---
product_id: 66556857
title: "How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence"
price: "₱310"
currency: PHP
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.ph/products/66556857-how-to-change-your-mind-what-the-new-science-psychedelics
store_origin: PH
region: Philippines
---

# How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence

**Price:** ₱310
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
- **How much does it cost?** ₱310 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ph](https://www.desertcart.ph/products/66556857-how-to-change-your-mind-what-the-new-science-psychedelics)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

“Pollan keeps you turning the pages . . . cleareyed and assured.” — New York Times A #1 New York Times Bestseller, New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2018, and New York Times Notable Book A brilliant and brave investigation into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs—and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s, when a handful of psychedelic evangelists inadvertently catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research. A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both suffering and joy, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.

Review: Narrative of the author's introduction to and journey with psychedelics in middle age. - How to Change Your Mind is quite a different pace from the author's other books; but the result is excellent nonetheless. I typically had read Michael Pollan for his food non-fiction works but How to Change Your Mind is a personal journey of psychedelics that the author bolsters with history and science to help the reader learn about a subject that is seemingly wrongly a taboo. There's a lot of ground covered in the book and the level of objectivity is to be admired. For a person looking to learn about psychadelics, the mind and perspective on a balanced life; this is worth the read. The book is split really into 3 parts. The author gives a quick introduction to how he came to want to take the personal journey to understand psychedelics and the potential benefits as his personal background was largely absent of substance use/abuse so the first chapter really just contextualizes the why for this project as its a different pace than his previous books. The book then gets into a more structured approach and discusses the history of the use of psychedelics in the West. He discusses how mushrooms were discovered in Mexico and had been used for spiritual journeys and also how LSD was synthesized and shelved by Sandoz and how its use by an individual was largely a random act. Its pretty interesting to learn the history of what early benefits were perceived for LSD; in particular as a means to understand psychosis but soon after as a means to help with addiction and terminal illness. LSD and mushrooms were made illegal partially due to Timothy Leary and the counterculture that evolved and embraced their use and the author gives the stories of events. Its definitely interesting for those unfamiliar. After giving the reader a good sense of how people used and thought about psychedelics as they first explored their potential, the author gets into his experience in using them for the first time. Inevitably communicating the experience is tough as one has an altered state of consciousness that is difficult to communicate with accuracy, but to one gets a shadow of the author's experience on some serious mushrooms, LSD and a hallucinogenic toad. Its definitely entertaining and the sense of connectedness is conveyed. Especially if one has personal experience with doing the drugs the author does a pretty good job of describing some of the sensations. In any case the author goes through experiences of mushroom hunting as well as the perceptions while on it and the lingering aspects of the experience. If one has read the omnivore's dilemma, mushroom hunting falls within the author's expertise but magic mushrooms are seemingly much harder to distinguish from many poisonous mushrooms so the hunting process is pretty interesting. The author then discusses some of the understood neuroscience of hallucinogens and some theories about how psychedelics operate. This remains a subject of study so there aren't definitive conclusions but the author argues that mushrooms and LSD improve communication between parts of the brain which don't communicate actively and suppress activity in the more self referential parts of the brain which the author names the default network. The author discusses recent studies in psychedelic clinical research and notes funding for such programs has increased in the last decade. The author