Today’s recommended Ramadan reading:

“Everything I once was had been liquefied.” Food writer Michael Pollan, author of the very solid The Omnivore’s Dilemma, has investigated “the potential of psychedelic drugs — and embarked on some colourful first-hand research.” The new book is How to Change Your Mind: What the new science of psychedelics teaches us about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression and transcendence. You’ll be forgiven for thinking it’s an advertisement for the Merry Pranksters in all of their LSD-fueled, acid test glory. Heck, if that’s the first thing that come to mind, it’s probably all the more reason to read the book. (Amazon | Financial Times)

And because even the youngsters among us are feeling our age on this fifth morning of Ramadan:

For the olds, #1: Drowning at Midlife? Start swimming. “My 9-year-old son had just been given a diagnosis of A.D.H.D. My father-in-law was dying. I was constantly worried my 82-year-old mother was going to fall. And the bills and kids’ homework assignments, not to mention the deadlines for my own work projects, were on a rinse-repeat cycle.” Feel the walls closing in? Read this short, sweet piece in the New York Times, which led us to Barbara Bradley Hagerty’s so-far excellent book Life Reimagined: The Science, Art and Opportunity of Midlife.

For the olds, #2: The 1996 Details interview with Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, published online for the first time to mark the one-year anniversary of his death.

For the olds, #3: Unboxing a vintage 1984 Macintosh. If you’re a gadgets geek (particularly a gadgets geek of a certain age), this Imgur user’s USD 200 acquisition is the best thing since sliced bread.

For the olds, #4: The Last Days of Time Incin the New York Times is a must-read for media nerds (like us) wanting to track back through history and understand how “the pre-eminent media organization of the 20th century ended up on the scrap heap,” bought out and now being sold off piece-by-piece by the people from Iowa who publish such grand titles as Better Homes and Gardens.

Bonus: If you have a sense of humor and aren’t turned off by profanity, journalism nerds and politics junkies alike will appreciate the New Yorker’s Additions to the Five Journalistic “W”s, a re-run from last January.