The subtitle to this book is “What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence”, and that is ultimately what attracted me to the book. I feel like more and more we are hearing about psychedelics to support therapies of all kinds, and that, coupled with the fact that I live in a liberal area with a lot of casual psychedelic use, I thought this would be an interesting read, but I felt like it was mis-sold. 

I expected new information on things we have learned about different mental health challenges through the use of psychedelics, and how those things might be applied more broadly. In reality, the book was pretty much all about the history, controversy, and the major players in the historic and current study of the drugs themsevles. The last few chapters go into some of the current research into end-of-life anxiety, depression, and addictions, but is largely summarized by “results are promising, but the actual impacts are still inconclusive and need further study”. I don’t feel like I learned anything new about any of the issues described in the subtitle. Even Pollan, who describes four different psychedelic experiences he had during the writing of the book, deemed his experiences inconclusive. 

The book was great for factoids though, and throughout I’d mention them to my partner.