finally discusses how these substances might be useful to people. The focuses of discussion are on those terminally ill, as psychedelics can help a person come to grips with their mortality; the author takes a case study approach with this chapter and discusses the effects on particular people who found them extremely useful. The author discusses addiction as well and how addiction can be broken with psychedelics when properly applied, it is caveated though that the effects are unlikely to be permanent but can help behavior on the order of months. One needs to remember that these are areas that need to be studied such that clinical data can lead to actual conclusions about these topics rather than the stories and hopes projected by believers or the fears projected by the puritanical. The author finally discusses depression which is a huge category. The anecdotal evidence from the authors interactions were all positive about the benefits of clinically administered psychedelics to combat depression. How to Change Your Mind is an informative book to consider. The author partially argues that psychedelics become very useful as we get to middle age and get entrenched in our way of thinking. These drugs expand the way the mind processes and bring back a youthfulness to the way that the mind thinks about things that is very spiritual. The author is scientific in approach and given his non substance intensive background it seems to be an honest account of a subject which I am sure many people consider taboo so its quite convincing. The book definitely helps rationalize doing psychedelics for tangible benefit without real side effects; though it is careful to remind the reader the environment of consumption matters. Definitely worth the read and almost definitely worth the experience if one can!
Review: Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream - 6 related reviews - “Turn off your mind and float downstream…” are the words beginning the Beatles song Tomorrow Never Knows, on the album Revolver. The following is a review of 6 fairly recent books centered on these 7 words and the music that accompanies them. They are, listed from wide to narrow focus: How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, 2018 The Gospel According to the Beatles by Steve Turner, Westminster John Knox Press, 2006 Revolution in the Head: The Beatles Records and the Sixties, 3rd ed. by Ian MacDonald, Chicago Review Press, 2007 Tomorrow Never Knows: Rock and Psychedelics in the 1960s by Nick Bromell, University of Chicago Press, 2000 Rock: The Primary Text: Developing a Musicology of Rock, 2nd ed. by Allan F. Moore, Ashgate Publishing Company, 2001 The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by Allan F. Moore, Cambridge University Press, 1997 ________________________________________________________ I will provide a brief bio of your reviewer so you can see where I’m coming from (and maybe where I’m going to): I first heard Tomorrow Never Knows at age 12 in 1974, when my uncle had given me Rubber Soul and Revolver to add to my burgeoning private record collection. When the Beatles hit America, I was 2 years old, had young hip parents who always had pop radio on, and even then had absconded with my grandmother’s 5 transistor (proudly displayed) “pocket” radio. It became mine, and even television didn’t supplant the importance of the music I was listening to on the radio. When my uncle gave me Revolver, I had already possessed the White Album (my dad bought it in 1968 when I was 6, and strangely enough, bought John and Yoko’s Two Virgins LP, as an investment I suppose), Abbey Road, and the 1962-1966, 1967-1970 compilations. But, I had never heard anything like Tomorrow Never Knows, and was endlessly fascinated by the music and then the lyrics which were imploring me to listen to the colors of my dreams. Huh? Four years later, 1978, age 16, I began a decade long spiritual quest beginning with a query into Christianity I was familiar with through cultural osmosis, compared to the ideas expressed in Tomorrow Never Knows. For ten years I searched for someone I could trust to give me a psychedelic. My first of four magic mushroom trips started on my 26th birthday. I was intellectually primed for an experience having read books from the Electric Koolaid Acid Test to the Tao of Physics and The Cosmic Code. Digesting what I had just experienced, it was my great fortune to discover on PBS special featuring Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers in “The Power of Myth,” and through him, the psychology of Carl Jung. (Freud had turned me off in college and I hadn’t yet given Jung a chance, silly me.) The rest, as they say, is history. I’ve been most focused