Michael Pollan is an author, educator, documentary film creator and avid gardener. His work investigates the nexus of nature and culture and spans topics of gardening, agriculture, nutrition and cuisine, and neuropsychology. Six of his nine books have been New York Times bestsellers; three of them (including, How to Change Your Mind) were immediate #1 New York Times bestsellers. His other books include This is Your Mind on Plants, Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Botany of Desire, A Place of My Own and Second Nature. 

The Omnivore’s Dilemma  won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. I was grateful to include his Introduction in two versions of my book, Food Fight: A Citizen’s Guide to the Food and Farm Bill and his essays in Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature and CAFO.

I spoke with Michael Pollan about his lifelong exporation with immersive journalism, the value of being open to other people's creative ideas, and what it's like to be interviewed by Stephen Colbert.