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Summary: Ixtlan perhaps Castaneda's best work...
Review: Quite simply one of the greatest books of modern spiritual literature. Few books are able to capture so well the intensity of the search and to truly make us live and breath the path. It is also his most pragmatic work. It contains solid advice for our day to day lives, with a power that
is impossible to ignore.
Outstanding!
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Summary: Timeless and Inspiring
Review: Read this book and be changed. A friend gave me this book 16 year ago, and I have read it at least once every two years since. It is a magical and philosophical read that will cause you to rexamine your life and renew your sense of self purpose in a way that no other book will. Beyond that, the story is entertaining, engaging and beautifully written. I'm on the site now to send it to a friend who I suspect needs to read it. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't at least be intrigued by the book's premise, if not utterly changed by it.
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Summary: Start your journey here
Review: The best of Castenada's first 3 books, this makes a fine starting point for understanding don Juan's teachings. Perhaps the best of the series for the insights it delivers
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever.
Review: The best thing in the book IMHO is Don Henaro's Sense of humor. The really worrior's humor...
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Summary: a journey through the human spirit
Review: The book Journey To Ixlan by Carlos Casteneda, is an exilent tale about a journey through the human spirit . Throughout this extravagant tale about a man searching for answers to his questions about peote and its halucinagenic quality, he a ctually receives much much more. carlos casteneda is in search for peote and some one to guide him to find it in the dangerous desert chaparall. in order to do so he comes in contact with a man named Don Juan. Don juan, throughout the hole story never realy gets into showing carlos where or what the peote is, but instead teaches him about himself and how he belongs to nature, and that nature does not belong to him.don juan also teaches carlos about himself through making fun of him and trying to break down his ego and personal importance. also teaching carlos about death this book will help to teach you what you need to know to live your life with peace and harmony in your soul. i recomend this book to any one who has the time to read or enjoys reading because this book definetly teaches you how to be a human.
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Summary: The greatest book I have ever read!!!
Review: The greatest book I have ever read! Without a doubt Carlos Castaneda's best. This book made me SO sad it is unbelievable. Once you understand everything that is involved in becoming a man of knowledge you have to ask yourself 'am I willing to give up EVERYTHING?' After reading this book I have made loads of progress in my own spiritual quest, no, I haven't stopped the world, yet. But at least I know now which way I am heading. If your leaning is towards sorcery and the revelation of it's secrets, you simply MUST read this. I have read everything on the occult (I kid you not) and I have to say that this was the one book that 'did it for me.' God (or nagual ) bless C.C.
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Summary: You can never go home again...
Review: The question with regard to Carlos Casteneda is this: If we accept the premise that this book is largely fiction, does that in turn trivialize the message he is trying to impart? Just what is his message? If the message is that the world is full of witches, sorcerers, irridescent coyotes, allies, and phantoms, then the answer must be an unqualfied "yes". These entities are no more real, and have no more importance than angels and miracles, zombies, ghosts, or anything else whose existence cannot be objectively observed. However, despite the cult that has grown up around these writings, I don't think this is what Casteneda had in mind. Don Juan warned against being trapped in the world of sorcery, just as he did against getting trapped in the world of everyday concerns. It was when Carlos, the character, realized that he and the dung beetle were on even terms, even though their sensory worlds were profoundly different, that he was finally able to "stop the world". The warrior, says don Juan, takes responsibility for his life, and interacts with every event as if it is his last. Moreover, once one makes the transition to the path of knowledge, one can never go back. "Ixtlan" is by definition childhood's home that one can never return to. These are timeless and profound concepts, that transcend the venue of leaping shadows and bridges in the fog. Casteneda is an unusual writer, and his insistence on portraying his character as an annoying whiner gets a little wearing after a while. The two messages I found in this work - that the world is much more than appears, and that it is important not to sleepwalk through our lives - these concepts never wear thin for me. And the observation that our modern man can learn these lessons from a superstitious old Yaqui is endlessly gratifying to me. There are many ways to get to the place that Casteneda is trying to show us, and therefore I can't place this volume in the "must read" category. But the concepts have value, and you won't regret the effort in getting to the last page.
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Summary: I loved this book
Review: These books are great stories. I don't know whether Carlos Castaneda went through any of the experiences he writes about or if he was just a great story teller but they do have a ring of truth to them. I was heavily influenced by these books when I first read them, much, much less so now. Journey to Ixtlan is a metaphor for how your life will look as you abandon your old patterns and take on a new way of living.
I also enjoyed Positive Energy by Judith Orloff and Energetic Anatomy by Mark Rich. Rich's book actually talks about some of the same ideas Castaneda does but in more concrete detail. Both are enjoyable and informative.
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Summary: "Jorney to Ixtlan" - the basics for becoming a warrior
Review: This 3rd book of Castaneda`s is an essential part for every person sincerely interested in being impeccable and preserving his/her own energy for dreaming,recapitulating etc. Without observing strictly the premises of the warrior`s way stated in this book there is no need to read more of Carlos - one will never reach the state of awareness and the level of energy of "los nueves videntes". To stop the world is very difficult and responsible task(the most difficult we take on in our life, that is for sure.) And last of all I must state people`s way of regarding the books of Castaneda as an intriguing works on anthropology and nothing more is terrible. But I think it was the Spirit`s will writing those books and the Spirit`s will is only for a few chosen people to understand and make use of them - for the others they are just meaningless scribbles as it must be.
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Summary: The greatest scientific hoax since the piltdown man
Review: This book should be in the pseudoanthropology section and is a classic of the genre. My title above is a quote from Marcello Truzzi's evaluation. Journey to Ixtlan was the third in the series and formed the basis of a doctoral disertation that incredibly was awarded a degree by UCLA department of anthropology, thereby reclassifying that department as the school of literary fantasy studies. For a full evaluation of Carlos Cesar Arena Castaneda see Martin Gardner's notes of a fringe watcher 'Carlos Castaneda and New Age Anthropology' in Skeptical Enquirer Vol 23, No.5 pp13-15; 1999. Never the less read as fantasy/philosophy the book is good value. the fact that it virtually founded a New Age religion is evidence for Gordon Wasson's theory that drug induced hallucinations produced by what he called entheogens are at the basis of many religions ancient and modern.
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