Episode · The Book Review · 2026-05-22
Michael Pollan on The Book Review: books mentioned (May 2026)
The Ezra Klein Show: Michael Pollan’s Journey to the Borderlands of Consciousness
Gilbert Cruz discussed A World Appears by Michael Pollan. Michael Pollan recommended The Blind Spot by Adam Frank and others, Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann, and Being You by Anil Seth, and discussed The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, What Is It Like to Be a Bat? by Thomas Nagel, The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness by Mark Solms, Descartes' Error by Antonio Damasio, and The doors of perception by Aldous Huxley.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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A World Appears
Discussed“In his new book, A World Appears, A Journey Into Consciousness, the science writer Michael Pollan takes a tour of those efforts, of those theories, of those experiments, of those psychedelic trips and meditation retreats”
Where to get it
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The Varieties of Religious Experience
Discussed“I first got acquainted with him when I was working on how to change your mind cuz he'd written the varieties of religious experience, and there's a fantastic chapter there on mystical experience.”
Where to get it
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat?
Discussed“You know, there's the famous definition of Thomas Nagel, who wrote this great essay called What Is It Like to Be a Bat? And he his test for consciousness is if it is like anything to be a creature, that creature then is conscious.”
Where to get it
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The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness
Discussed“And he's written a really interesting book called The Hidden Spring. And his theory is that consciousness arises when you can't automate things.”
Where to get it
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Descartes' Error
Discussed“And in a way, this is the lesson of Antonio Damasio's first book in 1994, Descartes' Error it was called. And he was basically showing that feelings and emotions should be admitted into the decision-making process.”
Where to get it
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The doors of perception
Discussed“This is a term that comes from Aldous Huxley in The Doors of Perception, that consciousness was outside of his brain.”
Where to get it
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The Blind Spot
Recommended“Well, a book that was really influential in the writing of this book is a book called The Blind Spot. It's by a philosopher, Evan Thompson, and two physicists, Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser. It's a critique of Western science.”
Where to get it
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Ducks, Newburyport
Recommended“Another book that was really influential as I was working on the stream of consciousness is a stream of consciousness novel by Lucy Ellmann called Ducks, Newburyport. It's a thousand pages, one sentence, and that sounds really daunting”
Where to get it
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Being You
Recommended“There were several books on consciousness I like, but the one I want to recommend is Being You by Anil Seth. He's an English neuroscientist, and it's a book about the self, and he treats the self as a perception.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing The Omnivore's Dilemma
“He has written several best-selling books including The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and How to Change Your Mind.”
Passing How to Change Your Mind
“He has written several best-selling books including The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and How to Change Your Mind.”
Passing In Defense of Food
“He has written several best-selling books including The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and How to Change Your Mind.”
Passing A World Appears
“His latest book came out earlier this year and it's called A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness.”