Michael Pollan (Author, The Omnivore’s Dilemma) October 28, 2008

For the past 20 years, Michael Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect: food, agriculture, gardens, drugs, and architecture. Pollan is the author of, most recently, 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 10 best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. A contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine since 1987, his writing has received numerous awards, including the James Beard Award for best magazine series in 2003; the John Burroughs prize for the best natural history essay in 1997; the QPB New Vision Award for his first book, Second Nature; the 2000 Reuters-I.U.C.N. Global Award for Environmental Journalism for his reporting on genetically modified crops; and the 2003 Humane Society of the United States’ Genesis Award for his writing on animal agriculture. In 2003, Pollan was appointed the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism. In addition to teaching, he lectures widely on food, agriculture, and gardening.

“Pollan … has emerged as an important critic of the industrial fod complex that grows, proceses and sells what we eat . He has ‘an enormous influence’ on how Americans think about food, says Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University.”
-- USA Today

Official Website: http://www.oberlin.edu/artsguide/convocation-series/3-pollan.shtml