Customer Reviews

The Eagle's Quest: A Physicist Finds the Scientific Truth at the Heart of the Shamanic World

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book stands out as one of the best books on shamanism I've ever seen. The Eagle's Quest is remarkable because it maps concepts from modern physics into the ancient shamanistic world... all the while following the Wolf's very personal true story of his quest for deeper understanding. Because Wolf really wishes to know what's going on in the universe, his book is thorough in its investigations of old world shamanism. This is one of the best books I've ever read combining spirituality and physics: it's full of useful information and well-written. I love all of Fred Alan Wolf's books, and this one is especially enjoyable to me, because it was truly written from his heart. This book is a classic.

I would have preferred the title stopped with the elegance and simplicity of "The Eagle's Quest", because I don't think the book can deliver as well for finding scientific truth. So why did I rate it as a 5? Because it did something much more useful to me than delivering scientific "truth", a promise more likely conjured by the publicists than by the author.

I appreciated deeply the rare opportunity to "hear" the thought processes of an accomplished scientist and physicist grappling with a group of phenomenon nowdays loosely called "shamanic". It was an intriguing and courageous endeavor to brainstorm outloud about his search for models, hypotheses and vocabulary in order to construct a hair-thin bridge between science and mystic journeys to alternative inner and outer realities, some of which were unsettlingly irrational but still transformative and healing.

Far from hearing his voice as egotistical (as a few other reviewers suggested), I found it to be refreshingly candid, soul-searching and very human. Thus in my view his thoughtful discourse does contain some erroneous logic. At times he also offers some weak examples within which one feature or another of western science and/or medicine is set up as a "strawman" to be sacrificed in the comparison with his idealization of a shamanic mind-view. As he journeys deeper into his global vistations with shamans and ayahuasca -- these start to feel increasingly inflated to magical projections. Now the importance of his personal storytelling rather than pretending to offer an unbiased scientific pronouncement is the redeeming key. His enchantment with magical bias almost becomes intentional, perhaps an inevitable consequence of his immersion/merger with his field of study -- the other consequence of the observer effect in which the state of the observer is also profoundly changed but rarely admitted.

As a both a PhD scientist and a physician, I cannot help but notice some of his oversimplifications of us versus "the other" as irritants. Nonetheless, by the end of his book they don't stand in my memory as major detractors. Since I like to argue -- they may even have spurred me on. Instead I found an engaging personal journey, influenced by both the highs and lows of his intellectual struggle to meet, grasp and take in a discipline radically different from his own educational orientation -- with a willingness to stretch beyond some of the prejudices of our current scientific paradigms in order to establish a path for future dialogue.

While I doubt that very little has been "scientifically established" as truth, especially as truth with a capital "T" ... I think the treasure of this book is the invitation to keep modifying and testing our hypotheses, our search for evidence and our vocabulary in order to create a deeper understanding between the cultures of science and "shamanism".

Nearly 30 years ago, I was trained that the purpose of scientific investigation was to cyclically repeat the mantra of observation, understanding, prediction and control. If we continue to constrict ourselves to this trajectory ... I don't think his book will be very satisfying. If instead we follow the spiralling winds of renewal (even without chemical assistants like ayahuasca) toward observation (witnessing), understanding, prediction, verification and seeking for wholeness in applying this wisdom to our lives, our world and our cosmos -- the immediacy and deepth of his personal disclosure as he thoroughly abandons his preconceptions and opens his heart, body-mind and soul to a different world is indeed inspirational.

Dr. Wolf has accomplished what many cannot, he has written a highly interesting book about his journey to discover the parallelism between quantum physics and the knowledge / wisdom of the ancient shamans -- and has done so without getting lost in the scientific jargon. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it for those who are interested in joining their scientific interest with their spiritual journey.

This book presents the occult and the practice of shamanism in a very understandable format. The book presents the parallel of quantum physics and the metaphysical in very understandable terms. I have spent time with Peruvian shamans in the mountains and look forward to spending time in the amazon. I would very much like to communicate with Dr. Wolf to discuss his experiences. Dr. Wolf, thanks for a great and enlightening book: please write or call, JJ 847.304.1757

Excellent book. I am a teacher of Reiki, a hands-on energy healing form. At the Master Level we read this book, particularly the 3rd chapter which deals with the effects of Sound. I wrote to my Native American Teacher, Joseph Rael/Beautiful Painted Arrow, and told him about it, and he said that Dr. Fred was a good friend of his! who is investigating Joseph's father's language, Tiwa, because of crossover similarities with the new physics! A very interesting and colorfully readable book...

As someone who is interested in quantum physics and has been initiated into an order of indegenous shamans I was very interested in this book's subject. Wolf turns a potentially fascinating subject into pure boredom. I tried but could not find any good reason to continure reading this drivel. The author never gets to the root of shamanic practices. His insights fall short of any meaningful contribution to physics or shamanism. Just because he takes ayahuasca with the locals in Peru and hangs out with medecine on American reservations doesn't mean he gets it. Read the World is as You Dream It by John Perkins if you want to learn more about the true shamanic experience.

I have wanted this book for months. I read other books by Fred Alan Wolf which briefly mentioned this one and what it was about. I am fascinated with ancient healing rituals and shamanism. This book looks at shamanism through the eyes of a physicist. I now want to read his next book.

Dr. Wolf's theories are great. It was a very insightful book. A great read for anyone who wants to learn about spirituality but has a more mechanical mind.

Here we have someone who tries to forcibly mix two different paradigms, that of (not-so-modern) quantum physics and that of (not-so-archaic) shamanism. Had FAW been a really good theoretical or experimental physicist, or an impressive shaman, this work might have been a monumental achievement. Unfortunately, here we have a small time college physics teacher dabbling amateurishly with medicine work and - unsurprisingly - getting "insights" which never transcend the banal first-derivative of the simplistic analogy. This book is sentimental to boot and self-indulgent to the point of exhaustion and the unfortunate cayote reader can only growl with irritation at the lack of philosophical rigor combined with the shallowness of the author's autobiographical profile. I am sure Fred is quite a likeable guy and he appears to have dabbled in enough fields to gain some notoriety in New Age circles chasing a New Unified Theory of Everything. Those will find the book enjoyable. To everyone else I say: if you must read it, borrow it from the local library.

Great Book!!! Fred Allen Wolfe does an excellent job here, and introduces some relatively original theories. Though I don't suggest as an introduction to either Shamanism or Quantum Physics.