I'm reviewing this as a fiction book, because I simply can't bring myself to believe that a single word of this actually took place. Castaneda must have been one incredibly charming individual, though. He managed to persuade the University of California to award him a doctoral degree and convinced a group of women to become his sex slaves and even take their own lives due to the hype generated by these books. In fact, his real life was likely far more captivating than what is presented in these pages.

That being said, I derived a great deal of amusement while reading this book, imagining that if it did occur, Don Juan was charging for his "teachings" and showering Castaneda with praise like "You're so powerful and a natural sorcerer! The spirits love you! I've never met anyone as good at this as you!" all the while Castaneda was handing him 100-dollar bills.

The first half of the book, where Castaneda describes his training with Don Juan, was actually quite charming in a "1960s hippies tripping on peyote" sort of way. However, the second half of the book, where Castaneda attempts to explain the teachings, was less so, as it seemed like nothing more than made-up nonsense. Nevertheless, it kept me engaged and entertained enough that I will probably continue with the series.

On Saturday, I returned to the library with the intention of delving into a particular book. However, to my surprise, I never managed to progress beyond the introduction.

It was a bit disappointing, but I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. Maybe it was because I wasn't in the right frame of mind that day, or perhaps the introduction simply didn't grab my attention as much as I had hoped.

I'm left with a sense of indecision. On one hand, I think I might give it another try at some point, as I don't want to write off the book completely based on just the introduction. On the other hand, there are so many other books out there waiting to be explored, and I'm not sure if it's worth my time to go back to this one.

Only time will tell what I decide to do. For now, I'll just keep my options open and see where my reading journey takes me.

Letto trent'anni fa.

And I must say that at that time it opened windows onto the world. Or perhaps I was finally realizing that they were already open.

Then came his other works but, apart from "Viaggio a Ixtlan", they didn't have the same impact.

In 1985, we went to South America for six months, to Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. In Peru, we climbed up to Cajamarca, a very beautiful little town at that time, to see also "El quarto del Rescate", the room of the rescue of Atahualpa, the last Inca ruler, but mainly to look for Castaneda. The phone book was full of Castanedas but no Carlos. Giving up would have been a long search to go through all the Castanedas in Cajamarca.

The hotel where we stayed for several nights was very beautiful, an old Spanish colonial house with a patio, perfectly in ruins, with high ceilings, non-existent hygienic facilities, but a magical atmosphere.

Or perhaps it was the 2700 meters of altitude and the hallucinating journey we took to get there.

I don't dare reread it, I know that now it's no longer its time.

There are books and there is their time to read them. After that, it's better to let them rest, they have already done their work.