a book full of facts, urban myths, history, culture and a lot of science. The subject is three plant based drugs caffeine, opium and mescaline, whilst i understood the downside of a coffee habit but knew nothing about the other two. except they are additive. The author explained in a fairly simple language the science and agri science behind these plants. A great deal of historical information relating to harvesting, export, demand, income and trends during the centuries. Fascinating stuff and interested in reading more from this author. Thank you #NetGalley for the audio book.

I enjoyed Michael Pollan's book about psychoactive plants and how they can affect our minds and wellbeing. I have no interest in taking illicit substances, but I do like a good cup of tea or coffee. I think this book was good at highlighting the sometimes arbitrary line between what we say are legal stimulants and what we say is illegal.

I think it worked well as an audio book, particuarly given it was the author's rather personal take on the subject and he also read the book. The book was also quite US-centric and was set within the US legal system and tensions, such as gun-control. I thought this somewhat distanced non-US readers from the book, although the issues were still familiar.

I thought this was an interesting and accessible take on the subject and was good at questioning why we draw the lines we do on what are acceptable and unacceptable stimulants.

I received a copy of the book by NetGalley but the opinions in this review are my own.


In depth work of research done on 3 different plants that naturally produce opium, caffeine, and mescaline. The subject is incredibly interesting and the information is there and as far as I could tell reliable and factual. The only thing that makes me decrease my mark is that the book was written like a newspaper or magazine article, rather than what I envision being a science book. There are a lot of personal stories about the making of this work and the author’s experience with each plant which I did not particularly enjoy at times.

I fancied something a bit 'different' to my usual summer romance reads and this fitted the bill.

I love a book where I can learn something without it being dry and feeling like you're being lectured at.

This book is just that. A fascinating insight into some "mainstream" (not the right word but I can't put my finger on it) drugs derived solely from nature. Its not a subject I knew anything about or have had any experience with so I enjoyed this. It was interesting to go on the authors journey of discovery with him with its pitfalls and positives.

Thoroughly recommend.

This is a solid 4 star from me.

I was definitely drawn in by the title here, as it seems such an interesting topic! The subject matter was really interesting and I really liked how the author wrote this and weaved in a mix of personal experiences, scientific research and information about the plants and effects included throughout the book

As there’s so many subsets and different things to talk about and potentially cover in this book, to whittle down the breadth of this field, the author split the book into three parts with one plant dedicated to each.

Starting with Opiates, it’s history, relations to the law and its effects in part one, the book then goes into part two on caffeine (something I think most people will have a vested interest in!) and then reaching the third part on Mescaline. My only small point is that the title might be a bit misleading as there’s less effect of these plants on the mind and neuroscience/ behavioural science than I was expecting but it was delved into on the caffeine chapter. It was great to learn about the culture of caffeine and I really enjoyed learning more about this!

I really loved hearing about the authors own encounters and experiences too. And I also thought the covid and pandemic tie in within the third chapter was great as well!

It was really interesting and worked well in audiobook format too. I always love it when the author narrates their own books and this one was easy and effortless to listen to. Plenty of interesting points and facts here: I’ve definitely come away knowing a lot more about this subject than when I started! (Although frankly not hard as I self confess I didn’t know a lot to begin with- it was interesting to learn!)

All in all, a good listen and of interest to anyone who would like to know more about these three important plants that can have such an impact.

This is your Mind on Plants is an.interesting book about three different plant-based mind-altering drugs.

The text is free ranging, covering many aspects of each substance, from the effect on the human mind to horticulture, to the vastly different government attitudes to each drug. I found the analysis of the US government’s War on Drugs since the 1990s to be particularly interesting, as the author had quite a bit of first hand knowledge. I appreciated the author’s commitment to his book which meant that he gave up caffeine for over a month, which is something I wouldn’t want to do myself!

The audiobook was read by the author and I enjoyed his pleasant American accent and relaxed pace. The only thing I missed from the audiobook was the footnotes.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a pre-release copy of both the text and the audio in exchange for honest feedback.

This is an informative, involved account of natural substances, where they come from and how we consume them.

It was well narrated and kept me interested in each subsequent chapter with its well written book.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

**Listened to the audio book**

What the hell was this book? This book really wasn't what I was expecting.

I expected this book to be filled with more facts and science, but it felt almost like a memoir at times. It felt very self indulgent on the author Michael Pollan's life. I didn't really read the book to hear his life story. I wanted to know more about the psychedelic properties and science of some of these plants - there wasn't enough of that.
As a reader/listener in the UK I did feel that a lot of the book was very USA specific and not always totally relevant to me in the UK.

I didn't enjoy this read, and it certainly wasn't the book I was expecting.