I have read several books by Michael Pollan. A friend told us about Second Nature and I read it aloud while Lynn drove on a long trip and back. It’s about gardening and culture. Do you know that white blossoms are lovely but those pinks and oranges are the colors of hussies and questionable morals? At some times and places, that is reported to have been the general conviction. We also read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “The Botany of Desire”, and “Food Rules”.
Our daughter Jill fell mentally ill and remained that way until her death. So when I learned that Pollan has a new book out called “How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence,” I was deeply interested. We are reading it aloud and it says something about the quality of the thought and the quality of the writing that conveys that thought that we both like the book very much. Before his book, I had already seen reports that psilocybin and LSD had achieved some stunning results with mentally ill patients, highly anxious people and with some who had big trouble not smoking.
Meanwhile, I finished the gripping story of Cecile Richards and her 10 years leading Planned Parenthood in all sorts of political fights and dirty (and cheap) tricks against the organization. Next up for no particular reason is “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson. I am interested in research and research designs and methods so it was natural that I learned about computers. In the early 80’s, the Apple IIe and its software package called AppleWorks. I started college teaching at just the time that strange machines called “computers” were springing up here and there. So, Apple computers as well as mainframe (rent a cheaper smaller one for $16,000 a year) were making their way into business and colleges.
Jobs and Wozniak started Apple and before I knew it, came out with the Macintosh, a whole new way of thinking about how people and machines could work together. I am not very far into the audiobook about Jobs but I have learned that he was grouchy, impolite and eager to reach “enlightenment” as a young man. So, it seemed a good idea to him to get involved with marijuana and LSD. Personally, I like me that way I am, and don’t enjoy modifying myself with smoking, drunkenness or drugs. However, I would not be surprised in the least if magic mushrooms and lysergic acid diethylamide and other chemicals come in handy for some people over the next few decades.
