Michael Pollan – A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness
Bioneers | Published: April 9, 2026 Nature, Culture and Spirit Video
Introduction by Dacher Keltner, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley.
Michael Pollan, one of the nation’s most influential non-fiction writers and investigative journalists, is the author of nine previous bestselling books, including How to Change Your Mind; In Defense of Food; The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and The Botany of Desire. He traces his six-year quest to solve the greatest mystery in nature: how, and why, are we conscious? That Odyssey, which he describes in his newest book, A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, is an enthralling tale that begins in a brain lab in Seattle, and ends, of all places, in a cave in the mountains of New Mexico, where he discovers that explaining consciousness may be less important than learning to practice it, fully, in our everyday lives.
This talk was delivered at the 2026 Bioneers Conference.
Michael Pollan is a writer, teacher and activist. His most recent book, A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, was published earlier this year. He is the author of nine previous books, including: This is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire, all bestsellers. Pollan has taught writing at Harvard and UC Berkeley and has been a Guggenheim and Radcliffe Fellow. In 2010 Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
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