A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan

A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness

by Michael Pollan

View on Goodreads
Psychology & Mind

After writing about how psychedelics change consciousness, Pollan goes after the question they raise: what consciousness actually is. He gives a real hearing to the idea that consciousness reaches beyond humans, plant intelligence and panpsychism included, without asking you to sign on to the strong claims.

Core ideas
  • The harder question: How does a brain produce subjective experience at all, and can anything without a body have it?
  • Careful, not credulous: Plant intelligence and panpsychism get a hearing, not an endorsement.
  • Bodies matter: In Pollan's view, consciousness is rooted in feeling in a living body, which makes him doubt AI can have it.
Published2026
Pages320
ISBN9781984881991
ReadApr 2026

Connected to 3 other books

See the connection map
Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters by Charan Ranganath Why We Remember Charan Ranganath Read Jul 2025 Your brain forgets most of what happens to you, and it does that on purpose. How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics by Michael Pollan How to Change Your Mind Michael Pollan Read May 2023 Pollan was known for writing about food. Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge by Terence McKenna Food of the Gods Terence McKenna Read Apr 2023 McKenna's claim is that psilocybin mushrooms were humanity's original tree of knowledge, and that early hominids who ate them…