THIS IS YOUR MIND ON PLANTS

Michael Pollan’s pleasant midrange voice and upbeat delivery enhance his latest exploration of humankind’s sometimes fraught relationship with the surrounding natural world. With a title that’s a variation on the 1980s antidrug campaign featuring a frying egg—”this is your mind on drugs”—the audiobook examines how the chemicals produced by poppies (opium), coffee (caffeine), and peyote cacti (mescaline) have affected human history, current society, and Pollan himself. Narrating with precision and a frequent audible smile, Pollan offers us engaging participatory journalism as he combines scientific and historical research with abstaining from caffeine and ingesting opium and peyote. It’s fascinating, and full of such “huh!” tidbits such as the fact that minute hands on European clocks became popular only after the introduction of coffee. A.C.S. 2022 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2021]