maciocia presents the ideas of Chinese Medicine in the books I mentioned above.
On my 3rd year I started to read his third book, Obstetrics and Gynecology in Chinese Medicine
Later on that year, I came across a video recording of a lecture he gave here in Israel a few years back about the 8 extraordinary meridians, and thought it was fascinating.
I was truly amazed to see how much knowledge Maciocia had on the subject and how he was able to teach it in a clear and rather simple way.
What are your thoughts about the Giovanni books? I’d love to read your thoughts.
Tags: books, chinese medicine books, chinese philosophy
Categories: The Library
Hi there, thought id share my opinion about his books too!!
Im probably one of the very few ppl that learnt chinese medicine in English and didnt use maciocias books!! (they were available but for some reason i wasnt drawn to them.. lol im sure it was the price tag!)
Its only now Ive started practicing that ive started to read some of his books.
I could say the first impression i got from his internal medicine book is that he gives an insight into TCM that i had not managed to grasp as student. He also gives alot of emphasis on traslating CM to western patients which i found extremely helpful…. i so wish i had read this book when i was still at uni!
I do find it interesting though how you found his english a bit difficult. lol my english is also not the best but i find that his books are one of the most easiest to read compared to some american books. I guess it depends on what style of english we are used to! Having said this I was still stuck with a dictionary though lol.. simply for the fact that as a student i was taught most terminology in mandarin,,, even now i have to think twice about what hes talking about but i guess again thats just because im use to different vocabulary. (the same goes for other books written in the west though)
On a whole, i definately think his books are invaluable to any tcm student. One thing i would like to more of in his books is pinyin…it would make life so much easier for CM students who are taught terms in mandarin.. other than that I think hes books are definately one of the best written books in the english language covering the foundations of CM. It gives you something different to read compared to many parrot fashioned books out there!
Christine
x
Hi Christine,
Thank you for your interesting comment!
It is a unique point of view that you go to the books only after finishing your education.
Why did you decide to read his books now? Was there something missing or were your curious?
Thanks,
Yael
hi yael ^^.
curiousity! I happen to be working with somebody who has his books in clinic and thought id look up something regarding a patient i was seeing to see if he had anything different to offer.
btw i just realised u work in isreal… we’re neighbours! ive just started working in cyprus
the heat here is killing us.. i can imagine wt its like over there!
Isn’t it just *too* hot and humid around here???
Would love to read what you think about your experience in Cyprus.
Yael
Although I was brought up here, Ive been away for 7 years, so i guess you can say Cyprus has changed alot since I left when I was 18. Ive only been back for 3 months and Im still finding it quite hard to explain CM to the locals..
most people only know acupuncture and its mostly for pain conditions ( not the most challenging). CM is practicaly non-existant over here so most people dont know the first thing about acupuncture. Having to explain the difference between western and chinese medicine is quite challenging…especially when its in greek (u tend to forget alot of a language in 7 years!) It never ceases to amaze me about ppls misconceptions of acupuncture!
Im still trying to get the hang of the medical system over here, Ive gotten so use the how things are in the UK, im having to change my mentality all over again. There are many things I dont like (we’ll save that for another day!), other than that I have alot of getting use to to do!
wts the take of CM over there?
I think Chinese medicine is starting to make a big impact in the u.k. The Everwell clinics are springing up all over the country.I had a course of acupuncture for high blood pressure but can not be sure whether it made much difference.What I found really good was massage guided by acupoints done by a chinese lady in the scruffy town of Wallasey.Are you part or fully Chinese ?Do you ever hold clinics in Paphos or just in Limassol and Nicosia?
Hi
I would like to send Maciocia an email. Does anyone know how to contact him?
Best Regards
Rich Rynaski (rynaskir@yahoo.com)
Hi Gareth,
Sorry for taking so long to answer….
I am not Chinese, not even a bit. I am based in Israel.
As I understand, Chinese Medicine has been around the UK for a number of years now- remembering Dr. Van Buren who came from the UK, Peter Mole, Peter Deadman and many more good practitioners.
Take care and thanks for your comment,
Yael
Hey Rich,
You can find Giovanni on his website- through his forum and there’s also an e-mail address there that you can try.
His website: http://www.giovanni-maciocia.com
Take care,
Yael
Yael:
I am another one of those English-speaking acupuncturists who learned chinese medicine in the states 25 years ago — and not from Giovanni. Although his books are quite dry - they are research intensive and I appreciate the time he put into writing them. They are a labor of love.
I only know this because I have had the opportunity to study with him several times in 2009…and have found him to be what I did not expect. I expected him to be dry and “boring”. I found instead a creative, passionate and sweet person…funny and willing to teach and share all that he knows.
In short, he was refreshing.
Yael:
I am coming to Israel on Sunday for a few weeks. I have never been but if I am traveling close to you I would love to come see you. Please email me directly and we can connect. Also, please feel free to see my blog…www.springhopehealth.blogspot.com.
Leslie