over the years on what now can be called psychedelia. (I had aspired to be like the professor of applied narcotics in the hilarious Rutles movie All You Need Is Cash. “Listen, lookit, very simply…”) In particular, I’m most interested in the years of 1966-1968. _______________________________________________________ From the outset, one cannot understand, naturally, psychedelia without knowing something about psychedelics in general. A new book, as of this writing, is Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind. I have long been in the habit of reading the bibliography and index of books, and sometimes notes and references, before even opening up to read the first page. I find it’s a good habit, and Pollan’s bibliography doesn’t disappoint. It alone is worth the price of admission. He divides the history of psychedelics into two periods: the first ending with the prohibition and disfavor of psychedelics (and hippies in general) in the backlash during the 70s. The second period is the resurgence of psychedelic research, almost all underground initially, that started a few years later. I am intimately familiar with the texts of the first period, and almost completely ignorant of the second, despite having joined MAPS in the early 80s. (I remember in the early 70s finding a urine soaked box of sugar cubes in our apartment parking lot with the adults present saying it was a dreaded drug. Scary. I had no idea then, but know know, that LSD laced sugar cubes are not yellow, usually.) Pollan comes to psychedelics from a traditional journalistic/scientific worldview: “My default perspective is that of a philosophical materialist who believes that matter is the fundamental substance of the world and the physical laws should be able to explain everything that happens.” (pg.12) A mystic or proselytizer (think Timothy Leary) he is not, and it is his generally skeptical approach which should help elucidate the subject for those with an “objective” worldview on the subject of psychedelics. For example, by someone considering only scientifically measurable phenomenon worthy for study or exploration. A most excellent introduction to psychedelia as a whole. John Lennon, 1968: “If this scene is (around) in 2012 . . . the masses will be where I am today and I should be as groovy as Jesus by then.” (pg. 1) When I read this quote on the first chapter of The Gospel According to the Beatles, I thought to myself, oh this should be good. Having already scanned the sources at the back of the book, I knew that the author, music journalist Steve Turner, had many interviews he personally had about religion with the major characters involved, including John Lennon in 1969 and a whole host of people who were there. Add in a deft analysis from a Christian author, as he defines himself, and you get an insight into the Beatles particular brand of spirituality as it developed through the years. He writes: “In what follows I won’t be endorsing everything they said. I will simply be arguing that they had things to say and that these things were taken seriously at the time by a large proportion of young people, many of whom are still affected by those views.” (pg. 11) Indeed. And yet, Turner only mentions Tomorrow Never Knows specifically and in passing only 3 times. For me, this leaves much to be desired. Read on: Next comes Revolution in the Head by Ian MacDonald. One of those most cited books in the Beatles canon, and for good reason. (The first edition came out in 1994.) A book that analyses each song, and also has a very good introduction (an essay really) which begins with a quote by Aaron Copland: “If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of the Beatles.” (pg.1) In his essay, MacDonald, a British music critic, places the Beatles’ spirituality (expressed via their songs) in a broader sociological context. He writes in 1997, “the destabilizing social and psychological evolution witnessed since the Sixties stems chiefly from the success of affluence and technology in realizing the desires of ordinary people. The countercultural elements usually blamed for this were in fact resisting an endemic process of disintegration with its roots in scientific materialism.” (pg. 36) And, “The Sixties seem like a golden age to us because, relative to now, they were.” On the plus side, for my purposes, MacDonald devotes 8 pages to the Tomorrow Never Knows track. In it, he discusses the recording process (in much less detail than Mark Lewisohn’s book) and also a bit of musicology (but less than Allan F. Moore, see below). His best observation is, “... yet it is easy, thirty years later, to underestimate its original cultural impact.” (pg. 191) Indeed yes. But MacDonald has an