Michael Pollan
Berkeley
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Author of A World Appears; This is Your Mind on Plants; How to Change Your Mind; Cooked; In Defense of Food; The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire.
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Articles by Michael Pollan
The New Food Movement
Listen1.0x 0:0019:52 When I first set out to report and write about what we now call the food system, I ran into a brick wall with editors in New York. This was in the late 1990s and early aughts. I was chasing stories about the new genetically modified crops, the fight over the federal definition of organic, and the rise of gigantic factory farms—stories that would eventually find their way into my book The Omnivore’s Dilemma—but few editors seemed interested. At first I was baffled.
A World Appears By Michael Pollan
A World Appears By Michael Pollan  When it comes to the phenomenon that is consciousness, there is one point on which scientists, philosophers, and artists all agree: that it feels like something to be us. Yet the fact we have subjective experience of the world remains one of nature’s greatest mysteries. How is it that our mental operations are accompanied by feelings, thoughts, and a sense of self?
Author Michael Pollan on his "food rules" to live by
This week, correspondent Bill Whitaker reported on ultraprocessed foods, the plastic-wrapped, ready-to-eat items that line our grocery store shelves. Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler told 60 Minutes that these products, made with highly processed ingredients like corn syrup and maltodextrin, have been making people sick for decades.
The Books Sarasota's Historical Figures Might Read This Summer
John Ringling Art of the Deal by Donald J. Trump with Tony Schwartz This 1987 “autobiographical” account of President Trump’s business prowess is filled with hyperbole, salesmanship and showmanship—qualities Ringling employed (although instead of insisting on more sequins, Ringling might want to switch to gold).
An Ordinary Mind on an Ordinary Day | Michael Pollan
Ask about the unconscious and most neuroscientists will acknowledge its existence, grudgingly, before going on to explain that consciousness is hard enough to study as it is, without complicating the matter by bringing in something as elusive and ill-defined as unconsciousness. Kalina Christoff Hadjiilieva, a Bulgarian-born psychologist at the University of British Columbia, is a notable exception, a self-described misfit in the field.
Defending Our Consciousness Against the Algorithms
Worried that the age-old experience of boredom is at risk of extinction at the hands of technology, a group of young influencers on—irony alert—social media are recommending we nurture and celebrate this underappreciated state of mind. To people of a certain age, boredom has evidently become exotic. These influencers have launched a “viral challenge” on Instagram urging us to try to do absolutely nothing for as long as we possibly can.
Cosa abbiamo in testa
A cosa stavo pensando? Non è una domanda semplice o lineare come credevo. Appena si prova a registrare e classificare i contenuti della coscienza – impressioni sensoriali, sentimenti, parole, immagini, sogni a occhi aperti, divagazioni della mente, ruminazioni, riflessioni, osservazioni, opinioni, intuizioni e occasionali illuminazioni – si trovano molte più domande che risposte, e più di qualche sorpresa.
Michael Pollan Wants You to Rethink Consciousness
Andrea Miller: What is consciousness? In what way is the soul a good definition for it, and in what way is it not? Michael Pollan: Consciousness and the soul have an old relationship. The people who talk about the soul are often doing it in a religious context, and it has supernatural implications that consciousness doesn’t always have. But soul talk has infiltrated consciousness talk in lots of interesting ways. Consciousness is sort of the modern substitute for the soul.
Novels and nonfiction books to read and add to your TBR for spring
These are challenging times by any metric, but here’s something that’s also true: 2026 is shaping up to be a great year for books. Some of our most talented writers are delivering novels, nonfiction and poetry in the coming months. If you want to lose yourself in a good book or just take a break from whatever it is you need a break from, rest easy knowing that there is a stellar lineup of titles coming to your local independent bookstore.
12 novels and nonfiction books for spring
These are challenging times by any metric, but here’s something that’s also true: 2026 is shaping up to be a great year for books. Some of our most talented writers are delivering novels, nonfiction and poetry in the coming months. If you want to lose yourself in a good book or just take a break from whatever it is you need a break from, rest easy knowing that there is a stellar lineup of titles coming to your local independent bookstore.
