Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truth takes longer to disseminate than fiction., January 22, 1997
By A Customer
As an undergraduate I was heavily influenced by the books of Carlos Castaneda. After I began learning first-hand from Huichol healers and singers, the problems with Castaneda's version of American Indian spirituality became evident. I was amazed at the amount of indifference and hostility I encountered among academic anthropologists as I did my investigative research. Some professors threatened me with lawsuits. My first publisher, Madison Books, abandoned publication of this book because of threats of litigation. When I and two other Huichol scholars sent complaints about the professor who made those threats the Ethics Committee of the American Anthropological Association did nothing. In fact, the Ethics Committee is now defunct and there are no professional standards enforced among American anthropologists. I guess that means academic freedom is unlimited. Although I did more than 20 radio interviews nationwide, Carlos Castaneda, Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties has been curiously neglected by the mainstream print journalists. I deduce from this that debunking sensational and misleading accounts of American Indian shamans and ceremonies is less "sexy" than publishing them was almost 30 years ago. I am convinced that eventually the truth about authentic Indian shamans will be more widely disseminated. The net is a great way to bypass the academic censors and official reviewers.
I apologize to readers for the technical elements in my book. I look forward to doing another edition of this book.It will include the failure to deal with ethical issues within the profession of anthropology. This must be seen as an important public issue. My ability to write clearly for a general audience has improved since I wrote Carlos Castaneda, Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties. My latest book, Reuben Snake, Your Humble Serpent, is written for a non-academic audience. It is the biography of one of America's greatest contemporary spiritual and political leaders.
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23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well thought out attack on Castaneda's honesty, January 17, 2000
By A Customer
Yes, Castaneda's mystical system works for many people. However, I think it is important for people to realize the inconsistencies in his system and what actual Native American shamanic systems are. I do not believe this book was meant to denounce people who follow Castenada's mystical system, instead it was meant to denounce his unprofessional academic behaviour. It is important for scientists to report the truth about their research, and this book goes into how Castaneda was dishonest with the academic community. The people giving this book one star remind me of the fundamentalist types who denounce anyone who says that the history in the bible isn't 100% accurate.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Critics Critique Themselves, December 4, 2000
By A Customer
Firstly, since Castenada's first book was an academic thesis (not a private, commercial publication), and given that academic degrees are not usually (in the field of the social sciences) awarded for works of fiction, it must be relevant to ask whether "Don Juan..." was a genuine anthropological study or complete invention. It follows, then, that this book fulfils a useful purpose - academically speaking. Its second, less obvious but far more profound value lies in its ability to show whether the reader (if they have read Castenada's work at all) has understood the essential message that Castenada brought back from Don Juan, Don Genaro et al. The simple fact is that books like Castenada's, if they have any worthwhile effect at all, do not "teach" in the sense of pouring information into our empty heads. Rather they draw out the ideas, wisdom and understanding that we already possess.
Mr Fikes, in writing this book, provides an excellent example of a tool to separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff. Those fans of Castenada's work who can read this book with equanimity have indeed understood an important part of what they were reading.
Those who find it necessary to revile Mr Fikes and his work are clearly still caught up in illusory hero worship. How wonderful that they can still look forward to meet the true Man of Knowledge.
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by Richard de Mille
