Regardless of your attitude toward Castaneda's (or Don Juan's!)literal accuracy the series, of which Journey_to_Ixtlan is the best, presents a coherent and engaging spiritual existentialism. A Must Read!!!


Better than his first two books   February 5, 2001
David
66 out of 79 found this review helpful

It took a lot for me to get through Castaneda's first book, The Teachings of Don Juan. I was totally unimpressed with it. The whole book was essentially about how a Yaqui Indian "sorcerer" put naive Carlos, then a graduate student in anthropology from UCLA doing research on a hallucinogenic plant, through a bunch of weird drug trips that shook his view of reality. And to me, that doesn't jive at all.

But in Journey to Ixtlan, Castaneda goes back and says, "wait, start over, reset. I was wrong about all of that drug stuff, it's really not necessary, don Juan just put me through that because I was too stubborn and 'rational' to see that there may be other views of reality than the ones I subscribe to." In this book he discovers that he doesn't need drugs to experience other worlds. Rather, there are a series of practices for right living that enable the possibility of perceiving in nonordinary ways.

So Journey to Ixtlan is where the real lessons about living life in the warrior's way begin. I recommend this book highly as a starting point for Castaneda's work; forget the first two books.


Well worth the journey   April 17, 2005
Hallstatt Prince (MA. USA)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

Forget the debate as to whether Castaneda's writings were a hoax or that his books became important reading for the drug culture. Although I suggest you read his first two books before reading this one but if you read only one book by Carlos Castaneda this is the book to read. Be his books accurate reporting by a cultural anthropologist (which is becoming increasingly more and more  doubtful), mysticism or hokum, this particular book is quite moving and lyrical. And whether his stories are real or imagined and whether the teaching he transmutes came from Don Juan or from his own mind by his knowledge as a trained anthropologist the underlying mystical principles of these stories cannot be dismissed out of hand.
  Shaman, poet and perhaps an academic scoundrel it is Castaneda's poetry and story telling that comes shining through in this book.
  If Castaneda's books were a hoax and were represented as cultural anthropology as a better hook to sell books it is a shame because he did a disservice to science and to his legacy. Still I myself, as a former researcher in Harvard University's anthropology department and a student of human ethology, can forgive this sin on one level and enjoy this book as a powerful work of liturature.
For if there has been a wrong that has been committed against anthropology it is one that was done by the way the books were marketed and perhaps by the author's personality itself. The works themselves should not suffer and be shunned for this.
His legacy would have been better served if he wrote these same works as a writer of fiction.
I believe the author would have been wiser to present his works the way Gurdjieff presented "Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson" rather than obstinately insisting there really was such a person as Don Juan (even if in the off chance that his teacher did exist).
Despite the controversy his writing stands on its own and Journey to Ixtlan is a powerful, touching, enchanting and beautiful book.



when I was young & lost girl this book set me on a good path   April 26, 1998
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

I started reading ( & still re-read) Don Juan's
books by "Carlitos" long long ago , (mid 70's) &
still thank God that somehow I found his books
. The most important thing this book taught me
is to ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY ACT
IONS .
I was young & lost & scared & a mess & that
concept had never crossed my mind. I was us
-ed to blaming others & their actions towards me
etc....for the outcomes of my life.
Well let me tell youuuuuuu something. What an
EYE OPENER !!!!! ha ha ha . I also leared not
to judge people & still try not to..... I remember
Don Juan used to say something lilke " do not
send your bad thoughts to a person that may have
done something wrong. It doesn't do them any good or yourself."
I adore Don Juan &' Carlitos' as he used to call him. Don Juan
had the BEST sense of humor I've ever seen.
Castanedas' book enchanted me, terrified me
( to the point that I slept with the lights on a couple
of nights ) enlightened me, inspired me & finally
changed me inside for the better.
I got a lot out of this one book so I read the rest
of them & loved them ALL! , Journey to Ixtlan I
have read so much it fell apart! but I love it .
It is my bible on how to be a decent person.


One of the Most Significant Books of the 20th Century   July 6, 2002
Paul Cook (Tempe, Arizona USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Castaneda did the world a favor when he began chronicling his apprenticeship with Don Juan Matus. Whether or not Don Juan was one or three real people is irrelevant since what Castaneda learns is highly relevant to all of us. Learning to "stalk" the self, learning to achieve equilibrium in a world full of petty tyrants (including the petty tyrant of the "self") are among the most trenchant lessons Castaneda provides us. This book is the place to start with Castaneda and you'll even find within it Don Juan doing magical passes 25 years before Castaneda finally admitted there were such things. The books by Castaneda are the most important books in my life and I highly recommend them to anyone who's after an alternative way of looking at life and the human condition.