Hotwired
From the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Outlive comes a radical exploration of the science of heat adaptation and sweat therapy to tap into the evolutionary superpowers that we’ve forgotten we possess. What if the key to thriving in a hotter world isn’t avoiding the heat—but harnessing it? In Hotwired, bestselling author and science journalist Bill Gifford takes readers on a fascinating exploration of the power of heat to improve our performance and our health.
12 novels and nonfiction books to read and add to your TBR for spring
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... These are challenging times by any metric, but here’s something that’s also true: 2026 is shaping up to be a great year for books. Some of our most talented writers are delivering novels, nonfiction and poetry in the coming months. If you want to lose yourself in a good book or just take a break from whatever it is you need a break from, rest easy knowing that there is a stellar lineup of titles coming to your local independent bookstore.
Books Our Editors Loved This Week Original
Every week, the critics and editors at the New York Times Book Review pick the most interesting and notable new releases, from literary fiction and serious nonfiction to thrillers, romance novels, mysteries and everything in between. Image A World Appears by Michael Pollan In his latest exploration of the human condition, Pollan turns his attention to the enduring mysteries of consciousness. What is it — and why does it exist?
Een wereld verschijnt
Iedereen kent het gevoel ‘jezelf te zijn’, maar hoe komen onze gevoelens, gedachten en ervaringen tot stand? Michael Pollan bezoekt de laboratoria van onze eigen geest en onderzoekt het wezen van onze menselijkheid. Hij spreekt wetenschappers, filosofen, kunstenaars en spirituele denkers over dit grootste mysterie van de natuur en ontdekt een wereld die veel dieper en vreemder is dan onze dagelijkse realiteit.
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness
The philosophy of mind, as the philosopher David Wiggins once remarked, is a terminological slum. At its heart sits the word ‘consciousness’, like Proteus the shapeshifter, beset by a gang of Procrusteans hacking and chopping away and saying that really it means this, that or the other.
12 novels and nonfiction books to read and add to your TBR for spring Original
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... These are challenging times by any metric, but here’s something that’s also true: 2026 is shaping up to be a great year for books. Some of our most talented writers are delivering novels, nonfiction and poetry in the coming months. If you want to lose yourself in a good book or just take a break from whatever it is you need a break from, rest easy knowing that there is a stellar lineup of titles coming to your local independent bookstore.
Best-selling author Michael Pollan explores consciousness
By What happens when we open our eyes? Is consciousness something that can be pinpointed and studied? These are the questions science author Michael Pollan explores in his new book. Here & Now's Indira Lakshmanan talks with Pollan about " A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness." Book excerpt: 'A World Appears' By Michael Pollan Excerpted from "A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness" by Michael Pollan. Copyright ©2026 by Michael Pollan.
AI Will Never Be Conscious
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AI Will Never Be Conscious
The Blake Lemoine incident is remembered today as a high‑water mark of AI hype. It thrust the whole idea of conscious AI into public awareness for a news cycle or two, but it also launched a conversation, among both computer scientists and consciousness researchers, that has only intensified in the years since. While the tech community continues to publicly belittle the whole idea (and poor Lemoine), in private it has begun to take the possibility much more seriously.
AI Will Never Be Conscious
Big Tech is pouring $650 billion into AI — and it’s about to affect almost everything you use You may have noticed that AI tools are getting smarter and more integrated into your daily life. It's true, AI is getting harder to ignore, that's …
A World Appears by Michael Pollan: Summary and Reviews
BookBrowse Review BookBrowse Pollan divides his subject into "four different dimensions of consciousness, beginning with its earliest and most elementary manifestation in nature and ending with its most complex and rare creation: selves like ours." Pollan offers no conclusions regarding the nature of consciousness. A World Appears, then, can be thought of more as a survey of what we currently know—and don't know—than a definitive explanation of the subject.
Author Michael Pollan on his "food rules" to live by
This week, correspondent Bill Whitaker reported on ultraprocessed foods, the plastic-wrapped, ready-to-eat items that line our grocery store shelves. Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler told 60 Minutes that these products, made with highly processed ingredients like corn syrup and maltodextrin, have been making people sick for decades.
RFK Jr. says ultraprocessed food manufacturers hijacked GRAS "loophole" to use questionable ingredients
Ultraprocessed foods comprise half of the average American's diet, and according to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are leading to Americans being obese and malnourished at the same time. Kennedy said that Americans don't know about the health consequences of what they eat thanks to a 67-year-old government exemption allowing ingredients that are generally recognized as safe, or GRAS.