exceedingly dim view of psychedelic drug use, calling it “Russian roulette played with one’s mind” (pg.186) To each their own opinion, I say. In support of his argument, he cites several times that his source of the effects of LSD on Lennon’s life is Albert Grossman’s biography of John. (I decline to comment here.) Such opinions are why I started this review with Michael Pollan’s book. The truth of the matter is much more nuanced than MacDonald or Grossman’s account. It’s true that there were so-called “acid-casualties” like Syd Barrett and Peter Green, they being two famous examples. Both, however, suffered from schizophrenia, which can be triggered by psychedelic use. Says David Gilmour (from Wikipedia): “In my opinion, (Syd’s) nervous breakdown would have happened anyway. It was a deep-rooted thing. But I'll say the psychedelic experience might well have acted as a catalyst. Still, I just don't think he could deal with the vision of success and all the things that went with it." Clearly, we will have to go somewhere else to get perhaps a more balanced view: In the introduction to his wonderfully titled (in my opinion, anyway) book Tomorrow Never Knows, a professor of history, English, and American Literature, Nick Bromell, states: “This book isn’t conventional history or cultural studies or popular culture analysis or musicology or memoir, but a hybrid of all of these.” (pg. 6) Now we’re talking! A short but packed book, I wish I could have read it long ago. Impossible to describe in fewer words than the text itself, so I shan’t even try. After noting (and agreeing) that many critics regard Tomorrow Never Knows as the most important rock song of the decade, Bromell takes that as just the starting point in his discussion. I myself have had over the years a rotating list of favorite Beatle songs (Strawberry Fields, A Day in the Life, I am the Walrus, Dear Prudence) but Tomorrow Never Knows was the most influential in my life. Bromwell writes: “Yet we must also remember that to the millions of young persons who, innocent of Leary and LSD, eagerly unwrapped the new Beatles album and sat back to see where it would take them, Tomorrow Never Knows was an enigma they would understand only gradually, through many listening and over many months.” Or years, in my case. “They heard it first and foremost as a place to dwell, not as an answer or a deliverance.” (pg. 93) Need I say more? A most excellent read and a wonderful book to create more avenues for exploration. (For example, he references Heidegger in his explanation of the song’s significance. I did not know that. Off to Wikipedia I go…) As mentioned in his introduction, Bromell includes the discipline of musicology in his analysis. For those who are very interested in this topic, I recommend two books by musicologist Allan F. Moore. Rock: The Primary Text is a great introduction to a serious analysis of rock music. Although there were exceptions (like Twilight of the Gods by Wilfred Mellers), there was precious little analysis of rock music in academia for a long time. Presumably, many scholars didn’t think there was much to this simple rhythmic (at least at the beginning) music of the unwashed masses, made up of people like me. Such attitudes are hopefully not as strong these days. Moore stresses the sounds of rock music. He writes in his introduction, “We can, however, evolve an understanding of what ‘rock’ is, in musical terms, by treating it as structured by multiple-evolving but coherent set of rules and practices.” (pg. 7) If this sounds at all interesting, this book is for you. Moore also wrote The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which begins, quite rightly, with Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane (the finest single ever made, so says I) and then onto Sgt. Pepper proper. A bit denser than than the book above, but much shorter, I personally understood only some of it. (I did take music theory in college, but the class didn’t speak to me. The academy didn’t seem to care about the music I was interested in.) _______________________________________________________________ “Trust your divinity, trust your brain, trust your companions. Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream.” - The Psychedelic Experience (pg. 6) by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and Ralph Metzner, University Books, 1964 In one of those rare moments of synchronicity (aka meaningful coincidences), as I was writing this review I learned that Ralph Metzner had recently died, and, further, that I unknowingly was a neighbor of his for the past 20 years, in a small hamlet called Sonoma, California, in wine country. Small world, huh? Best Wishes for his family. - March 2019

