by thenewgreen

Carlos Castaneda 1935?– American writer of autobiographical anthropology field studies. While attempting to write a thesis on medicinal plants, Castaneda met a Yaqui Indian brujo (a sorcerer or medicine man) named don Juan Matus. He has written of his experiences with don Juan in several books that relate his search for a nonrational reality and his attempts to become a Yaqui warrior, "to balance the terror of being a man with the wonder of being a man." Although Castaneda calls these books anthropological field studies, there are critics and scholars who consider them fiction. Castaneda's life is shrouded in mystery. His birth date has been given as ranging from 1925 to the late 1930s. Most sources agree that he was born in Brazil, but accounts of his childhood differ greatly. He moved to Los Angeles either with his family or on his own to study at UCLA. He claims to have served in the United States Army but his service record cannot be found by the Defense Department. The ambiguity of his past can be attributed to Castaneda's habit of either avoiding the subject or supplying conflicting information. He adheres to don Juan's belief that a warrior must divorce himself from his past and is not much more candid about his present, stating that "to weasel in and out of different worlds you have to remain inconspicuous." The Teachings of Don Juan was the first product of Castaneda's lengthy apprenticeship with don Juan. This chronicle of Castaneda's bizarre experiences, many of which are drug-related, enjoyed wide popular success. Castaneda contends, however, that his work is often misunderstood. He denies the charge that he is merely relating the experiences of drug trips, and claims that he was less convinced of the validity of his experiences when they resulted from drug use. In his later books, in fact, drugs and medicinal plants play a much smaller part in his learning processes. He wrote Journey to Ixtlan as his doctoral thesis, and in 1973 received his Ph.D. from UCLA's department of anthropology. Despite the controversy over his hallucinogenic experiences, Castaneda's books are praised as unique anthropological studies of the Yaqui culture and philosophical treatises on the existence of alternate ways of viewing reality. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 25-28, rev. ed.)

I read this book when I was a teenager and it had a really strong impact on me back then. Anyone ever read it? Thoughts?