Jackson Browne hooked me on Carlos Castaneda's books by insisting in an interview they were not referenced in any of his songs. It's such a clever innocence with which he does his sorcery.

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Product Description

This volume shows the reader the means by which a "man of power" sees, as opposed to merely looking, and how by his concentrated "seeing" he can, indeed must, "stop the world." In it, Carlos Castaneda describes the lessons, the omens, the exercises of the will and body, the arduous trials and tests, the simple yet mysterious demonstrations, the extraordinary visions and experiences by which don Juan, his mentor and friend, prepares him for the task of perceiving things as they are, instead of describing them by the words, conventions and standards of conventional, a priori ideas and language. Here, in the high mountains and in the bright arid desert, Castaneda reaches for power in a series of startling encounters with the unknown--a confrontation with death and the past in the form of an albino falcon, with the twilight wind, with a flesh-and-blood mountain lion, with a mountain fog--and learns the techniques, the concentration, the compassion of the hunter, the man who is "without routines, free, fluid."

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28104 in Books
• Published on: 1991-02-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

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Customer Reviews

Enthralling book, but only until you realize it was all fantasy
That might not come from reading this book alone, as it is the third most believable of the series. When I was a student, I like many others I know who will confess to having read a Castaneda book or two when pressed, went through a couple of years of Castanedism, reading the 8 classics 2 - 3 times each, and even the later four, quite different books a couple of times. Being someone who likes to give the benefit of the doubt until conclusive evidence proves otherwise, I must admit to only getting suspicious by this, the third book. The second book, A Separate Reality, picks up on the supernormal happenings, but still these are within the realms of possibility, when one considers Spiritualist literature. By Tales of Power, when at the end Carlos throws himself off a cliff and only survives by becoming pure perception, bouncing elastically back and forth between the two inherent realms of all creation, the tonal and the nagual, the game was up. In Carlos' terms, my assemblage point had just experienced a considerable shift into the realms of disbelief. The cocoon had burst. I read the remaining books still interested, but with the growing realization that I'd been had. Bizarre ideas not found in any other spiritual traditions, such as the necessity for people on the path of knowledge to kill their children to reclaim the power they'd lost to them, plus fill in the holes in their cocoons the children had caused, made me wary. This was surely not a philosophy the whole world should turn to, or else we'd be living in a fearful, lonely world with every man for himself.

However, this would be fine if the books weren't made out to be non-fiction. While I have seen these books placed with science fiction books in many libraries, in most European bookshops they're still sold with real, non-fiction 'Mind, Body, Spirit' books. The reason I give this book such a low rating is that an intensive study of his works, the books by his various colleagues, plus Richard De Mille's intelligent criticisms, can only lead to the conclusion that Castaneda, the writer, used Don Juan and Carlos, two fantasy characters, to verbalize his own beliefs, which were culled from his own spiritual and academic experience. That there are not some useful nuggets of wisdom, or advice in these books I do not deny. That is their very attraction, plus the belief that it all really happened, and is a new spiritual revelation. But as these are mixed up with increasingly bizarre assertions and beliefs (by the Art of Dreaming it seems all pretence at non-fiction had been given up), it is doubtful whether a lifetime devoted to these practices (as opposed to say, real shamanic practices) would lead to spiritual improvement. If you must have a Castaneda book in your library, rather get The Wheel of Time, a selection of the spiritual highlights of the first eight books, but consider it rather 'The best of the personal philosophy of Carlos Castaneda' than anything to do with Don Juan or Shamanism. This understanding may not have the romantic mix of wild Mexican deserts, ancient wisdom, wise old men and naive westerners which captures the hearts of so many, but it is a lot closer to the truth.

The anonymous ghost-writer at Schuster and Schuster who corrected Peruvian immigrant Castaneda's English for at least all of his earlier works (a sample of his writing from 1969 reveals it was still far from perfect, not like what is in books), giving the books their special character, certainly deserves more credit than he or she gets. But they are not written well enough to succeed as fiction, hence their continued classification as non-fiction, besides the intense academic embarrassment it would cause copyright holders UCLA to have to admit such a dramatic change in classification, from fact to fantasy, after having previously given the author a doctorate for his work! I give this book one star on the basis that any book claiming to represent the truth which is later found to be fraudulent deserves no stars by definition, so I must give the minimum rating allowed. The day this book is reclassified as Fiction, I will up my rating to 3 stars though, as it is a quite entertaining and authentic piece of fiction-posing-as-non-fiction.

Definitely insightful but not as mind-blowing as I expected
I recently struck up a conversation with a stranger at a local book store, and he handed me a copy of this book and told me it was life-changing and that I had to "trust him" and read it. Never the one to shy away from "fate" (or whatever you want to call it), especially when it comes to someone physically handing me a book that is considered "life-changing," I knew I had to read it and set out to do so the next day. And simply put, I thought it was insightful but I was somewhat disappointed and don't really get all the hype.

Perhaps I had extremely high expectations (as one would when the book recommender tells you it was life-changing); perhaps its a generational thing; or perhaps I read too quickly, as I read the book in one day. I am planning on re-reading it again more slowly. I have a feeling I might get more out of it the second or third time around, as other reviewers have suggested. However, it just wasn't as mind-blowing as I thought it would be and can't understand how others loved it so much, as to consider it life-changing?

I definitely have my share of underlined passages that I thought were very important and insightful, and will take away with me after reading this book, however I thought it was a little corny at times, for lack of a better word. I hated how don Juan kept testing him and while I understand it was so he could come to his own realizations, it just frustrated me as a reader. I felt there was just too much written about how he wanted answers to all his questions and was disappointed when they weren't forthcoming.

In addition, the book presupposes that attaining this type of power, "stopping the world," and becoming a sorcerer like don Juan is something one should want to attain, but why is that necessarily so? Without contact with others (except it seems his other sorcerer friend), and without any personal history, which he simply gave up, what exactly are the benefits that don Juan experiences? Why should anyone want to become a sorcerer like him?

I am sure those who love this book are going to consider my thoughts naieve and comment that I'm ingnorantly stuck in a world where things are what they seem, but I am truly happy in this world where I have a personal history, connections to others and a clear sense of my life and place in the world. Perhaps having a strong religious identity prevented me from buying into these assumptions as well? Or perhaps having read only one of Carlos Castenedas books, I am missing the complete picture that would make this more interesting or relatable?

Despite my somewhat-negative comments, I do recommend this book, as I found it thought-provoking and interesting. It would make an interesting book-club selection, because it provides wonderful fodder for discussions and opinions. However, I wouldn't recommend this book as "life-changing."

Hmmm....
Probably the most significant book I have ever read. That doesn't say a lot but hey I never like the bible. For some its almost petty to the number of polished novels and books already on the market and waiting for you pocket book. I must say though, this is quite the exquisite example of whats possible in our world or reality to get metaphyiscal. Many of the writes or teachings of castaneda are just that but this book to some is a starting point from which to begin the journey. The not-doings and small samples are just a small example for what in it. I highly recommend this book for anybody. Maybe you'll get hooked maybe not. Either way, some may care to read it.