In March, we read Michael Pollan's This is Your Mind on Plants. The first two chapters were OK but the last one on mescaline didn't seem to fit. We felt the book would have been better if the last chapter was on alcohol. 

At our April 29th meeting, we discussed This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. We had a great discussion (discussion sheets available here) and everyone enjoyed the book. We felt it was similar (found family, journey, coming of age) to another book we recently read and loved: The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles.

Summary of Vanderbilt: Drawing on never-before-seen documents and told from a unique insider's viewpoint, the CNN anchor tells the story of his legendary family and their remarkable influence.

At our February 26th meeting, we discussed The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan. Everyone learned something new about Springfield, IL and all would recommend the book.

Book summary: Of all the things humans rely on plants for-- sustenance, beauty, fragrance, flavor, fiber-- surely the most curious is our use of them is to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs-- opium, caffeine, and mescaline-- and explores the cultures that have grown up around these drugs. He examines the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants, and the equally powerful taboos with which we surround them. The result is a unique blend of history, science, memoir-- and participatory journalism--Adapted from jacket.