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boreasword's review
4.0
Well done. Fairly balanced, journalistic style but not dry. I actually wanted more negative reaction to the New Leaf potato, a clear damning of Monsanto, but it was more subtle, and in some ways, stronger for that.
sophiewoz's review
9 times out of 10 when i don’t finish a book it’s because ive lost it. rip!!
freckleduck's review
5.0
I loved this book. I didn't even mind the long chapters. I found the topic to be fascinating and reading this book has inspired me to grow things again. I loved Pollan's nuance although there are a few parts where he clearly has a bias. I really found it to be informational and yet fun.
ameyawarde's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly I read this a couple months ago and mostly all I remember is a lot of cool info about apples and a desire to try more local varieties.
unladylike's review against another edition
3.0
This was Michael Pollan's first book, from what I can tell, and feels quite dated nine years after publication. I found most of it fascinating, and generally enjoy Pollan's style of journalism + personal feelings and anecdotes. Certain phrases and segments made me cringe (for example, his use of the ethnic pejorative "gypped") and others made me just give him extreme side-eye or laugh about how much things have changed. He repeatedly asserts that the cannabis plant is not beautiful and will "never win any awards [for attractiveness]" but never acknowledges the vast amount of magazines and social media whose content is dedicated to showing off intricately beautiful ganja. What plant to more people wear emblazoned on their clothes? The tulip or cannabis? I'd bet it's the latter, and it's not *just* about the physiological effects the plant causes. Why does this contemplative gardener hate the look of cannabis plants?
Things I actually learned:
- Apparently, the notion that mountains are beautiful has not been universal across time. In fact, for a long period of time, the opinion of many/most colonial settlers (based on journals and newspapers and such) was that they were ugly blemishes on the landscape!!
- I am shocked that in all my years of being involved in or adjacent to witchy shit, social histories of the marginalized, and sex education/sex-positivity, I never learned that the origin of the idea that "witches" ride on "broomsticks" is that women who studied and practiced the use of plant medicine would sometimes use blends of psychoactive plants such as amanita muscara or datura in hemp seed oil, then infuse those hallucinogenic mixtures into a wooden dildo and ingest these "flying ointments" vaginally (I'm guessing rectally as well, since that's one of the most effective and efficient means of introducing medicine to the bloodstream and brain)!!! This makes so much fucking sense and I resent that I had to learn it from Michael Pollan of all people! I will never think of "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" the same way!
- The Swiss physician Paracelcus, who in the 1500s was credited with the invention of laudanum, among other important medicines, himself credited everything he'd learned about natural medicines to "sorceresses" of his day!
- "Innocence, in adults, will always flirt with embarrassment." A quote I liked referring to the different states of mind between being high vs sober and the difficulty in conveying or retaining the revelations that come while high.
Things I actually learned:
- Apparently, the notion that mountains are beautiful has not been universal across time. In fact, for a long period of time, the opinion of many/most colonial settlers (based on journals and newspapers and such) was that they were ugly blemishes on the landscape!!
- I am shocked that in all my years of being involved in or adjacent to witchy shit, social histories of the marginalized, and sex education/sex-positivity, I never learned that the origin of the idea that "witches" ride on "broomsticks" is that women who studied and practiced the use of plant medicine would sometimes use blends of psychoactive plants such as amanita muscara or datura in hemp seed oil, then infuse those hallucinogenic mixtures into a wooden dildo and ingest these "flying ointments" vaginally (I'm guessing rectally as well, since that's one of the most effective and efficient means of introducing medicine to the bloodstream and brain)!!! This makes so much fucking sense and I resent that I had to learn it from Michael Pollan of all people! I will never think of "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" the same way!
- The Swiss physician Paracelcus, who in the 1500s was credited with the invention of laudanum, among other important medicines, himself credited everything he'd learned about natural medicines to "sorceresses" of his day!
- "Innocence, in adults, will always flirt with embarrassment." A quote I liked referring to the different states of mind between being high vs sober and the difficulty in conveying or retaining the revelations that come while high.
stellarstar's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.25
Brilliantly researched and written. Some fascinating philosophical trends. Slightly disturbing and thought-provoking as well.