Rating: 
Summary: five stars...even though it IS a HOAX!!!
Review: watch out for this one: this is so good you will not see it coming!
i read this, loved it and was ready to try peyote and scour the deserts to meet my own "don juan" just to try to reach the visions that castaneda brought to me.
i went and ordered 2 more books ("ring of power" and "ixtlan") and also ordered a book called "the don juan papers" which was supposed to give some insight on the validity of castaneda and of don juan.
i began by reading "ixtlan" and was knocked out right from the start by the inconsistencies...i moved quickly on to "the don juan papers" and it all just seemed right: castaneda has succeeded in passing off good fiction and quasi-philosophy off for fact!
it is unfortunate but there probably isn't even a real don juan. i say that because "the teachings" in themselves are quite good if read in the correct light: this is a gripping novel that oozes with drama, two-bit psychology and discovery. but, the real point of "don juan" is that it is poosible to build up such a hoax and be backed by literary reviews (the man got a phd based on his books) ...this is a shameful example of a con-artist at his best.
still, as a work of fiction...5 stars!!!
Rating:
Summary: A Magical World
Review: Carlos Castaneda is a magical writer. He is a master
at drawing you into a mystical new environment and
captures your interest to the extent that you end up
questioning major cultural assumptions you make in
your own belief system. Very few people question basic
existential questions anymore. It is pity. The drug
issue in this book is very overblown. They are but a
vehicle to awareness, never an end in and of itself.
Different cultures use different vehicles. I myself would
suggest a long walk on a foggy San Francisco evening,
but that's probably because I live in San Francisco. Read
this book, it is one of those that could change your life.
Rating:
Summary: Carlos Castaneda's Books are my Bible!
Review: Carlos Castaneda shares the most important knowledge of our times with the world starting with " A Yaqui Way of Knowledge".
Castaneda's writing style is unique . I can easilly envision the scenes as he writes. I feel that I am 'there'.
Castaneda is reporting to us a new way of thinking , a knowledge so vast , so complex that even after 10 books , he has only begun to scratch the surface.
As a student of the occult for over 30 years , I can tell you that this knowlege is unique and not copied from anywhere else.
Some make the assumption that this is 'Yaqui knowledge ', but this is not correct. The man supplying Carlos with this knowledge is part Yaqui , yet clearly states that this knowlege is not from the Yaqui culture. The teacher is a lone wolf and does not represent all Yaqui people.
Recently others have been claiming that Carlos Castaneda is a hoax.....yet offer no proof , just hearsay and opinions. All of the Castaneda books are stated non fiction.
I can tell you from my expierance that the knowledge in all of the Castaneda books is real and the techniques work.(I tell you this from 20 years of practicing)
Most people will never understand this knowledge so they are quick to give up and call it a lie.
Buy all The Castaneda books ! They are a map to freedom !
You will learn the true nature of this reality we so take for granted.
Rating: 
Summary: Philosophy addicts dream come true!
Review: I'm only a sophmore in High school, but I enjoy reading books with a deeper meaning than that of the normal thriller with the same psychopathic killer in every one. I look for books that run deep with psychology, and philosophy. The Teachings of Don Juan, is one of the better books that I have recently read. It shows what it is really like to experience "Philosophy". Though many people would disagree with Don Juan's use of mushrooms, there was a deeper meaning involved than that of peoples fighting the drug war of today didn't realize. Don Juan was what they would call a true "magician". I wish more people lived as deeply as Don Juan did, but as as the master said himself, it is not for the week.
I highly suggest this book to anyone looking for a deeper meaning for their life.
Rating:
Summary: The critics miss the point...
