Scan barcode
A review by brittanykroeckel
This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan
3.0
This book wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. When you think of the title “This is Your Mind On Plants,” you’d think it would talk about the mechanisms in which the three substances Pollan focuses on, opium, caffeine, and mescaline, act upon and alter the brains normal functioning. While this was present at times, the book ended up being more “memoiric” than I anything else. Here’s a brief breakdown of each section.
Opium: this was my least favorite. Purely memoir. I learned nothing about what opium does to the brain except for the last page or so of the section. I struggled to get through this part. However, the idea of opium being derived from a poppy plant intrigued me.
Caffeine: probably my most favorite. This had the most science that I was looking for: mentioning how it connects to our receptors and hinders adenosine reaction. The part about the bees was awesome and I did actually enjoy most of the historical context brought forth. Memoir/ personal experiment
Mescaline: middle ground. I liked the ending part of this/end of the book where he describes the effect of mescaline on his mind and perspective during the night ceremony. I appreciate deeply how he brings forth the issues involving white people overtaking the harvesting of mescaline, specifically peyote, so we can have a respect for indigenous peoples’ culture.
I gave this 3 instead of 2 stars because I knew virtually nothing about any of this going into it, so the content at hand was already intriguing for me. It’s just the way it was presented and the choice of concealing the fact that it’s actually more a personal memoir leaves me unsatisfied. It wasn’t really a “unique blend” of history, science, and memoir — it was 70% memoir, 20% history, and 10% science. However, overall, I did like the book and learned something, which is a goal I have with every book I read.
Opium: this was my least favorite. Purely memoir. I learned nothing about what opium does to the brain except for the last page or so of the section. I struggled to get through this part. However, the idea of opium being derived from a poppy plant intrigued me.
Caffeine: probably my most favorite. This had the most science that I was looking for: mentioning how it connects to our receptors and hinders adenosine reaction. The part about the bees was awesome and I did actually enjoy most of the historical context brought forth. Memoir/ personal experiment
Mescaline: middle ground. I liked the ending part of this/end of the book where he describes the effect of mescaline on his mind and perspective during the night ceremony. I appreciate deeply how he brings forth the issues involving white people overtaking the harvesting of mescaline, specifically peyote, so we can have a respect for indigenous peoples’ culture.
I gave this 3 instead of 2 stars because I knew virtually nothing about any of this going into it, so the content at hand was already intriguing for me. It’s just the way it was presented and the choice of concealing the fact that it’s actually more a personal memoir leaves me unsatisfied. It wasn’t really a “unique blend” of history, science, and memoir — it was 70% memoir, 20% history, and 10% science. However, overall, I did like the book and learned something, which is a goal I have with every book I read.