## Images

![How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61FXfxYauqL.jpg)

## Available Options

This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Narrative of the author's introduction to and journey with psychedelics in middle age.
*by A***N on July 31, 2018*

How to Change Your Mind is quite a different pace from the author's other books; but the result is excellent nonetheless. I typically had read Michael Pollan for his food non-fiction works but How to Change Your Mind is a personal journey of psychedelics that the author bolsters with history and science to help the reader learn about a subject that is seemingly wrongly a taboo. There's a lot of ground covered in the book and the level of objectivity is to be admired. For a person looking to learn about psychadelics, the mind and perspective on a balanced life; this is worth the read. The book is split really into 3 parts. The author gives a quick introduction to how he came to want to take the personal journey to understand psychedelics and the potential benefits as his personal background was largely absent of substance use/abuse so the first chapter really just contextualizes the why for this project as its a different pace than his previous books. The book then gets into a more structured approach and discusses the history of the use of psychedelics in the West. He discusses how mushrooms were discovered in Mexico and had been used for spiritual journeys and also how LSD was synthesized and shelved by Sandoz and how its use by an individual was largely a random act. Its pretty interesting to learn the history of what early benefits were perceived for LSD; in particular as a means to understand psychosis but soon after as a means to help with addiction and terminal illness. LSD and mushrooms were made illegal partially due to Timothy Leary and the counterculture that evolved and embraced their use and the author gives the stories of events. Its definitely interesting for those unfamiliar. After giving the reader a good sense of how people used and thought about psychedelics as they first explored their potential, the author gets into his experience in using them for the first time. Inevitably communicating the experience is tough as one has an altered state of consciousness that is difficult to communicate with accuracy, but to one gets a shadow of the author's experience on some serious mushrooms, LSD and a hallucinogenic toad. Its definitely entertaining and the sense of connectedness is conveyed. Especially if one has personal experience with doing the drugs the author does a pretty good job of describing some of the sensations. In any case the author goes through experiences of mushroom hunting as well as the perceptions while on it and the lingering aspects of the experience. If one has read the omnivore's dilemma, mushroom hunting falls within the author's expertise but magic mushrooms are seemingly much harder to distinguish from many poisonous mushrooms so the hunting process is pretty interesting. The author then discusses some of the understood neuroscience of hallucinogens and some theories about how psychedelics operate. This remains a subject of study so there aren't definitive conclusions but the author argues that mushrooms and LSD improve communication between parts of the brain which don't communicate actively and suppress activity in the more self referential parts of the brain which the author names the default network. The author discusses recent studies in psychedelic clinical research and notes funding for such programs has increased in the last decade. The author finally discusses how these substances might be useful to people. The focuses of discussion are on those terminally ill, as psychedelics can help a person come to grips with their mortality; the author takes a case study approach with this chapter and discusses the effects on particular people who found them extremely useful. The author discusses addiction as well and how addiction can be broken with psychedelics when properly applied, it is caveated though that the effects are unlikely to be permanent but can help behavior on the order of months. One needs to remember that these are areas that need to be studied such that clinical data can lead to actual conclusions about these topics rather than the stories and hopes projected by believers or the fears projected by the puritanical. The author finally discusses depression which is a huge category. The anecdotal evidence from the authors interactions were all positive about the benefits of clinically administered psychedelics to combat depression. How to Change Your Mind is an informative book to consider. The author partially argues that psychedelics become very useful as we get to middle age and get entrenched in our way of thinking. These drugs expand the way the mind processes and bring back a youthfulness to the way that the mind thinks about things that is very spiritual. The author is scientific in approach and given his non substance intensive background it seems to be an honest account of a subject which I am sure many people consider taboo so its quite convincing. The book definitely helps rationalize doing psychedelics for tangible benefit without real side effects; though it is careful to remind the reader the environment of consumption matters. Definitely worth the read and almost definitely worth the experience if one can!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream - 6 related reviews
*by M***N on March 25, 2019*

