This Is Your Mind on Plants

the interests of the powers that be. As an example, coffee and tea, which have amply demonstrated their value to capitalism in many ways, not least by making us more efficient workers, are in no danger of prohibition, while psychedelics which are no more toxic than caffeine and considerably less addictive have been regarded, at least in the West since the mid-1960s, as a threat to social norms and institutions.

But even these classi cations are not as xed or as sturdy as you may think. At various times both in the Arab world and in Europe, authorities have outlawed coffee, because they regarded the people who gathered to drink it as politically threatening. As I write, psychedelics seem to be undergoing a change of identity. Since researchers have demonstrated that psilocybin can be useful in treating mental health, some psychedelics will probably soon become FDA-approved medicines: that is, recognized as more helpful than threatening to the functioning of society.

This happens to be precisely how Indigenous peoples have always regarded these substances. In many Indigenous communities, the ceremonial use of peyote, a psychedelic, reinforces social norms by bringing people together to help heal the traumas of colonialism and dispossession. The government recognizes the First Amendment right of Native Americans to ingest peyote as part of the free exercise of their religion, but under no circumstances do the rest of us enjoy that right, even if we use peyote in a similar way. So here is a case where it is the identity of the user rather than the drug that changes its legal status.

Nothing about drugs is straightforward. But it s not quite true that our plant taboos are entirely arbitrary. As these examples suggest, societies condone the mind-changing drugs that

Plants] is an engrossing, plant-powered blend of general history, contemporary reporting and potent self-reflection." San Francisco Chronicle

The author of How to Change Your Mind turns his attention to three consciousness-altering drugs opium, mescaline and caffeine (yes, it s a drug) in this eye-opening exploration. People

[H]ighly engaging reading . . . Pollan s writing always has a personal aspect to it, but in his latest work he takes an even more central role in the narrative, and his book is the better for it. The Daily Beast

Pollan weaves together three separately engaging stories in a pleasantly meandering style, deftly using his personal experiences with each compound as a jumping-off point for small forays into anthropology, history, politics, psychology, molecular biology, and neuroscience. Even the most distracted reader will come away with an understanding of the physical effects of the spotlighted substances as well as their cultural significance. Science

The omnivorously curious Pollan pivots off his provocative How to Change Your Mind with an enthralling odyssey into a trio of mind-altering drugs found in plants: opium, caffeine, and mescaline. In this wide-ranging, deliciously written study, he asks, why does one power us up each morning while the other two are shrouded in taboo? You ll never look at a Starbucks Pike s Peak the same way again. Oprah Daily

This Is Your Mind on Plants is an entertaining blend of memoir, history and social commentary that illustrates Pollan s ability to be both scientific and personal. By relying on contextual history and focusing on three popular, if misunderstood, drugs, Pollan challenges common views on what mind-altering drugs are and what they can accomplish.    BookPage (starred review)

Pollan is a master of breaking down complex science into an engaging story and challenging long-held societal beliefs. His newest offering, which follows his examination of the science of psychedelics in 2018 s How to Change Your Mind, aims to unpack our ideas about what constitutes a drug and, fundamentally, why we seek them. TIME

Building on his lysergically drenched book How to Change Your Mind (2018), Pollan looks at three plant-based drugs and the mental effects they can produce. . . . A lucid (in the sky with diamonds) look at the hows, whys, and occasional demerits of altering one s mind. Kirkus (starred review)