How to Change Your Mind | Free Book
A #1 New York Times Bestseller, New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2018, and New York Times Notable Book
A brilliant and brave investigation into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs--and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences
When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s, when a handful of psychedelic evangelists inadvertently catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research.
A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both suffering and joy, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.
In The Press
“Pollan’s deeply researched chronicle will enlighten those who think
of psychedelics chiefly as a kind of punchline to a joke about the
Woodstock generation and hearten the growing number who view them
as a potential antidote to our often stubbornly narrow minds . . .
engaging and informative.” —Boston Globe
“Pollan keeps you turning the pages . . . cleareyed and assured.” —New York Times
“Michael Pollan’s
How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics changed my mind, or at least some of the ideas held in my mind. . . .
Whatever one may think of psychedelics, the book reminds us that the
mind is the greatest mystery in the universe, that this mystery is
always right here, and that we usually dedicate far too little time
and energy to exploring it.” —Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens and
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
“A deep dive into the history of psychedelics . . . . Deliciously
trippy.” —NY Post
“Amid new scientific interest in the potential healing
properties of psychedelic drugs, Pollan . . . sets about researching
their history—and giving them a (supervised!) try himself. He
came away impressed by their promise in treating addiction and
depression—and with his mind expanded. Yours will be too.” —People
“Astounding.” —Andrew Sullivan, New York Magazine
“Sweeping and often thrilling . . . . It is to Pollan’s
credit that, while he ranks among the best of science writers, he’s
willing, when necessary, to abandon that genre’s fixation on
materialist explanation as the only path to understanding. One of the
book’s important messages is that the therapeutic benefits of
psychedelics, for the dying or seriously ill, can’t be separated from
the mystical experiences to which they give rise.” —The Guardian
“Makes a compelling case for the potential value of
psychedelic experiences.” —Pittsburgh Post Gazette
“Journalist Michael Pollan explored psychoactive plants
in The Botany of Desire (2001). In this bold, intriguing
study, he delves further…Pollan even ‘shakes the snow globe’ himself,
chemically self-experimenting in the spirit of psychologist William
James, who speculated about the wilder shores of consciousness more
than a century ago.” —Nature, International Journal of Science
“Revelatory . . . Immensely fascinating . . . Pollan
approaches his subject as a science writer and a skeptic endowed with
equal parts rigorous critical thinking and openminded curiosity.” —Maria Popova, Brainpickings
"Pollan, Cooked, 2013, has long
enlightened and entertained readers with his superbly inquisitive and
influential books about food. He now investigates a very different
sort of comestible, psychedelics (from the Greek: “mind manifesting”),
and what they reveal about consciousness and the brain. Pollan’s
complexly elucidating and enthralling inquiry combines fascinating and
significant history with daring and resonant reportage and memoir, and
looks forward to a new open-mindedness toward psychedelics and the
benefits of diverse forms of consciousness.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Pollan, Cooked, shifts his focus to
other uses of plants in this brilliant history of psychedelics across
cultures and generations, the neuroscience of its effects, the revival
of research on its potential to heal mental illness—and his own
mind-changing trips . . . . This nuanced and sophisticated
exploration, which asks big questions about meaning-making and
spiritual experience, is thought-provoking and eminently readable.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A trip well worth taking, eye-opening and even mind-blowing.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“Known for his writing on plants and food, Michael Pollan
. . . brings all the curiosity and skepticism for which he is well
known to a decidedly different topic . . . How to Change Your Mind
beautifully updates and synthesizes the science of psychedelics, with
a highly personalized touch.” —Science Magazine
“I've never regretted my adolescent use of LSD, but
reading this fascinating, lucid, wise and hopeful book did make
me wonder if those drug experiences weren't another example of youth
wasted on the young. Michael Pollan, who waited until he was a grownup
to experiment, is the perfect guide to today’s dawning psychedelic
renaissance.” —Kurt Andersen, author of Fantasyland
“Michael Pollan masterfully guides us through the highs, lows, and
highs again of psychedelic drugs.
How to Change Your mind chronicles how it’s been a longer and
stranger trip than most any of us knew.” —Daniel Goleman, co-author
Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind,
Brain and Body
“Very few writers, if any, have the gravitas and journalistic cred to
tackle this explosive subject—from both the outside and the
inside—extract it from its nationally traumatic and irrationally over
reactive past, and bring both reason and revelatory insight to it.
Michael Pollan has done just that. This is investigative journalism at
its rigorous and compelling best—and radically mind opening in so many
ways just to read it.” —Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction, and
author of Full Catastrophe Living and
Coming to Our Senses
“Michael Pollan assembles a great deal of information here on the
history, science, and effects of psychedelics. I found his frank
recounting of his recent experiences with LSD, psilocybin, and toad
venom most revealing. They appear to have softened his materialistic
views and opened him to the possibilities of higher consciousness. He
did, indeed, change his mind.” —Andrew Weil, author of The Natural Mind and
8 Weeks to Optimum Health
"Do psychedelics open a door to a different reality, or
is it just the same-old, same-old reality seen through a different set
of lenses? I quickly became engrossed in Pollan’s narrative—the
intersection of science, consciousness-enhancing, and government
prohibition. But at the center of Pollan’s story is the greatest
conundrum of all—why should substances that have been so beneficial to
so many people, be the focus of crazy criminal penalties? Why,
indeed.” —Errol Morris
“Michael Pollan has applied his brilliant mind and fastidious prose to
the Mind itself, specifically the modes by which psychedelic
substances temporarily obliterate the ego and engender deep spiritual
connectedness to the universe. Michael walks the tight-rope between an
objective ‘reporter’ and a spiritual pilgrim seeking insight and
sustenance from psychedelics, and his innocence and integrity serve as
a balance bar between cynicism and partisan affirmation. His success
here places these drugs and what they do at the center of a potential
revolution in medicine. It’s an extraordinary achievement, and no
matter what you may think you know about psychedelics, if you even
know the word, you should read this book.” —Peter Coyote, author and Zen Buddhist Priest
“After 50 years underground, psychedelics are back. We are incredibly
fortunate to have Michael Pollan be our travel guide for their
renaissance. With humility, humor, and deep humanity, he takes us
through the history, the characters, and the science of these “mind
manifesting” compounds. Along the way, he navigates the mysteries of
consciousness, spirituality, and the mind. What he has done previously
for gardeners and omnivores, Pollan does brilliantly here for all of
us who wonder what it means to be fully human, or even what it means
to be." —Thomas R. Insel, MD, former director of National Institute of
Mental Health and co-founder and president of Mindstrong Health
“A rare and utterly engrossing exposition that will most
certainly delineate a fundamental change in the understanding of the
human mind and the mystery of consciousness. Pollan previously
reshaped our knowledge of earthly landscapes in his writings. With
this book, he transforms our understanding of the innerscape, the
unbounded world we occupy every conscious second of our life
experienced by thoughts, suffering, awareness, joy, and reasoning.
This is more than a book—it is a treasure." —Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest
- Title: How to Change Your Mind | Free Book
- Author: Steven
- Created at : 2024-10-22 19:55:24
- Updated at : 2024-10-27 00:53:48
- Link: https://novels-ebooks.techidaily.com/95888613-9780525558941-how-to-change-your-mind/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.