“Turn off your mind and float downstream…” are the words beginning the Beatles song Tomorrow Never Knows, on the album Revolver. The following is a review of 6 fairly recent books centered on these 7 words and the music that accompanies them. They are, listed from wide to narrow focus: How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, 2018 The Gospel According to the Beatles by Steve Turner, Westminster John Knox Press, 2006 Revolution in the Head: The Beatles Records and the Sixties, 3rd ed. by Ian MacDonald, Chicago Review Press, 2007 Tomorrow Never Knows: Rock and Psychedelics in the 1960s by Nick Bromell, University of Chicago Press, 2000 Rock: The Primary Text: Developing a Musicology of Rock, 2nd ed. by Allan F. Moore, Ashgate Publishing Company, 2001 The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by Allan F. Moore, Cambridge University Press, 1997 ________________________________________________________ I will provide a brief bio of your reviewer so you can see where I’m coming from (and maybe where I’m going to): I first heard Tomorrow Never Knows at age 12 in 1974, when my uncle had given me Rubber Soul and Revolver to add to my burgeoning private record collection. When the Beatles hit America, I was 2 years old, had young hip parents who always had pop radio on, and even then had absconded with my grandmother’s 5 transistor (proudly displayed) “pocket” radio. It became mine, and even television didn’t supplant the importance of the music I was listening to on the radio. When my uncle gave me Revolver, I had already possessed the White Album (my dad bought it in 1968 when I was 6, and strangely enough, bought John and Yoko’s Two Virgins LP, as an investment I suppose), Abbey Road, and the 1962-1966, 1967-1970 compilations. But, I had never heard anything like Tomorrow Never Knows, and was endlessly fascinated by the music and then the lyrics which were imploring me to listen to the colors of my dreams. Huh? Four years later, 1978, age 16, I began a decade long spiritual quest beginning with a query into Christianity I was familiar with through cultural osmosis, compared to the ideas expressed in Tomorrow Never Knows. For ten years I searched for someone I could trust to give me a psychedelic. My first of four magic mushroom trips started on my 26th birthday. I was intellectually primed for an experience having read books from the Electric Koolaid Acid Test to the Tao of Physics and The Cosmic Code. Digesting what I had just experienced, it was my great fortune to discover on PBS special featuring Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers in “The Power of Myth,” and through him, the psychology of Carl Jung. (Freud had turned me off in college and I hadn’t yet given Jung a chance, silly me.) The rest, as they say, is history. I’ve been most focused over the years on what now can be called psychedelia. (I had aspired to be like the professor of applied narcotics in the hilarious Rutles movie All You Need Is Cash. “Listen, lookit, very simply…”) In particular, I’m most interested in the years of 1966-1968. _______________________________________________________ From the outset, one cannot understand, naturally, psychedelia without knowing something about psychedelics in general. A new book, as of this writing, is Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind. I have long been in the habit of reading the bibliography and index of books, and sometimes notes and references, before even opening up to read the first page. I find it’s a good habit, and Pollan’s bibliography doesn’t disappoint. It alone is worth the price of admission. He divides the history of psychedelics into two periods: the first ending with the prohibition and disfavor of psychedelics (and hippies in general) in the backlash during the 70s. The second period is the resurgence of psychedelic research, almost all underground initially, that started a few years later. I am intimately familiar with the texts of the first period, and almost completely ignorant of the second, despite having joined MAPS in the early 80s. (I remember in the early 70s finding a urine soaked box of sugar cubes in our apartment parking lot with the adults present saying it was a dreaded drug. Scary. I had no idea then, but know know, that LSD laced sugar cubes are not yellow, usually.) Pollan comes to psychedelics from a traditional journalistic/scientific worldview: “My default perspective is that of a philosophical materialist who believes that matter is the fundamental substance of the world and the physical laws should be able to explain everything that happens.” (pg.12) A mystic or proselytizer (think Timothy Leary) he is not, and it is his generally skeptical approach which should help elucidate the subject for those with an “objective” worldview on the subject of psychedelics. For example, by someone considering only scientifically measurable phenomenon worthy for study or exploration. A most excellent introduction to psychedelia as a whole. John Lennon, 1968: “If this scene is (around) in 2012 . . . the masses will be where I am today and I should be as groovy as Jesus by then.” (pg. 1) When I read this quote on the first chapter of The Gospel According to the Beatles, I thought to myself, oh this should be good. Having already scanned the sources at the back of the book, I knew that the author, music journalist Steve Turner, had many interviews he personally had about religion with the major characters involved, including John Lennon in 1969 and a whole host of people who were there. Add in a deft analysis from a Christian author, as he defines himself, and you get an insight into the Beatles particular brand of spirituality as it developed through the years. He writes: “In what follows I won’t be endorsing everything they said. I will simply be arguing that they had things to say and that these things were taken seriously at the time by a large proportion of young people, many of whom are still affected by those views.” (pg. 11) Indeed. And yet, Turner only mentions Tomorrow Never Knows specifically and in passing only 3 times. For me, this leaves much