This Is Your Mind on Plants

Michael Pollan takes a further journey into the affects of substances on one's body and mind in This is Your Mind on Plants. The author's writing has morphed from food culture to natural drug culture to some extent and this book is a look at three more substances of interest, Opium, Caffeine and Mescaline. One of those is a bit of an odd man out but the overall book does each topic some justice. Each topic is an essay on a personal experience/experiment with the subject and is a look at both cultivation and preparation as well as the effects it has on the body and mind. Overall a quick and interesting read on both the culture of enforcement and how it has changed in the country in the last 20 years as well as a scientific perspective on the substances being discussed.One remarkable thing about the book is that it illustrates the intrinsic accessibility of opium and mescaline to the motivated horticulturist. In particular the trade of seeds is significant and the use of the plants is broad enough that the ability to extract mind altering components from plants is rarely their large demand base. The poppy is a gardener's favorite for its beautiful flowers and trade in poppy seeds is not a criminal offence. The author describes the fine line between cultivation and preparation and how the law is both clear and ambiguous as to how it should be interpreted. One thing that comes out is that enforcement is a matter of the political climate rather than consistent application. The author goes through his journey on preparing poppy's his discussion of some cases where a subject became the target of law enforcement to their extreme regret and how the author put himself at risk by even approaching the subject as a journalist. Overall the use of opium through human history is quite vast and it has soothing attributes, though obviously heroin and oxycodone are clear examples of the extreme danger that comes from opiate addiction. The storytelling is solid and the common sense approach the author brings is refreshing. The author moves on to caffeine which is a bit out of place with the other two topics but the author approaches the topic scientifically and historically by giving a historical account and doing a study on himself where he deprives himself of coffee after decades of dependence. Its entertaining and the account is informative though the conclusions are unclear as to whether coffee is detrimental to sleep to a degree that it is long term damaging relative to the benefits one gets from its alertness properties. The author also tackles mescaline and in particular looks into the culture of peyote and its ceremonial use in native American culture. The account is interesting and the challenges he was faced with in witnessing peyote being used in ceremonial terms is a reminder of how hippie culture can clash with the cultural desires of the original users. The preparation and complexity to preparing peyote is discussed so one gets a sense of its feasibility and difficulty but the experience is described well and definitely sounds like something worthy of trying.Overall this is in line with the style of how to change your mind where the author takes a subject which is a bit taboo (certainly less so these days) and does a study of it for a middle aged audience perspective. He does another good job and with it brings in the culture of enforcement and its changes over the last 20 years with his personal story of opium as a prime example. It is easy to read and entertaining though less informative than his previous books. Its enjoyable and the author does a good job, though i think further mileage out of examining how your mind is altered by substances is probably limited.

This is a fascinating look at three plant-based compounds that alter the human experience and have played important roles in history. I found this book extremely readable—with fascinating meditations on the nature of altered consciousness and its socio-political and legal implications. This book feels more narrative (i.e. less dense) than his previous book on psychedelics, and is a fairly quick and accessible read. Highly recommend!

This is a book about the addictive products from three different kinds of plants – the poppy, the coffee and plants, and the peyote and San Pedro. The first produces opium and its derivatives, the second, coffee and tea and the caffeine inside them, and the third, mescaline. This book by Pollan is not a dry scientific book about plants or their effect on the human mind – at least, not just that. Although only three products are covered, it is the stories behind each of them that will determine whether one finds the book interesting or not. In the case of opium, Pollan considers the poppy plant from the angle of the legality of growing it in one’s garden. In this story, he recounts his encounter and relationship with a man called Jim Hogshire who had written a book called ‘Opium for the Masses’ and was arrested and charged together with his wife by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Pollan, then embarked on his own semi-perilous journey of publishing an article on the cultivation of poppy. It was a risky venture for Harper’s magazine; so risky that the publishers agreed to pay Pollan’s salary to his wife for as long as he might be imprisoned. That, was an obligation not called upon because the most offending segment, the recipe for making opium, was deleted. Pollan published it in this book – long after the time bar for criminal prosecution had passed. As for coffee, the enemy of sleep and the friend of waking, Pollan seems a bit more academic and answers the question, why we sleep. He then goes on to explain how coffee (caffeine) give us what it gives us (but of course, caffeine is not the only cause of sleep crisis – alcohol is another). He explains the connection between caffeine and the action of adenosine. In brief, caffeine blocks the natural signals of exhaustion. When caffeine runs out, we need to replenish it to keep invigorated. Mescaline is a psychedelic drug that causes hallucination, but I generally not addictive. It has also been used as a sedative by airline passengers on long flights. Native Americans use this drug, derived from the two species of cacti, for religious purposes. Pollan’s investigation into mescaline led him to a practitioner named Taloma, and her teacher, Don Victor, who explained how mescaline works – and that led to Pollan agreeing to attend one of the religious ceremonies and into the realm of the intoxicating cactus plant.

Everything this man writes is gold. He does his research, presents it well. Rarely disappointed with his work and always learn a lot. This was no exception.

Going in I was not expecting to learn as much as did. I was interested in learning more about psychedelics and other conscience-altering substances, but I ended up learning a lot of history about other cultures on top of the substances they use to seek oneness with their environment. Great read!

Michael Pollan gives you the lowdown on the most used drug in the world, caffeine.Other chapters discussed the dilemma he had with growing poppy flowers to see if it would yield some opium, and the situation with mescaline from peyote used by the native Indian community.

Como nos livros anteriores, Pollan descreve em detalhes de forma dinâmica baseado também na sua própria experiência. Ele experimenta pessoalmente as atividades descritas nos seus livros, de uma forma ou de outra, exercendo seu jornalismo excepcional enquanto relata do ponto de vista pessoal.

Primero, el físico me importa, y creí que la pasta dura era tal cual en la imagen, pero no, es solo una cubierta que tiene pocos días y ya se estropeó, y sin ella el libro, al menos físicamente no me agradó. En cuánto al contenido creo que el título es engañoso. Habla de opio, cafeína y mescalina, pero por el título, esperaba más.

I liked the writing and the author’s mostly unbiased views. The attached history for each of the plants is refreshing.

Informative and written in a great style. Or the greatest. Read it, even if you are not really interested in psychoactive substances. You will.