Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (2013)

 
Michael Pollan is an American author and journalist, who is best known for his books that explore the socio-cultural impacts of food, such as The Botany of Desire and The Omnivore's Dilemma. His work is an incisive examination of the American system of industrial food production and its alternatives has provoked considerable national attention.

His book and series Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation explores the methods by which cooks mediate "between nature and culture." It explains the history and different aspects of cooking, and its ability to connect us as human beings.

In 2018, Pollan wrote How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, a book about the history and future of psychedelic drugs. The book became a No. 1 New York Times best-seller. He argues that psilocybin and LSD are not drugs that make people crazy, which he calls the biggest misconception people have about psychedelics, but rather drugs that can help a person become "more sane" by, for example, eliminating a fear of death. While promoting his book on TV, he explained that along with LSD and psilocybin, his research included ingesting ayahuasca and 5-MeO-DMT, and that he experienced a dissolution of ego.

His book This Is Your Mind on Plants is going to be released on 6 July 2021 and explores in particular opium, caffeine, and mescaline.