Michael Pollan
ProfessorPhone: 510-642-8240
Email: Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan is the author, most recently, of "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto." His previous book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals", was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. It also 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. He is also the author of "The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World", "A Place of My Own", and "Second Nature". A contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, Pollan is the recipient of numerous journalistic awards, including the James Beard Award for best magazine series in 2003 and the Reuters-I.U.C.N. 2000 Global Award for Environmental Journalism. His articles have been anthologized in Best American Science Writing, Best American Essays and the Norton Book of Nature Writing. Pollan served for many years as executive editor of Harper's Magazine and is now the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley.
Published Stories
-
Farmer In Chief New York Times Magazine
In a memo for the New York Times Magazine, Knight Professor Michael Pollan advises the president-elect on what's sure to be a prickly policy issue for the next administration: food.
-
Our Decrepit Food Factories The New York Times Magazine
For the The New York Times Magazine, Michael Pollan takes a closer look at two stories in the news--disease-resistant staph and Colony Collapse Disorder-- that may point to an imminent breakdown in the way we're growing food today.
-
Five J-School Students In NY Times Magazine' Ideas Issue The New York Times Magazine
Five North Gate students were published in The New York Times Magazine's annual round-up of 2007's most intriguing new ideas and technologies. Read Andi McDaniel on DIY Democracy; David Gelles on Floating Wind Turbines; Charlie Foster on Fish-Flavored Fish; April Dembosky on Biodegradable Coffins; and Malia Wollan on DNA Based Social Networking. The project has become an annual undertaking of the Knight Program under the direction of Professor Michael Pollan.
-
Unhappy Meals New York Times Magazine
For the New York Times Magazine, Professor Michael Pollan looks at how basic questions about what to eat got so complicated, traces the rise of nutritionism, and reveals a great deal about the institutional imperatives of the food industry.
-
You Are What You Grow New York Times Magazine
For the New York Times Magazine, Professor Michael Pollan takes a close look at the Farm Bill -- a "head-hurtingly complicated piece of legislation" that sets the rules for the American food system--and argues that it needs to be rewritten with the interests of eaters placed first.
-
Six Rules For Eating Wisely TIME
For TIME magazine, professor Michael Pollan lays out six rules of thumb for navigating what he calls the "omnivore's dilemma."
-
Mass Natural The New York Times Magazine
In this week's New York Times Magazine, Professor Michael Pollan addresses the question: with Wal-Mart going organic, where will organic go?
-
How Michael Pollan Ruined My Life San Francisco Chronicle
Catherine Price, class of 2006, writes for the San Francisco Chronicle about how Michael Pollan is ruining her life.
-
The Modern Hunter-Gatherer New York Times Magazine
An excerpt from The Omnivore's Dilemma is available online.
-
No Bar Code Mother Jones
In Mother Jones, an evangelical Virginia farmer says a revolution against industrial agriculture is just down the road. An excerpt from Michael Pollan's new book, The Omnivore's Dilemma.
-
We Are What We (Blindly) Eat Business Week
For Business Week, John Carey reviews Michael Pollan's new book, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, "a far-reaching and disturbing exploration of America's food production and consumption" and "a penetrating account by an engaging guide."
-
Deconstructing Dinner The New York Times Book Review
David Camp reviews Michael Pollan's new book The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals for the The New York Times Book Review.
-
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals The Los Angeles Times
Restaurant critic Patric Kuh reviews Michael Pollan's new book for the The Los Angeles Times.
Courses taught by Michael Pollan
- Fall 2009: Following the Food Chain
- Fall 2009: Narrative Science Journalism
- Fall 2009: Master's Project Seminar
- Spring 2009: Master's Project Seminar
- Fall 2008: Following the Food Chain
- Fall 2008: Narrative Science Journalism
- Fall 2008: Master's Project Seminar
- Fall 2007: Advanced Science Writing Workshop
- Fall 2007: Master's Project Seminar
- Spring 2007: Following the Food Chain
- Spring 2007: Science Writing Tutorial
- Spring 2007: Master's Project Seminar
- Fall 2006: Master's Project Seminar
- Fall 2006: Getting Over Wilderness
- Spring 2006: Following the Food Chain
- Spring 2006: Science Writing Tutorial
- Spring 2006: Master's Project Seminar
- Fall 2005: Advanced Science Writing Workshop
- Fall 2005: Master's Project Seminar
- Spring 2005: Master's Project Seminar
- Spring 2005: Advanced Writing Tutorial on Science and the Environment
- Fall 2004: Master's Project Seminar
- Fall 2004: Science Rpt'g: Covering the Food Chain
- Fall 2004: The Long Piece
- Spring 2004: Master's Project Seminar
- Spring 2004: The Editor as God
- Spring 2004: Advanced Science Writing Tutorial
- Fall 2003: Master's Project Seminar
- Fall 2003: Covering the Food Chain: The Political Ecology of Eating
- Spring 2003: Editing Workshop