My wife Ivy and I have been avid readers of Michael Pollan's previous articles and book-length works especially those involving healthful eating and the food industry. By way of background I am a forty-something surgeon and my wife is an author and blogger with MS who has on occasion had to cope with condition-related mood issues. Without having done much research into the psychedelics other than to ensure they are indeed medically safe (as this book discusses in more detail) a couple years back we participated in several overseas guided ayahuasca (a psychedelic plant mentioned in How to Change Your Mind) sessions. Our experiences as a couple participating both to obtain hoped-for medical benefits and for, in my case, the "betterment of well people" to quote Pollan's book have been discussed online and mirror the experiences described by Mr. Pollan and by the numerous academic professionals, researchers, and patients interviewed throughout this journalistic masterpiece. To describe this further is beyond the scope of my review but we can vouch that this book is one hundred percent serious journalism and that research investment into the study of psychedelics as medications for treatment resistant psychiatric conditions and as spiritual aids for the betterment of humanity is very much needed and is well underway as described in detail in Pollan's book.
As for the prosaic the book is over 400 pages and written at an advanced level and will engage the most curious of readers. The book is organized into six chapters. The first is a broad introduction to the topic of psychedelics and the second discusses psychedelic mushrooms which possess an active ingredient that is the topic of many current-era human research studies. The third chapter discusses the first wave of psychedelic research (I had no idea that in the 1950's these substances were academically studied and thought to hold great promise only for that research to be practically shut down as a result of the political upheaval of the late 60's) and is of great interest to anyone interested in the history of these substances even if one has no interest in their pharmacological effects. The fourth discusses the author's own personal experiences as a middle-aged adult with the psychedelics and he is spot-on with his fascinating first person descriptions of the experience. Finally, chapters five and six discuss current research, expected medical benefits and benefits to the well-person, the neuroscience behind the actual function of psychedelics in the brain, and proposed solutions for safely distributing the psychedelics to persons who could benefit.
For many readers this book will "change your mind" about the loaded term "psychedelic" and will open you up to at least the possibility the world could be a better place if these substances could be studied with as much zeal as are other pharmaceuticals and could be offered safely for the benefit of the millions of persons worldwide suffering from conditions related to dysfunction of the mind.
- File Size: 3231 KB
- Print Length: 474 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (May 15, 2018)
- Publication Date: May 15, 2018
- Language: English
- ASIN: B076GPJXWZ
- Text-to-Speech:
Enabled
- Word Wise: Enabled
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,005 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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