Michael Pollan

For more than 30 years, Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect. He is the author of nine books, seven of which have been New York Times bestsellers. 

His books include How to Change Your Mind (2018); Cooked (2013); Food Rules (2009); In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008); and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006), which was named one of the 10 best books of 2006 by both The New York Times and The Washington Post. 

In 2003, Pollan was appointed the Knight Professor of Journalism and director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2017, he was appointed professor of the practice of nonfiction at Harvard and the university’s first Lewis K. Chan Lecturer in the Arts. In 2020, along with Dacher Keltner and others, he cofounded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. In 2022, Pollan released his four-part docuseries, How to Change Your Mind, on Netflix, which explores the history and uses of psychedelics, including LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and mescaline. Most recently, Pollan released his class on MasterClass where he teaches intentional eating. In the class, he breaks down decades of research to help members rethink their relationship with food and make choices that benefit their health and the planet.