MICHAEL POLLAN — HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND

Paul Stamets, mycologist, covered in bees

M gave me this book, having learned very quickly about my interest in mushrooms. I’m all for psychedelic healing and this book has opened up lines of communication about that. I think it’s geared toward middle-aged folks who would not bring themselves within spitting distance of a mushroom without having strongly considered the Purpose of their Journey, so I find Pollan’s fixation on “set and setting” extraneous. The narrative held me when it less of a user’s guide and more about the people of psychedelics, Stamets (the guy in the photo) and others, they’re interesting. Ultimately this a pretty square take. Someone should really write a review of this book or a general rebuttal/rant in the voice of an angry Hunter S. Thompson. I think he would have taken offense to the Silicon Valley psychedelic crowd, to which Pollan seems drawn. I could see Thompson getting riled up and probably calling them pigs or something more inventive, although from my recollection he could stretch swine-oriented insults in interesting directions. 

Read October 2021