to be desired. Read on: Next comes Revolution in the Head by Ian MacDonald. One of those most cited books in the Beatles canon, and for good reason. (The first edition came out in 1994.) A book that analyses each song, and also has a very good introduction (an essay really) which begins with a quote by Aaron Copland: “If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of the Beatles.” (pg.1) In his essay, MacDonald, a British music critic, places the Beatles’ spirituality (expressed via their songs) in a broader sociological context. He writes in 1997, “the destabilizing social and psychological evolution witnessed since the Sixties stems chiefly from the success of affluence and technology in realizing the desires of ordinary people. The countercultural elements usually blamed for this were in fact resisting an endemic process of disintegration with its roots in scientific materialism.” (pg. 36) And, “The Sixties seem like a golden age to us because, relative to now, they were.” On the plus side, for my purposes, MacDonald devotes 8 pages to the Tomorrow Never Knows track. In it, he discusses the recording process (in much less detail than Mark Lewisohn’s book) and also a bit of musicology (but less than Allan F. Moore, see below). His best observation is, “... yet it is easy, thirty years later, to underestimate its original cultural impact.” (pg. 191) Indeed yes. But MacDonald has an exceedingly dim view of psychedelic drug use, calling it “Russian roulette played with one’s mind” (pg.186) To each their own opinion, I say. In support of his argument, he cites several times that his source of the effects of LSD on Lennon’s life is Albert Grossman’s biography of John. (I decline to comment here.) Such opinions are why I started this review with Michael Pollan’s book. The truth of the matter is much more nuanced than MacDonald or Grossman’s account. It’s true that there were so-called “acid-casualties” like Syd Barrett and Peter Green, they being two famous examples. Both, however, suffered from schizophrenia, which can be triggered by psychedelic use. Says David Gilmour (from Wikipedia): “In my opinion, (Syd’s) nervous breakdown would have happened anyway. It was a deep-rooted thing. But I'll say the psychedelic experience might well have acted as a catalyst. Still, I just don't think he could deal with the vision of success and all the things that went with it." Clearly, we will have to go somewhere else to get perhaps a more balanced view: In the introduction to his wonderfully titled (in my opinion, anyway) book Tomorrow Never Knows, a professor of history, English, and American Literature, Nick Bromell, states: “This book isn’t conventional history or cultural studies or popular culture analysis or musicology or memoir, but a hybrid of all of these.” (pg. 6) Now we’re talking! A short but packed book, I wish I could have read it long ago. Impossible to describe in fewer words than the text itself, so I shan’t even try. After noting (and agreeing) that many critics regard Tomorrow Never Knows as the most important rock song of the decade, Bromell takes that as just the starting point in his discussion. I myself have had over the years a rotating list of favorite Beatle songs (Strawberry Fields, A Day in the Life, I am the Walrus, Dear Prudence) but Tomorrow Never Knows was the most influential in my life. Bromwell writes: “Yet we must also remember that to the millions of young persons who, innocent of Leary and LSD, eagerly unwrapped the new Beatles album and sat back to see where it would take them, Tomorrow Never Knows was an enigma they would understand only gradually, through many listening and over many months.” Or years, in my case. “They heard it first and foremost as a place to dwell, not as an answer or a deliverance.” (pg. 93) Need I say more? A most excellent read and a wonderful book to create more avenues for exploration. (For example, he references Heidegger in his explanation of the song’s significance. I did not know that. Off to Wikipedia I go…) As mentioned in his introduction, Bromell includes the discipline of musicology in his analysis. For those who are very interested in this topic, I recommend two books by musicologist Allan F. Moore. Rock: The Primary Text is a great introduction to a serious analysis of rock music. Although there were exceptions (like Twilight of the Gods by Wilfred Mellers), there was precious little analysis of rock music in academia for a long time. Presumably, many scholars didn’t think there was much to this simple rhythmic (at least at the beginning) music of the unwashed masses, made up of people like me. Such attitudes are hopefully not as strong these days. Moore stresses the sounds of rock music. He writes in his introduction, “We can, however, evolve an understanding of what ‘rock’ is, in musical terms, by treating it as structured by multiple-evolving but coherent set of rules and practices.” (pg. 7) If this sounds at all interesting, this book is for you. Moore also wrote The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which begins, quite rightly, with Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane (the finest single ever made, so says I) and then onto Sgt. Pepper proper. A bit denser than than the book above, but much shorter, I personally understood only some of it. (I did take music theory in college, but the class didn’t speak to me. The academy didn’t seem to care about the music I was interested in.) _______________________________________________________________ “Trust your divinity, trust your brain, trust your companions. Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream.” - The Psychedelic Experience (pg. 6) by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and Ralph Metzner, University Books, 1964 In one of those rare moments of synchronicity (aka meaningful coincidences), as I was writing this review I learned that Ralph Metzner had recently died, and, further, that I unknowingly was a neighbor of his for the past 20 years, in a small hamlet called Sonoma, California, in wine country. Small world, huh? Best Wishes for his family. - March 2019

