Thread: Carlos Castaneda Books...

Is there an order to which you should read his books? Can you read them in any order - ive read parts of some...

The books are written mostly chronologically. With the order being this:

• The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968)
• A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan (1971)
• Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan (1972)
• Tales of Power (1975)
• The Second Ring of Power (1977)
• The Eagle's Gift (1981)
• The Fire from Within (1984)
• The Power of Silence: Further Lessons of Don Juan (1987)
• The Art of Dreaming(1993)

The first one I read was "A Separate Reality" but if I were to do it again, I would recommend that you read them in order.

ill prob get some flare, but anyway...

i read all of Castanedas books (except "the fire from within"), but i came to suspect he's a fraud...later i've seen he'd been indeed exposed as a fraud... i wouldnt waste my time with his books, except for the fun... he's not entirely wrong in some concepts, because he borrows from ancient known sources of mystical knowledge, but what he does is mix everything in a ridiculous giberish... he's stories seem almost like hollywood scripts, and every book gets worse than the previous...

if you have a lot of time to spare and want to check for yourself, have a blast

TBW

Well man.. just goes to show that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing". What you write doesn't ring true. If indeed it is "ridiculous giberish" (sic), why did you make your way through all the books? Castaneda has sold millions of books, and millions of people are out there who would disagree with you. I find it hard to believe that you have "proof" that he has "indeed been exposed as a fraud" as any "proof" that I have encountered has been shallow conjecture.. nothing has been proven.

If you read "The Art of Dreaming" and try out the techniques therein, you would see that as far as LDing goes, Castaneda nailed it. He makes LaBerge look like an amateur..

..but obviously you haven't.

Originally Posted by TravelerBetweenWorlds

ill prob get some flare, but anyway...

i read all of Castanedas books (except "the fire from within"), but i came to suspect he's a fraud...later i've seen he'd been indeed exposed as a fraud... i wouldnt waste my time with his books, except for the fun... he's not entirely wrong in some concepts, because he borrows from ancient known sources of mystical knowledge, but what he does is mix everything in a ridiculous giberish... he's stories seem almost like hollywood scripts, and every book gets worse than the previous...

if you have a lot of time to spare and want to check for yourself, have a blast

TBW

He's not entirely wrong in some concepts? What do you mean by being wrong in a concept?

He mixes everything in a ridiculous giberish?

What does he mix? I'm not saying he isn't, or that he is. I just want to know what do you think he's mixing...

He's stories seem like hollywood scripts... is that bad? From your sentence, it seems as thought it were something bad...

Originally Posted by polmc

He's stories seem like hollywood scripts... is that bad? From your sentence, it seems as thought it were something bad...

Its bad because its supposedly a true story.

I dont think so, i mean i read "the art of dreaming" followed by "the power of silence" and still enjoyed them a lot.

I dont really care if he is a fraud or not, the knowledge you get from the books can still be useful, fun, interesting etc.