This is Your Mind on Plants ★★☆☆☆

This is Your Mind on Plants (Click Here To Buy)

★★☆☆☆

This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollen is a nonfiction book about opium, coffee, and mescaline.

I read this as an audiobook checked out from the library and read by the author.

This book is broken down into 3 sections. The first section talks about opium and the author grows poppies in his garden to make opium tea and then worries whether it's a felony. The second section talks about coffee and goes into the history, but mostly from a Western perspective giving the history of the 15-minute break at work and then going to pick beans to make coffee. The final section talks about mescaline and its importance to the native population while at the same time trying to find out what their sacred rituals entail.

This book was difficult for me because I felt like the author was really just a privileged white guy failing to fully consider the histories and current implications of these 3 substances. In the opium section, I was disheartened at how little he addressed the war on drugs and the disproportionate number of Black and brown people who are being sent to prison for charges related to opium while he just grew it in his garden and was like "I hope I don't get in trouble." To be fair, he does address this, but in my opinion, it was too limited. In the coffee section, I felt like he glossed over the origins of coffee in Africa. Again, he mentions this, but it felt dismissive, and the focus was too quickly re-centered on Western culture. Finally in the last section on mescaline I was literally appalled when he was interviewing a native tribal member over zoom who basically said why should I tell a white man what our traditions are so that you can commercialize it? and then the author heavily fails to address this other than reporting that it was said. Overall, I was very disappointed in this book.

I know this author has several other popular books, but I don’t think I will be reading them. I did read In Defense of Food several years ago and remember finding it interesting.

If you liked This is Your Mind on Plants, I also recommend Breath by James Nestor, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell, and Quit Like A Woman by Holly Whitaker.

Happy reading!

Ms.Bjork