Shaman

The Mysterious Life and Impeccable Death of Carlos Castaneda

By: Mike Sager

Narrated by: George Orlando

Length: 2 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Some say he was a breakthrough academic and visionary shaman. Others say he was a sham. Either way, Carlos Castaneda shaped a generation of mystical thinkers and magic mushroom eaters.

In 1968, at the height of the psychedelic age, Castaneda published The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, the first of 12 books describing his apprenticeship to an Indian shaman, and his journeys to the “separate reality” of the sorcerers’ worlds.

Like Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf and Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, The Teachings of Don Juan and its sequels became essential reading for legions of truth seekers. Castaneda himself became a cult figure — seldom seen, nearly mythological, a cross between Timothy Leary and L. Ron Hubbard: a short, dapper, Buddha-with-an-attitude who likened his own appearance to that of a “Mexican bellhop”.

Though Castaneda had more than 10 million books in print in 17 languages, he lived in wily anonymity for nearly 30 years, doing his best, in his own words, to become “as inaccessible as possible”. Most people figured he had a house somewhere in the Sonoran Desert, where he’d studied with his own teacher, a leathery old Indian brujo named Don Juan Matus.

In truth, Castaneda lived and wrote for most of that time in Westwood Village, a neighborhood of students and professors in Los Angeles, not far from UCLA and Beverly Hills. Upon his death in 1998, things became even murkier.

The audio version of the year-long investigation into the mysterious life and impeccable death of Carlos Castaneda, as told by his wife, his adopted son, his mistresses, and his followers.

©2003, 2020 Mike Sager (P)2020 Mike Sager

Beautiful story

I grew up hearing about Carlos Castaneda and the Teachings of Don Juan. Now that I've listened to this incredible story, I am sure Carlos had a huge impact on my father, who in many ways reminded me of him. and, in a roundabout way, influenced me!
a story doesn't have to be true to make its mark.

Disappointing Book

Hate to write this but this was a disappointing book. Read all Castaneda books and fully aware of the controversy. But this book is often confusing,, poorly researched , and the details around the characters are thin. Nothing added to the many books about Carlos Castaneda.