| book review |
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
by Samantha Hanchett , Marketing & Outreach Coordinator , Thomas County Public Library
What , exactly , is so dangerous about psychedelics and why have we waged a war against them ? Michael Pollan , the respected journalist known for his grand-slam best-selling book , The Omnivore ’ s Dilemma , is no stranger to controversial topics or criticism . Since my introduction to his journalism , through the 2021 book This Is Your Mind on Plants , I have admired his relentless and thoroughly researched efforts to shed light on the truths of the plant world , America ’ s industrial food systems and the often referred to “ counter-culture ” of eating and being .
In How to Change Your Mind , Pollan continues to travel down his well-worn path of providing a different and thoroughly researched perspective on the organisms that humans have developed a tendency to dismiss as insentient beings . This time , he tackles fungus . Specifically , the fungi Claviceps purpurea ( which creates the alkaloid ergot that is used to make the synthetic drug LSD ) and those falling into the Psilocybe genus ( aka “ magic ” mushrooms ). What is slightly unusual in this book verses his others , is that he delves into the phenomenology of humans rather than plants .
Pollan makes his case plain in the beginning by stating that he is a materialist and embarking into the metaphysical and spiritual world is not his bag . This is great , because it makes it clear that Pollan is not coming at the topic with a specific bend in either direction – he is entering from a place of relative neutrality . Given the passionate feelings on the topic he is covering ( from both sides of the field ) this is a very good place to be and one not necessarily valued in journalism today .
Enter the chapters on the – almost lost – history of LSD and psilocybin research . There are characters who play a part in this worldwide research of LSD and psilocybin in psychiatric therapy ( which dates back to it ’ s discovery by Albert Hofmann in 1938 ), who were quite surprising . Their tactics of integrating
66 February | March 2023 Thomasville Scene