The Sacredness of the Everyday
Anyone who thinks the contemplative life amounts to a form of quietism or a retreat from the world’s suffering should spend some time shadowing Joan Halifax, the Zen priest and anthropologist. I’d been curious about Halifax for years, ever since I heard about an annual trek that she leads through the mountains of Nepal, bringing a cadre of doctors and dentists to remote mountain villages with little access to health care.
38 novels and nonfiction books coming in 2026 to add to your TBR
It’s a new year, and even if you’re still working your way through your 2025 to-be-read pile, there’s always room to add to your collection with some new books. (Buy another bookshelf if necessary.) The first three months of 2026 will see the release of titles by exciting new authors as well as veterans such as George Saunders, Tayari Jones, Helen Garner, Ibram X. Kendi, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, Naeem Murr, Heather Ann Thompson, Ian Buruma and Michael Pollan.
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness
. Feb. 2026. 304p. ISBN 9781984881991. $32. SCIENCES COPY ISBN The science of consciousness is comparatively young, which Pollan ( This Is Your Mind on Plants) dramatically illustrates with debates barely three decades ago that asked whether we can know what makes the interior world. The difficulties of measurement and not crossing a line into religious territory have left consciousness the purview of philosophers and poets throughout the recent centuries of modern scientific method.
A WORLD APPEARS | Kirkus Reviews
A fluent survey of what we know—or think we know—about the mind. A page-turner that explores the hidden world of the mind.
AARP's 75 Essential Books for Gen Xers | Members Only
Settling on 75 books essential to the Gen X experience meant plenty of amazing books had to be left off the list, because this isn’t a list of the “best” books. Rather, it’s a compendium of works that helped shape the way Gen X views the world, how we process information, where our logic base comes from and, finally, how we see ourselves. We consulted our friends, our colleagues, strangers on the street and actual book experts to cull this list.
Daily market recaps with key events, stock movements, and global influences 7 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Published Jun 18, 2025, 10:17 AM New Zealand has authorized the medicinal use of psilocybin, commonly known as 'magic mushrooms,' for the treatment of depression. This decision marks a notable development in the acceptance of psychedelic substances for therapeutic purposes. The approval aligns with growing scientific interest in the potential benefits of psychedelics for various medical conditions.
Speaker Greg Piper Orders Fungi Management Plan After Psychedelic Mushrooms Found Near NSW Parliament; WVU Student Discovers Rare LSD-Linked Fungus | DeepNewz Australia
Daily market recaps with key events, stock movements, and global influences 4 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Published Jun 12, 2025, 12:27 AM Psychedelic mushrooms containing illegal psychoactive compounds have been discovered growing near the main entrance of the New South Wales (NSW) parliament building. The discovery has raised security and safety concerns among officials. In response, Speaker Greg Piper has instructed parliamentary staff to develop a fungi management plan to address the issue.
Daily market recaps with key events, stock movements, and global influences 6 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Published Jun 10, 2025, 03:53 AM A recent university study involving dozens of religious leaders explored the effects of psilocybin, commonly known as magic mushrooms, on spiritual experiences. Among participants, Sughra Ahmed, the only Muslim in the study, reported a lasting sense of closeness to God that she had never experienced before.
American Tourist Dies in Remote Amazon During Ayahuasca Shamanic Ritual Spiritual Tourism Session
Daily market recaps with key events, stock movements, and global influences 5 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Published Jun 6, 2025, 11:56 AM An American tourist died in Peru after participating in a shamanic ritual involving the consumption of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic herbal tea. The incident occurred in the remote Amazon region of Peru, an area known for its spiritual tourism centered around ayahuasca ceremonies.
Lost New York Hikers on Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Falsely Report Companion Dead After 16 Hours, Friend Found Alive
Daily market recaps with key events, stock movements, and global influences 10 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Updated Jun 1, 2025, 04:33 PM Two hikers in New York, under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms, mistakenly reported their companion as dead, prompting a 911 emergency call. The incident occurred after the hikers became lost, and one of them was missing for over 16 hours before a faint voice was heard.
