Michael Pollan is one of our most revelatory explorers of the interaction between the human and natural worlds — especially the plants with which we have, as he says, co-evolved — from food to caffeine to psychedelics. In this episode of our series, The Future of Hope, Wintering’s Katherine May draws him out on the burgeoning human inquiry and science to which he’s now given himself over — the transformative applications of altered states for healing trauma and depression, for end-of-life care — and the thrilling matter of grasping what consciousness is for. This is an informative, intriguing, utterly uncategorizable conversation.
You may know Katherine May from her On Being conversation with Krista about “wintering” as a season in the natural world — and a recurrent season in every human life. She too operates out of a deep curiosity about the human mind — the remarkable complexity of mental states and well-being — informed in part by her own welcome mid-life diagnosis of autism and her love of cold-water swimming. Her books of fiction and memoir include: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, The Electricity of Every Living Thing, and Burning Out. She is also the editor of an anthology of essays about motherhood, called The Best, Most Awful Job. Her podcast is The Wintering Sessions.
Michael Pollan is a professor at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. His many bestselling books include The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, and most recently, This Is Your Mind on Plants.
In 2020, he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.
Katherine May is an author of both fiction and memoir, including: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, The Electricity of Every Living Thing, and Burning Out. She is also the editor of an anthology of essays about motherhood, called The Best, Most Awful Job. Her podcast is The Wintering Sessions.
Michael Pollan is a professor at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. His many bestselling books include The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, and most recently, This Is Your Mind on Plants. In 2020, he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.
Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.
[Unedited] Larry Ward with Krista Tippett
[Unedited] Cheri Maples with Krista Tippett
Oliver Burkeman – Time Management for Mortals
[Unedited] Oliver Burkeman with Krista Tippett
Remembering Desmond Tutu
[Unedited] Desmond Tutu with Krista Tippett
Gordon Hempton — Silence and the Presence of Everything
[Unedited] Gordon Hempton with Krista Tippett
Jeff Chu — A Life of Holy Curiosity (In Friendship with Rachel Held Evans)
[Unedited] Jeff Chu with Krista Tippett
Jane Hirshfield – The Fullness of Things
[Unedited] Jane Hirshfield with Krista Tippett
Katherine May – How ‘Wintering’ Replenishes
[Unedited] Katherine May with Krista Tippett
Vivek Murthy and Richard Davidson – The Future of Well-being
[Unedited] Vivek Murthy and Richard Davidson with Krista Tippett
Jane Goodall – What It Means to Be Human
[Unedited] Jane Goodall with Krista Tippett
Pico Iyer and Elizabeth Gilbert – The Future of Hope 3
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney
Selected Shorts
This American Life
Sunday Supplement - Sky Sports
The Frank Skinner Show