Michael Pollan

Brought to you by Penguin.How to Change Your Mind is a report from what could very well be the future of human consciousness, written and read by Michael Pollan. When LSD was first discovered in the 1940s, it seemed to researchers, scientists and doctors as if the world might be on the cusp of psychological revolution. It promised to shed light on the deep mysteries of consciousness, as well as offer relief to addicts and the mentally ill. But in the 1960s, with the vicious backlash against the counter-culture, all further research was banned. In recent years, however, work has quietly begun again on the amazing potential of LSD, psilocybin and DMT. Could these drugs in fact improve the lives of many people? Diving deep into this extraordinary world and putting himself forward as a guinea-pig, Michael Pollan has written and read a remarkable history of psychedelics and a compelling portrait of the new generation of scientists fascinated by the implications of these drugs. 'His approach is steeped in honesty and self-awareness. His cause is just, his thinking is clear, and his writing is compelling' - Washington Post'An easy-going humane generosity ... mischievous self-regard ... as if Henry David Thoreau had had an encounter with Woody Allen and never been quite the same since' - Simon Schama(c) Michael Pollen 2018 (P) Penguin Audio 2018

Brought to you by Penguin. Of all the many things humans rely on plants for, surely the most curious is our use of them to change consciousness: to stimulate, calm, or completely alter the qualities of our mental experience. In This Is Your Mind On Plants, Michael Pollan explores three very different drugs - opium, caffeine and mescaline - and throws the fundamental strangeness of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs, while consuming (or in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants, and the equally powerful taboos.In a unique blend of history, science, memoir and reportage, Pollan shines a fresh light on a subject that is all too often treated reductively. In doing so, he proves that there is much more to say about these plants than simply debating their regulation, for when we take them into our bodies and let them change our minds, we are engaging with nature in one of the most profound ways we can. This ground-breaking and singular book holds up a mirror to our fundamental human needs and aspirations, the operations of our minds and our entanglement with the natural world.(c) Michael Pollan 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Palkitun tietokirjailijan vahvasti tarinallinen teos psykedeeleistä.

Michael Pollan esittelee teoksessaan psykedeelien historiaa ja nykytutkimusta ja tutkii niiden mahdollisuuksia mielen mysteerien purkajana. Psykedeelien tutkimus on noussut aivan viime vuosina vahvasti maailmalla, ja niistä etsitään apua monenlaisiin sairauksiin. Mitä uutta psykedeelitutkimus kertoo meille tietoisuudesta, kuolemasta, addiktioista, masennuksesta ja yliaistillisesta?

Michael Pollan on tiede- ja ympäristöjournalismin professori Berkeleyssä. New York Times Book Review valitsi tämän teoksen yhdeksi ilmestymisvuotensa parhaista kirjoista.