Michael Pollan, writer
Michael Pollan, writer and activist, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury item he would take with him if cast away to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.
Michael Pollan鈥檚 award-winning writing about plants, nature and food combines anthropology and philosophy with culture, health and natural history. Time Magazine has named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world and his maxim to 鈥楨at food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.鈥 is a central tenet of the sustainable food movement.
Michael grew up in suburban Long Island, USA, and planted his first garden when he was eight-years-old. He was an intern at the Village Voice newspaper in New York while he was a student and after he graduated he joined Harper鈥檚 Magazine as an editor where he worked with the writer Tom Wolfe among others.
Michael鈥檚 first book Second Nature: A Gardener鈥檚 Education is a collection of essays about gardening and his later titles, including the Botany of Desire and the Omnivore鈥檚 Dilemma, addressed modern methods of food production and argued that in an era of fast and processed food, basic cooking skills were being lost. Recently, Michael has written about the use of psychedelic drugs as a potential treatment for some mental health conditions, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Michael is professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2020 he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. Michael is married to the artist Judith Belzer and they live in California.
DISC ONE: Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) by Harry Belafonte
DISC TWO: The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel
DISC THREE: Going Up the Country by Canned Heat
DISC FOUR: Cheek to Cheek by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald
DISC FIVE: Shady Grove by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman
DISC SIX: California by Joni Mitchell
DISC SEVEN: Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles
DISC EIGHT: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: I. Pr茅lude, composed by J.S Bach and performed by Yo-Yo Ma
BOOK CHOICE: Ulysses by James Joyce
LUXURY ITEM: Dark chocolate
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: I. Pr茅lude, composed by J.S Bach and performed by Yo-Yo Ma
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
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Music Played
-
Harry Belafonte
Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)
- Calypso.
- RCA Records Label.
- 1.
-
Simon & Garfunkel
The Sound of Silence
- Sounds Of Silence.
- Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd.
- 1.
-
Canned Heat
Going Up The Country
- Living the Blues.
- CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92).
- 4.
-
Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
Cheek To Cheek
- Ella and Louis (1956).
- Verve.
- 9.
-
Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
Shady Grove
- Shady Grove.
- Acoustic Disc.
- 1.
-
Joni Mitchell
California
- Blue.
- Rhino.
- 6.
-
The Beatles
Tomorrow Never Knows
- Revolver.
- EMI Catalogue.
- 14.
-
Johann Sebastian Bach
Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: I. Pr茅lude
Performer: Yo鈥怸o Ma.- Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites (Remastered).
- Sony Classical.
- 2.
Broadcasts
- Sun 22 Jan 2023 11:15麻豆社 Radio 4
- Fri 27 Jan 2023 09:00麻豆社 Radio 4
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