The Eagle's Gift

Very insightful into how one should live their life, it gives a different view of the world and challenges the ideas and beliefs that we have be taught whilst also providing simple methods to changing your thinking and behaviours with how we interact with the world on a day to day basis.I really enjoy reading these series of books, they go far deeper to answering the questions about our purpose than anything else that I have ever read.

Castaneda's books are all fabulous for learning and self development, and a good read too.

I have read a number of books in this series of Carlos' tutelage with Don Juan and the others. I find his descriptions of events and people fascinating, while also threading a good story. As others have mentioned - I am not entirely sure if all is true, however, that in some ways is the message of the books - to have belief. I became a little confused while reading this book as to the continuity of events, but nevertheless it was still an interesting read. I felt the Eagle could have been delved into more - although that may come in a later publication.

This Castaneda book was poor in every way, compared with Cataneda's other Don Juan novels. The plot was poor, the language dull, simple and witless. Throughout the novel, I wondered if someone other than Castaneda had written this! Perhaps Cataneda was going through an uninspired stage of his life when he wrote this? However, his final Don Juan novel, "The Power Of Silence" is of the same high standard as his earlier works.

Very interesting

Castaneda faced the problem of many sequel writers: He could not keep up the freshness and impact of his first books, as this relatively late volume shows.Castaneda the anthropologist has for long been debunked as a fraud. Still, his first books are well written, and have had a profound impact. Once accepted as fiction, it does not matter whether any real encounters with indians were the model for Castaneda's hero Don Juan, the Native American shaman who allegedly accepted the author as a disciple and instructs him, talking like Wittgenstein, Nietzsche and Gurdieff.Castaneda's first books raise interesting questions on the nature of reality when telling the entertaining story of the narrator being drawn into increasingly unbelievable adventures with the supernatural.In contrast, this book is rather blandly narrated, and surprises with a surprisingly daft resolution. As we learn, the ultimate reason why the club of Don Juan's students indulge in years of self-denying ascetism to obtain supernatural powers is as follows: After death, the soul flies into the afterlife only to be eaten by a giant eagle spirit; however sorcerers can fly past this creature.I envy whoever finds that a satisfying answer to the question of the meaning of life.

Good presentation. Story itself not so good

The book itself is in the condition the seller stated. It was one of the original prints so there is some yellowing to the pages. Besides that, it is in very good condition. Therefore, thumbs up for this particular seller.Purchaser should note that this particular title is one of a series of books that came out by Castaneda during the period. Therefore, it is not recommendable to read this title as an introduction to Casteneda. There are previos books that allow you to understand how the relationships came about and was built between the characters. A better beginning would be "Journey to Ixlan -lessons from Don Juan."

I read all these books in college long ago. Listening to them now has been wonderful. This book in particular, reviews what has happened to him up to this point and goes into detail regarding those in his group and his interactions with them. I have to say I laughed pretty hard (particularly Juan as a young man, seeking to secure his nagual woman). Well worth the time; you may have to hear it more than once...

It is a classical work.

"The Power that governs the destiny of all living beings is called the Eagle,..."

A must read for anybody seeking clarity.

I was a big fan of Castaneda when his first books came out. I was in college then. Two years ago, I set out to read all of his books, first to last, in order. I highly recommend that exercise.This was one of the better Castaneda books. It's always dicey to write about Castaneda and the "r" word: did this really happen?I am inclined to say yes, but not in the usual way. I know that some might see this as a cop out, but I do believe that we all live in our heads and in a world that we create in there. No one else really has access to our experience except us. What we perceive is what we imagine to be the world out side of us, and our thoughts and feelings inside of us. Castaneda's experiences are as real as anyone's.Did he make it all up? I don't know, nor can I ever know. If he did make it all up, he was a genius. Who knows? Maybe Plato made up Socrates. Sure, the was a person named Socrates, and maybe there was a don Juan Matus. In the time of Plato and Aristotle, it was quite common to write dialogs about famous thinkers and write what they should have said, or write what they might of said, what was characteristic of their thinking. If the original never actually said that was not a problem. This wasn't our sense of history and truth that we have today.Ultimately, there is being, what is, and what is not. Truth, falsity, right, wrong, good, and evil are all of the mind. If you stick to facts, what is, you won't find any of the above. "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." Shakespeare.For me, Castaneda, don Juan, and don Genaro are great beings. I enjoy their mystery a great deal.