The book on which the Netflix documentary series of the same name is based. Michael Pollan began writing a book about psychedelics. He ended up questioning his very own beliefs. When he started exploring the return of LSD, psilocybin, and DMT to scientific research, he was a rationalist journalist maintaining distance. Until he decided to cross to the other side – to try these substances under expert guidance. What followed was not just research. It was an experience that challenged certainties: about consciousness, about the mind, about who we are.

How to Change Your Mind operates on multiple levels at once – from neuroscience laboratories to the underground community of psychedelic therapists, from the history of prohibition to today’s scientific renaissance. And from all this emerge themes that concern us all: depression, addiction, death. But the real question isn’t what these substances do. It’s what they reveal about the self and the limits of reality as we know it.

“Whatever one believes about psychedelics, the book reminds us that the mind is the greatest mystery in the universe, that this mystery is always here, in front of us, and that we typically devote far less time and energy than we should to exploring it.” — Yuval Noah Harari

“Pollan possesses such undeniable credibility and innate eloquence that you can’t help but take him completely seriously. A deeply empathetic and convincing book.” — The Guardian

“Pollan’s thoroughly documented chronicle will enlighten those who mainly view psychedelics as an easy reference to the Woodstock generation, and will encourage those who increasingly see them as a possible antidote to our often stubbornly limited thinking. […] Entrancing and informative.” — The Boston Globe

“Pollan makes you turn the pages with clarity and confidence.” — The New York Times

“Journalist Michael Pollan had explored psychoactive plants in his book The Botany of Desire (2001). In this bold and exciting study, he goes even deeper. […] Pollan even deliberately shakes his own consciousness, experimenting on himself, inspired by psychologist William James, who more than a century ago pondered the wildest limits of consciousness.” — Nature