Customer Reviews

New Perspectives: Shamanism: An Introductory Guide to Living in Harmony with Nature

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Sometimes I like to explore ideas I come across whilst watching interesting programmes on television. Shamanism had been lurking around my subconscious for some time and after watching an anthropological series about the dawn of Mankind I thought I would buy a brief guide or introduction to Shamanism. This book was it. In 118 pages we are given a whistle-stop tour of Shamanism around the world. Does it give any depth to Shamanistic practices worldwide? No, it does not, what it does give us is a brief look at current and historical practices of Shamanism. It also provides small information boxes varying from short biographies of Shamans to information on cosmology, drugs and other items used in the practice of Shamanism. If you wanted an in depth intellectual tome on the subject then this little book would sorely disappoint you. If you just wanted to dip into Shamanism, than this book is a pleasant place to start, and at a price that will not break your bank account.

I first heard about this book a few months ago. I was thinking "O.K. it's another fairy-tale for naive people who have nothing else to do and think about magic or something." Then, a few weeks ago, I came across this book in a bookstore and started to look it through. And suddenly I got interested! I have never suspected that such a book can be so fascinating. So, I bought it and read. And suddenly my point of view about our world got completely changed. It's said to be "a guide" and it really is. It's the best guide of this area of thinking I have ever seen. And what's more - even the very beginner can understand it! Well, to sum up: it's a great book, explaining lots of things in shamanism and in my opinion everyone who's interested in it shuold read this book.