Review: Although not one of Castaneda's best books, its a good idea to start this his first and then read the rest in order as it gives a glimpse into the changes these teachings appear to affect on Castenda's personality. Since Castenda was an anthropologist you will find this first book to be written in a scientific and critical style which may be frustrating to some. In the following books, Castaneda develops and looses the underlying egotistical and arrogant tone of this first book. I feel that the critics miss the point in these books, whether the stories are true or not is irrelevant. These stories provide insightful teachings into a better way to live and ways to improve one's psyche. After all, most of us want to be better people. To believe that he is a conman is very nearsighted and sceptical...his aim to better mankind holds no bad intentions. No one is forced to do anything against their will, let alone buy or read his books. Something to note, these books contain many references to the use of stimulants such as peyote to achieve different levels of awareness. This is not the only path to heightened awareness, there are many other techniques such as meditation that can be equally as effective. One of the many great lesson I learnt from reading Castenda's books is that no one is an island, we all affect each other in our own ways, good or bad. If we can all be better, more aware people....the world would definitely be a better place.
Rating: 
Summary: Content interesting, but writing dull
Review: I'm glad that this book is out there, because the content is very interesting. If all that's written is true, then Carlos Castaneda definitely had an interesting experience to share with the rest of the world. I just wished that the author didn't write the book in such a dull and rigid tone. It was a complete drag to read--so much that I started to lose interest in what he had to say. Why did Castaneda have to write in this style? I also bought the next book--A Separate Reality, but have not even opened the book. I wish I could learn about his experience without having to go through the pain of deciphering his meaninglessly scientific prose.
Rating: 
Summary: I am shocked!
Review: That there are people that still do not know that Castenada's tale is a work of speculative fiction? That he perpetrated one of the most successful frauds of the 20th century and got a doctorate out of it? It's ALL made up. There is not a single historical culture that maps to the claims that he makes in this book. Don Juan never existed. I first made this assertion, when I was a student of the history of religions in the early 70's, that there was something very wrong with the teachings of Don Juan. I could find NO indigenous culture of Mexico that offered similar teachings, and went on a 6 month search of the mountains of Mexico searching for collaborative evidence. I did find remarkable mystical, religious, cultural artifacts among the curanderos of the Sierra Madres del Sur, including Maria Sabina, and among the Coras and the Huitcholes, but absolutely nothing that even remotely reflects "The Yaqui Way of Knowledge." The teachings of Don Juan have no more substance or validity than an urban myth about the old lady who dried her miniature dog in the micro-wave oven. There are legitimate teachings out there, that offer ligitimate guidance for the purpose of unfolding self-consciousness--but you will not find it in this or any other of Castenada's screeds. If you are a legitimate seeker--for your own sake show a little more skepticism. Don't buy a bottle of snake oil from the first silver tongued devil who passes through your village in a brightly painted wagon...
Rating:
Summary: A bit disappointing
Review: I probably would have given this book a higher rating if it hadn't came so highly recommended.
As it was I found it disappointing. Though Castaneda gave an interesting account of his experience, the lengthy detail of it was a bit dry. I achieved no revelation, and neither I think did he.
Either this book is just too deep for me to understand, or it lacks substance, as I just didn't get anything out of it.
Rating:
Summary: A way of knowledge?
Review: Castaneda does not limit his account to conclusions on anthropology - he is also concerned with capturing the "teacher's" philosophy and preserving the thought system of the shaman. His study began with the goal of gathering information on medicinal plants used in the Southwest by Indian witch doctors. He then discovered the teacher don Juan, who is a "man of knowledge" determined to convey this same status to the author. The study concluded thirty years later as he embraced the shaman's world-view whole-heartedly. The title of this book reveals a summary of the thesis: that don Juan's teachings were a "way of knowledge", that is, they are a coherent system of thought and philosophy, and a code of conduct through which truth and reality could be discovered. The author's first task in proving his thesis is to organize the shaman's teachings into a system with structure and cohesion. This was a massive task, because the data was gathered exclusively from conversations and experiences with the shaman over several years, and often under the personal influence of hallucinogenic substances. In approaching this, he used a guiding paradigm that assumed "practical actions of everyday life were a bona fide subject for philosophical discourse" (intro p.12) and that the subject being researched should be examined according to its own set of rules. Castaneda works to establish the "system" of his thesis by arranging the pertinent elements of the shaman's teachings into an "operative" structure, which links all the