Michael Castleman is the author of 19 books, most recently “The Untold Story of Books: A Writer’s History of Book Publishing“, a passion project that represents a departure from his 45-year career writing about health and sexuality.
He has answered more than 12,000 sex questions from people around the world of all ages and sexual inclinations. In addition to his Question & Answer site, he spent 10 years (1997-2007) answering sex questions from customers of Xandria, then a major sex toy marketer, and five years (1991-1995) answering the sex questions submitted to Playboy’s “Advisor” column. He has also answered questions for WebMD and several other websites, magazines, and call-in radio shows.
From 1973 to 1978, he wrote health articles for the alternative press. he defined health broadly: optimal wellness, illness prevention, mainstream medicine, alternative therapies, nutrition, fitness, and sexuality.
In 1978, he earned a Masters degree in Journalism from UC Berkeley. From 1979-2007, he wrote more than 1,500 health articles for newspapers, magazines, and Web sites about all of the above, including the New York Times, WebMD, Salon.com, PlanetRx.com, AARP, Reader’s Digest, Smithsonian, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Self, Family Circle, Ladies’ Home Journal, Prevention, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Men’s Journal, Natural Health, Mother Jones, and The Nation. Library Journal called him “one of the nation’s leading health writers.”
In 2007, he retired from health journalism but has continued to write about sexuality. Why? “The thank-you notes. Readers appreciated my health writing, but I’ve gotten many more thank-you notes from answering sex questions and providing sexuality information and counseling.”
Castleman has published 18 books with total sales of 2.5 million copies. His top seller, with sales of more than 1 million copies in four editions, is The New Healing Herbs, a folklore-meets-science guide to the benefits (and possible hazards) of 135 widely used medicinal plants. Four of Castleman’s books are mystery novels set in San Francisco and featuring a journalist sleuth and the city’s rich history.
Castleman has been interviewed on dozens of television, and radio programs, among them: Today, Good Morning, America, Charlie Rose, and Phil Donahue. He has also been featured on many podcasts.
Castleman grew up in a Long Island suburb of New York City. He earned a BA in English from the University of Michigan and graduated Phi Beta Kappa (1972). He lives in San Francisco.
Click here to contact Michael (no sex questions, please).
