I give up. I made it about halfway through this book, slogging through piles of vaguely coherent ramblings about a mishmash of New Age theories mixed in with terrible pseudoscience. I wanted to read the whole thing, partly to see what it was that Pinchbeck is trying to get at, partly to read his descriptions of mind-altering substances and experiences (iboga, ayahuasca, Burning Man, etc.), and partly because my sister gave me this book as a gift. But after one too many annoying post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacies and one too many hand-waving dismissals of well-documented scientific explanations by well-respected scientists like Seth Shostak and Jared Diamond, I just had to give up. Even Carlos Castaneda made more sense than this, or at least was easier to read as fiction.

A long journal of whining and complaining interspersed with hallucinogenic trips and a few factoids. Near the end he claims to be reincarnation of Ashoka, Quetzacoatl and is the beast of the Bible... well I guess we are all one being. From what I read it is borderline possible he was ashoka in terms of karmic connections. But it seems rather that he channeled quetzacoatl for a brief time. And the beast thing is just like his birthday. Anyways pretty disappointing in how sceptical and unaccepting he is of self and others. Got a lot of spiritual work ahead of him. To open his heart and be kind to self and others. Preferably during some sober durations as clearly the hallucinogens aren't helping him much.

I heard about this book, saw it at Borders while I was book shopping and figured I'd check it out since I had read and enjoyed Breaking Open The Head. I enjoyed it up to about three pages in. To me, this was comparable to reading an extremely dry research paper and then getting absolutely confused by all of the tangents Pinchbeck went off on. He made some cool points, but they were delivered in a rambling manner. I got annoyed with his (in my opinion) pointless Burning Man stories and his pseudo-knowledge of exploring consciousness. I suggest reading the book he wrote prior to this if you are interested in him as an author.


Breaking Open the Head A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism

I gave this 2 stars because I actually finished an even worse book on the same day - the worse one made this one seem better. If you wonder what it is like to get lost in the mind of an acid-dropping, monogamy frustrated, id-driven middle class white dude without direction in life - this book is for you. I read it based on the dust jacket mini-reviews; my fault. Pinchbeck flits from country to country, esoteric ceremony to acid dropping opportunity with surprising frequency (while complaining of being broke). His curiosity about other cultures is commendable and if he could have focused more on the anthropological experiences with these cultures, it would have been a much better read. He was trying to show us his personal journey, unfortunately, it makes you want to grab him by the collar and drag him to the nearest military recruitment center. He feels he has struggled into manhood without guidance, he suggests Americans are without such ceremonious transitions; but he doesn't look far for them, because they are available - he was just too busy drinking unregulated and dangerous liquids to realize what he wanted was right in front of him. In Pinchbeck's defense, he packs a wide variety of information into this book and he has made me want to learn more about certain cultures and experiences. Too bad we had to wade through his self-absorption to get to it.

several years ago, a friend tried to find me a book about all the different 2012 theories because i was telling her about my fascination with the Mayans and Toltecs and various other views. the reason she couldn't quite find one was because this book here had not yet been written. it's exactly what i was looking for, and helped me decipher the good book she did get me about the maya cosmogenesis.

This is a book about metaphysics, which I found eerily fascinating. Pinchbeck's key premise, which he arrived at through his own experiences beginning with his experimentation with psychedelics, is that consciousness is not just a product of matter, an epiphenomenon of brain functions. Instead, he asserts that mind and matter are inseparable and are in fact interactive. With the ideological landscape swept clean by Nietzsche's general refutation of the modern Western worldview Pinchbeck finds support for his unorthodox metaphysics in Jung's concepts of the collective unconscious and the universal mythical archetypes, from the uncertainty principle of quantum theory, which renders objective knowledge completely illusory, and from fellow psychedelic explorer and writer Terence McKenna, among many others.

Depending on the philosophical orientation of the reader and the conclusions the he or she chooses to draw, this book can be read alternately as a nonsensical drug-induced paranoid delusion or as a metaphysical critique of modern industrial society and its dogmatic rationalist materialism (or both, I suppose). The gatekeepers of academic orthodoxy predictably will raise flags of "pseudoscience" and other charges of blasphemy for his sparing and often dismissive allusions to mainstream scholarly research as he pursues more fertile sources of the unthinkable. Personally, I find the book difficult to criticize because Pinchbeck could not be any more forthcoming or humble about his objective, which he calls "an extravagant thought experiment."