Johns Hopkins and NYU Publish Psychedelic Medicine Study on Psilocybin Effects on Religious and Spiritual Attitudes
Daily market recaps with key events, stock movements, and global influences 4 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Published May 30, 2025, 06:42 PM CMPSATAIMNMDCMNDDRUGSILOPBM Johns Hopkins University and New York University have published a research study in the journal Psychedelic Medicine examining the effects of psilocybin on religious leaders from various major world religions.
Two Lost Hikers on Haystack Trail in New York’s Adirondacks Mistakenly Report Friend’s Death While on Hallucinogenic Mushrooms
28 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Updated May 30, 2025, 06:15 AM Two hikers in New York's Adirondack Mountains mistakenly reported the death of a third member of their party after consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms. The incident occurred on a popular trail known as the 'Haystack,' a steep and exposed scramble. The hikers, who were lost and in an altered mental state, called 911 to report their companion's death.
Le 83 regole per mangiare sano ma infrangetele ogni tanto
Pensavo di aver chiuso con questo libro quando l’ho consegnato, o se non altro dopo che è stato pubblicato, ma mi sbagliavo. La sua vicenda si è rivelata un po’ diversa, meno definita rispetto agli altri miei libri. Dopo l’uscita nel gennaio 2009 ha continuato a evolversi in modi imprevedibili. I lettori hanno cominciato a inviarmi altre regole che mi sarebbe piaciuto aver incluso. Regole estrapolate dal libro sono state impresse su magliette, borse per la spesa e distintivi.
Joe Rogan Embraces Christianity with Wesley Huff as Younger Generations and France See Faith Resurgence
Daily market recaps with key events, stock movements, and global influences 7 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Updated May 27, 2025, 01:59 PM Podcast host Joe Rogan has begun attending church regularly as part of a broader resurgence of faith and religious engagement in the United States. After exploring Christianity and the Bible in conversations with Christian apologist Wesley Huff earlier this year, Rogan has incorporated Scripture into his daily routine.
Daily market recaps with key events, stock movements, and global influences 7 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Published May 26, 2025, 01:25 PM Podcast host Joe Rogan has reportedly begun attending church as part of a broader personal shift towards embracing Christianity. This development was highlighted by Christian apologist Wesley Huff, who noted Rogan's engagement with Christian teachings and the Bible during a discussion on his show earlier this year.
Matt Zorn Named First U.S. Psychedelics Czar, Deputy General Counsel at HHS, as FDA Prioritizes Psychedelic Therapies
5 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Published May 24, 2025, 05:55 PM The U.S. government has appointed Matt Zorn as its first Psychedelics Czar, marking a notable shift as Zorn previously gained recognition for suing federal agencies over cannabis and psychedelics policies. Now serving as Deputy General Counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Zorn has a dedicated mandate on psychedelics.
Joe Rogan Reportedly Begins Regular Church Attendance, Citing Generation Z Trend, Says Biblical Expert Wesley Huff
Daily market recaps with key events, stock movements, and global influences 8 posts • GPT (4.1 mini) Published May 22, 2025, 02:59 AM Joe Rogan, the popular podcast host, has reportedly begun regularly attending church, according to Biblical manuscript expert Wesley Huff. Huff, who appeared on Rogan's show four months ago, noted a resurgence of interest in Christianity, a trend supported by a recent study indicating increased church attendance among Generation Z.
This Is Your Priest on Drugs
Richards’s convictions, and his aspirations for psychedelics, prompt questions about the objectivity of such research. Rick Strassman, a psychiatrist at the University of New Mexico who conducted psychedelic research in the early nineties, suggested to me that at least some of the researchers came to the study with “a mission” to demonstrate the spiritual and psychological value of psilocybin.
This Is Your Priest on Drugs
Richards’s convictions, and his aspirations for psychedelics, prompt questions about the objectivity of such research. Rick Strassman, a psychiatrist at the University of New Mexico who conducted psychedelic research in the early nineties, suggested to me that at least some of the researchers came to the study with “a mission” to demonstrate the spiritual and psychological value of psilocybin.
From the Archives: American Gardens Open to the Public-For a Day or Two
“The Garden Path” by Michael Pollan, was originally published in the April 1997 issue of Vogue. For more of the best from Vogue’s archive, sign up for our Nostalgia newsletter here. I don't think that I've ever visited a garden without finding something to steal. No, not the statuary or the garden tools, not even a cutting—though I confess to having swiped a few seeds in my time.
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