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Reviews tagging 'Drug use'
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
12 reviews
hoppskotch's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer, Medical content, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Grief, Vomit, Death, Alcoholism, and Drug use
leanne_miron's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Drug use, Addiction, Medical content, Mental illness, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Death and Medical trauma
antoniathearcane's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use and Death
manatad's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I decided to read this on a whim, intrigued by how different the subject matter is from Michael Pollan's other books, and I was not disappointed.
I don't read a lot of nonfiction, so I appreciate Pollan's ability to write about complicated subjects in a manner that is accessible and personable. There were a few moments, mainly during the history section of the book, where I didn't feel as highly engaged, but the rest of the book was captivating. It left me feeling deeply thoughtful, curious, and hopeful.
I don't read a lot of nonfiction, so I appreciate Pollan's ability to write about complicated subjects in a manner that is accessible and personable. There were a few moments, mainly during the history section of the book, where I didn't feel as highly engaged, but the rest of the book was captivating. It left me feeling deeply thoughtful, curious, and hopeful.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism
hannah_grace's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
sarahbythebook's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I've started this book twice before, but I finally decided to give the audiobook a try, and I'm so glad that I did! As someone both personally interested in altering my reality from time to time and curious about the promise of new medicines and sciences, the research being done on psychedelics is exciting and enticing. As I understand it, Johns Hopkins is currently in stage three testing of psilocybin, and that gives me hope that someday soon, those with treatment-resistant depression or OCD or terminal illness or even people like me who just want to experience a different reality in the hopes of living a better life might get the chance to do so.
Michael Pollan's blend of science journalism and memoir is captivating and informative. The fraught history of research on LSD and similar substances is both ancient and brand new, thanks in no small part to the Nixon administration. However, it's encouraging to hear the research that's been unearthed and continued, at least up to 2018.
There are a few things I wish Pollan had given more page space to:
First the use of psychedelics by indigenous peoples in the Americas pre-Europeans as well as how they're used in cultures on other continents. I'm especially curious about the use of these types of plants in Africa, since it was only mentioned in passing once in this book.
Second, MKUltra. As someone unsurprised by the government lying to its civilians and using them as test subjects, I'd at least like to be able to read about it, especially in the context of other research that paralleled the CIA's.
This book also raised an interesting question, at least to me. How would a guided trip--eye masks and all-- work for someone with a sense-based neurodivergence? How would someone who already experiences synesthesia react? What about someone like me with aphantasia who cannot create mental images? What are the scientifically observable differences in a psychedelic experience in a neurotypical person versus those of us that don't quite follow the mold?
The only real issue I have with this book is the constant use of feminine pronouns when referring to a fictional person. It felt like a weird choice--maybe it's just in the audiobook. Overall, I'm glad I finally read How to Change your Mind, and I hope it's done some good in changing the minds of those who control drug policy.
Michael Pollan's blend of science journalism and memoir is captivating and informative. The fraught history of research on LSD and similar substances is both ancient and brand new, thanks in no small part to the Nixon administration. However, it's encouraging to hear the research that's been unearthed and continued, at least up to 2018.
There are a few things I wish Pollan had given more page space to:
First the use of psychedelics by indigenous peoples in the Americas pre-Europeans as well as how they're used in cultures on other continents. I'm especially curious about the use of these types of plants in Africa, since it was only mentioned in passing once in this book.
Second, MKUltra. As someone unsurprised by the government lying to its civilians and using them as test subjects, I'd at least like to be able to read about it, especially in the context of other research that paralleled the CIA's.
This book also raised an interesting question, at least to me. How would a guided trip--eye masks and all-- work for someone with a sense-based neurodivergence? How would someone who already experiences synesthesia react? What about someone like me with aphantasia who cannot create mental images? What are the scientifically observable differences in a psychedelic experience in a neurotypical person versus those of us that don't quite follow the mold?
The only real issue I have with this book is the constant use of feminine pronouns when referring to a fictional person. It felt like a weird choice--maybe it's just in the audiobook. Overall, I'm glad I finally read How to Change your Mind, and I hope it's done some good in changing the minds of those who control drug policy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism
adeliab's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cancer, Colonisation, and Mental illness
Minor: Suicide
swalls95's review against another edition
informative
2.0
Don’t get me wrong, the book is interesting and well researched but my god, it’s a little dull in places, I felt like it relied heavily on retelling several peoples ‘trip experiences’ and a very heavy and longwinded timeline that kept jumping chronologically back and forth.
2*
2*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
barbaraht's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
thepaperwitch's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
What a fascinating trip psychedelics have had. I came into the topic with some vague knowledge of it's past, but Pollan's book gives a lot of information on the origins of LSD and psilocybin, and to a much lesser degree, DMT.
With that massive amount of information, though, comes some burden. This book is part history and part memoir, which makes some parts odd to shift to and from. I appreciated that the author tried to express their bias, skepticism, and experience, but it left the book feeling a bit cumbersome in the wake of all the detailed names, dates, and history that we are presented in the first half of the book. This also left the ending feeling rushed with a seemingly 'Oh, yeah, I also did ayahuasca and here's just a quick couple paragraphs on that' (an experience I've never had in a nonfiction book).
I personally really liked the in-depth science behind how classic psychedelics work and reading the way medical experiments evolved as the scientists learned more and more about the compounds. I also enjoyed the questions Pollan beings up along the way, especially relating to the idea of reality and experience. These scientific areas may put others off if they do not enjoy those kinds of details, but I think the book is still accessible and easy enough to follow for non-scientific minds. I hope to read even more about the effects psychedelics have in treating depression and other "excesses of order" -- a term that I have never more heartily felt was an accurate description of the deep groove and uncontrollable introspection that depression imposes.
All in all this was a fascinating read and I learn a great deal on the subject. I'm glad it stayed mostly on topic of the scientific aspect of psychedelics' history, as I feel it prepared me to understand and learn more about other aspects of its use by non-scientific people, groups, and organizations.
With that massive amount of information, though, comes some burden. This book is part history and part memoir, which makes some parts odd to shift to and from. I appreciated that the author tried to express their bias, skepticism, and experience, but it left the book feeling a bit cumbersome in the wake of all the detailed names, dates, and history that we are presented in the first half of the book. This also left the ending feeling rushed with a seemingly 'Oh, yeah, I also did ayahuasca and here's just a quick couple paragraphs on that' (an experience I've never had in a nonfiction book).
I personally really liked the in-depth science behind how classic psychedelics work and reading the way medical experiments evolved as the scientists learned more and more about the compounds. I also enjoyed the questions Pollan beings up along the way, especially relating to the idea of reality and experience. These scientific areas may put others off if they do not enjoy those kinds of details, but I think the book is still accessible and easy enough to follow for non-scientific minds. I hope to read even more about the effects psychedelics have in treating depression and other "excesses of order" -- a term that I have never more heartily felt was an accurate description of the deep groove and uncontrollable introspection that depression imposes.
All in all this was a fascinating read and I learn a great deal on the subject. I'm glad it stayed mostly on topic of the scientific aspect of psychedelics' history, as I feel it prepared me to understand and learn more about other aspects of its use by non-scientific people, groups, and organizations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use