elements of being a "man of knowledge" into an understandable sequence. The second thread of his thesis is to show that there is special "knowledge" or reality, which can be discovered through the teachings. Castaneda calls the knowledge attained by the shaman "non-ordinary" reality. Examples of this knowledge are events seen from afar, the discovery of ordinary facts previously unobtainable, and metaphysical knowledge. He uses an extended narrative of his hallucinogenic experiences to support this element of the thesis. Knowing that this evidence will not stand on its' own, he defines a process of validating "special consensus", which is basically an exposition of don Juan's method of confirming, guiding, and possibly manipulating the experiences of the apprentice. Still, the author acknowledges that to accept this part of the thesis required "the adoption of a certain point of view validated by the totality of don Juan's teachings" (p. 189), which is another way of saying there is no external consensus to validate this "non-ordinary reality". Readers will be convinced that the shaman is not just a simple magician - he has an overall goal in mind for his apprentice. However, the author is faced with the problem that the specifics of the shaman's ritual practice bear a distinctive sense of being very ad-hoc. It is very difficult to establish any relationship or reason behind the shaman's rituals and the sought after discovery of "non-ordinary" realities, at least within a world view that values empirical consensus. Finally, the author undermines his own structural analysis by stating, "Conclusions, therefore, are only mnemonic devices...(intro, p.19)" If that is the case, the reader may wonder why he should accept the author's conclusions to be true. Did the author support the teachings as a means to special knowledge? A major difficulty in this area is the very requirement that hallucinogenic substances be used to grasp this non-ordinary reality. Since the shaman, who was not hallucinating, exclusively corroborated the experiences of the apprentice, they bear a striking resemblance to hypnosis. So, the while he was successful in showing that the teachings had a cumulative effect in his own experience, it appears that the philosophical underpinnings to attain this knowledge were baked in by the author. Castaneda's description of don Juan's philosophy closely resemble the pantheism practiced widely by Native Americans of centuries past. For example, a device used by the shaman was to assign anthropomorphic qualities to each of the drugs. Western philosophers in the 18th and 19th centuries had discounted pantheism for its' failure to adequately deal with the problem of evil and other inherent difficulties. To his credit, however, Castaneda provides valuable detail of the shaman's concept of reality (which is sorely needed by those of us who have a such a monolithic view of native religions!) The strength of Castaneda's work is his ability coalesce the broad range of thoughts, ideas, and behaviors of his subject into a systematic world-view. His ability to do this could be classified into an academic discipline in it's own right. The weakest element of his book is his attempt to show that "non-ordinary reality" is something real. While he rightly alerts us to the existence of non-material reality, he does not adequately demonstrate that his experiences as the shaman's apprentice were anything more than hypnotic hallucinations. While this book focuses on a culture that is more Mexican than Californian, it does inform our understanding of the diversity of thought among indigenous people on the western side of the continent. Also, understanding the comparative beliefs of native religions is vital to understanding the history of the Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries in California. Both early and modern missionaries are concerned with contextualizing their message while at the same time avoiding syncretism. Some early missionaries did a lot of things right in contextualizing their message by adapting it to the native culture. However, that sometimes led to syncretism when the native religions were mixed with the Christian beliefs. The missionaries distinguished between "superstitions" and "idolatries", tolerating the former but reacting with a heavy hand against the latter . A detailed understanding of a particular native groups belief system, such as Castaneda has provided, is a critical element to a study of how the Spanish missionaries may have been motivated in their evangelistic endeavors.
Rating:
Summary: Simply, has to be read
Review: This book is the single most important book I ever read in my life. This book affects almost everyone who reads it. Some people have set off looking for brujos in Mexico. Other people have given up their entire ways of life. Some thought of it as fantastical fiction and still had to read the rest. Others set off on life missions to prove Carlos Castaneda wrong, to show him to be a liar. A small number of people find this book hard to take, demanding more science from the anthropologist Carlos Castaneda. These people are those who have to be able to meticulously explain everything. Maybe they don't realise that Carlos Castaneda was himself one of these people until meeting Don Juan. What about me? Well after reading this book I was left with a profound sense of having drifted nowhere, my whole life. The most important thing I had missed were "paths with heart" - failing to even recognise them let alone follow them. Read the book, I'm sure you'll understand what I mean, and I'm sure "the teachings of Don Juan" will help all who read it.
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