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent Overview of Psychedelics
*by L***S on July 7, 2026*

This book is an excellent overview of psychedelics. From history, past research, current research, personal accounts of trips, to the implications of how psychedelics could permanently alter our understanding of psychology and mental health care as we understand it today. The author obviously took great care in researching the subject...and even greater care in presenting the evidence. It is quite obvious psychedelics have a profound ability to heal, and that the only reason they are not widely available and already in use are pharmaceutical greed, power dynamics steeped in politically promoted fear propaganda, and the mental health care system's fear of becoming obsolete. All of which are unfair extremes resulting in the unnecessary continued suffering of many. I purchased the book and followed along while listening to the audiobook. The audiobook performance is well done, and I never felt bored despite the dense subject matter. At times the book even felt like a telenovela. The drama steeped in psychadelics is intense and bordering on ridiculous at times. (Side Note: I also giggled as I counted no less than three references to engineers leaving their professions to pursue research of psychadelics. As an engineer suffering from incapacitating burnout myself, I have no doubt that engineering is a cursed profession.) I think my only critique is that one signature of the book is on different paper to allow two illustrations to be printed. As they are the only illustrations, and ones I feel are wholly unnecessary to the content, the paper made handling the book awkward and broke the spine in an odd way no matter how gentle I was with the volume. Obviously not a deal breaker, but I hope they do away with the illustration and paper change in future printings. I am definitely not ready to go through the legal risk of pursuing a trip, but this book certainly made me intrigued to start letting that idea develop in the back of my brain. I picked up this book because I have been battling severe treatment resistant depression for years. And after trying the mental health care system's way, which I truly believe has little to do with "health" or "care" and everything to do with profit and false hope, I have begun to realize my need to explore alternatives. A law-abiding citizen and self labeled "straight-edge" to the core, even picking up this book felt like I was breaking some rule. But after reading it, I feel even more sure that alternatives to our current systems are necessary. This book is a much needed call for change. One that I hope psychology takes seriously and adopts rapidly. I know there are people like me out there that are dying for relief, and would gladly follow any legal procedures to obtain it...if the system would get over itself and off its ass to finally provide us that option.

---

## Why Shop on Desertcart?

- 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016
- 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories
- 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price
- 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members)
- 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection
- ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews

**Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.ph/products/66556857-how-to-change-your-mind-what-the-new-science-psychedelics](https://www.desertcart.ph/products/66556857-how-to-change-your-mind-what-the-new-science-psychedelics)

---

*Product available on Desertcart Philippines*
*Store origin: PH*
*Last updated: 2026-08-31*