Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan has spent more than three decades exploring the intersection of humans and the natural world – especially through food, agriculture and the mind. He is the author of ten books, many of them New York Times bestsellers, including The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Botany of Desire and In Defense of Food. His work often examines how plants, animals and human culture shape one another.

Pollan’s later books, such as How to Change Your Mind and This Is Your Mind on Plants, explore consciousness and psychoactive substances. His 2026 book, A World Appears, continues this theme, offering a wide-ranging look at the nature of consciousness. Several of his works have been adapted into documentaries and films inspired by his writing on food systems.

A longtime contributor to The New York Times Magazine, Pollan has received numerous awards for journalism and literature, as well as recognition as one of the world’s most influential thinkers. He has taught at UC Berkeley and Harvard and co-founded the Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.

Born in 1955, Pollan was educated at Bennington College, Oxford and Columbia University. He lives in California with his wife, the artist Judith Belzer.

Photo by Tabitha Soren