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A review by bluejayreads
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
5.0
I found this while browsing for audiobooks at my local library. I read the title and thought, "Oh cool, a book on how to evaluate evidence and form better opinions!" Then I read the back and went, "Oh, okay. Psychedelics are cool too."
I don't know if it's my rebellious streak or just curiosity, but I've recently been wanting to try drugs (the non-addicting ones, at least). Reading this book just made me want to try psychedelics all the more.
First off, there's a lot of research, science, and history in this book. In fact, there's a lot of everything in this book - it's 11 CDs long (an average 350-page book is 6-7 CDs). If you ever wanted to know how LSD was invented, how psychedelics were used in psychiatric research, and the different kinds of psychedelics out there, this is your book. Michael is very, very thorough on reporting the history and science of psychedelics - and there is a remarkable amount of legitimate scientific research.
Surprisingly for a self-professed atheist, though, a fair bit of the book focuses on the spiritual aspect of psychedelics. When used as a treatment for things like depression and addiction, the more mystical of a trip the patient had, the better their recovery. Which I think makes sense - the stronger the sensations, the more likely they are to have a lasting effect. But in places Michael seems almost convinced that there is some sort of something "beyond," if not a deity than at least universal consciousness or something similar, that psychedelic experiences let you tap into.
Some of that may be a "you had to be there" phenomenon. Michael relates five different trips he went on with four different psychedelic drugs, and does his best to describe the altered consciousness he experienced. (He stresses that we don't currently have language to fully express the feelings and experiences of such trips.) I, personally, have never tripped on anything more than an accidental overdose of marijuana, which just made everything feel like a dream and did not provide any mystical revelations. So while I'm skeptical that I will end up believing the drugs connected me to anything more than altered consciousness and whatever's happening inside my own mind, I'll reserve judgement.
Though it was long, this book was above all else interesting. From discovery to de-legalization to the current research going on, to Michael Pollan's own trips and experiences with underground "psychedelic guides" who set up and guide a psychedelic session, it was all a fascinating intro to a world that I knew nothing about. And I would someday love to try having my own psychedelic "mystical experience."
I don't know if it's my rebellious streak or just curiosity, but I've recently been wanting to try drugs (the non-addicting ones, at least). Reading this book just made me want to try psychedelics all the more.
First off, there's a lot of research, science, and history in this book. In fact, there's a lot of everything in this book - it's 11 CDs long (an average 350-page book is 6-7 CDs). If you ever wanted to know how LSD was invented, how psychedelics were used in psychiatric research, and the different kinds of psychedelics out there, this is your book. Michael is very, very thorough on reporting the history and science of psychedelics - and there is a remarkable amount of legitimate scientific research.
Surprisingly for a self-professed atheist, though, a fair bit of the book focuses on the spiritual aspect of psychedelics. When used as a treatment for things like depression and addiction, the more mystical of a trip the patient had, the better their recovery. Which I think makes sense - the stronger the sensations, the more likely they are to have a lasting effect. But in places Michael seems almost convinced that there is some sort of something "beyond," if not a deity than at least universal consciousness or something similar, that psychedelic experiences let you tap into.
Some of that may be a "you had to be there" phenomenon. Michael relates five different trips he went on with four different psychedelic drugs, and does his best to describe the altered consciousness he experienced. (He stresses that we don't currently have language to fully express the feelings and experiences of such trips.) I, personally, have never tripped on anything more than an accidental overdose of marijuana, which just made everything feel like a dream and did not provide any mystical revelations. So while I'm skeptical that I will end up believing the drugs connected me to anything more than altered consciousness and whatever's happening inside my own mind, I'll reserve judgement.
Though it was long, this book was above all else interesting. From discovery to de-legalization to the current research going on, to Michael Pollan's own trips and experiences with underground "psychedelic guides" who set up and guide a psychedelic session, it was all a fascinating intro to a world that I knew nothing about. And I would someday love to try having my own psychedelic "mystical experience."