Read them all. Even did archaeology and paleontology in the Yaqui area he wrote about. At about the same time he was writing his books. Enrolled in Uof A anthro depth. The group of us enjoyed them while working in the field. Nice escapism.

I never thought they were ''true''...just fun fantasies. Old Don Juan teaching Carlos to fly was a splendid image!

Right up there with Ancient Aliens......

I read and learned from several Castaneda books.

Occasionally violent parents had made me afraid. Twelve years in Catholic schools had succeeded in making me feel helpless.

In puberty, testosterone changed my fear to anger but my father was stronger than I and would have won a fist fight.

A war gave me the GI Bill and made college possible. In college I found pragmatism and enough of existentialism to know there are no excuses. I hurled my parents and their religion from my life. I found and chose agnosticism. I grraduated, found work I liked and that paid well.

That’s when I found a Castaneda book. It was about personal power. I needed to learn and was ready. The rest is history. I grew. I might yet, totally worn out, skid sideways into a crematorium shouting "Holy shit, …what a ride!" (Thank you, Hunter.)

Fiction is metaphor and good fiction is useful metaphor. You might not need to learn. You might not be strong enough to learn and, protecting yourself, you might refuse to learn. Suit yourself.

If the hallucinogens didn't change my permanent reality..his books certainly wouldn't. Especially since they're works fiction..as he stated from his deathbed..

I read the books, I also read that he admits they're ALL fiction.
That's right, he got it all from the same place the people that wrote the bible did, his ass.

Yes I read some of his books. The use of Peyote buttons didn't change my mind about reality ☺