This is not a book about the Maya, and it cannot and should not be judged as such. Pinchbeck is considering that the Mayan epistemology (as interpreted and popularized by new age writers) and modern epistemology are only different archetypal reflections of the same collective unconscious (as are the knowledge systems of every culture ever to exist). The world of superficial appearances is no less real than the worlds of the mind like dreams and hallucinations, and the latter can in fact convey a better overall sense of reality than the former, a fact that he believes the ancient Mayans understood. In contrast to contemporary society's general distaste for hallucinogenic substances, for example, Maya leaders like Pacal the Great ritually used them to guide their decisions.

Pinchbeck writes of the origin of the modern Western mind: "The drastic shift--mutation or leap of quantum creativity--into the mental-rational structure was foretold by a myth: the birth of the goddess Athena, who emerged from the painfully throbbing head of Zeus, split open by an ax. The blow was 'accompanied by a terrible tumult throughout nature, as well as by the astonishment of the entire pantheon,' writes [Jean] Gebser, paraphrasing Pindar. Once sprung, Athena, goddess of knowledge and clear thought, bestowed her protective grace over Athens, cradle of the modern Western mind. In the movement from the mythic to the mental-rational mind-set, human thought was directed outward, discovering the external world, for the first time, as an object of inquiry in itself." (210-1)

Pinchbeck is advocating another such shift in global consciousness toward a non-dualist myth-embracing culture that he believes is the only hope for human societies to transcend the imminent crises of peak oil, imperialist war, mass extinction, nuclear war, and ecological collapse--essentially the disastrous culmination of this "mental-rational" civilization finally becoming apparent.

He identifies this shift with the transformation of the world that is supposed to occur at the completion of the 13th bak'tun of the Mayan Long Count, or on Gregorian 12-21-2012. As this and other apocalyptic predictions and prophecies accumulate in the collective psyche, Pinchbeck sees potential for a physical manifestation of them: "If the Apocalypse, as an archetype, is currently constellating in our world, we have the option of bringing the 'dynamic agency' and primordial pattern, fully into our awareness. By giving it our conscious attention, we can mediate the process, potentially avoiding its most catastrophic effects." (110)

To me, this thesis cannot be answered by any point-by-point criticism of its assertions. Instead, it stands as an intersubjective challenge to the skeptical reader to explore non-ordinary states of awareness for herself and find whatever value she will there.

When I fist saw this book it was at St. Mark's bookstore in the East Village. Some crazy man standing next to me and saw me pick it up. He leaned over and said something like, "pretty crazy, eh?". I figure if one of NY's more freakish types thinks this book is nuts then I certainly have no business reading it! I saw it again more recently in a Chicago book store where I eventually bought it because of my boyfriend's interest in Mezo-American cultures. Turns out, this book is a total mind trip.

If you take it at face value, the author comes off sounding like a burned out hippy/acid freak who is constantly trying to legetimize his euphoric escapades in the Amazon with brazen women and shamans. However, if you approach the subject matter with a totally open mind and have a little faith that perhaps the author really IS on the verge of piecing together the mysteries of the "end of time" (or is it perhaps the begining of timelessness?) then this book can really be an enjoyable read.

I will be honest, bits and pieces of this one come off sounding like rejected versions of the second X-files movie, but that aside, Pinchbeck has an optimistic and at times persuasive way of communicating his ideas. Some will dismiss this whole myan myth as the new "Y2K" craze, which I am proud to say, I was not a part of. But, I for one cannot WAIT for December 21, 2012, just to see what the F@#! is gonna happen!

An esoteric, highly speculative and auto-biographicalucinogenic tour of possible meanings behind the Mayan-predicted apocalypse in 2012. In short, the author explores the possibility that this apocalypse is a transition from one era to another. From an era marked by materialism and physical/spiritual duality to one marked by the unification of the physical and spiritual and of global consciousness. At times the book focuses too obsessively on the author´s belief in the benefits of sexual promiscuity and its tenuous relation to the 2012 prediction.

At other times the book is quite engaging and thought-provoking, especially when the author´s speculation is coupled with the opinions of heavy weights such as Carl Jung and quantum physicists, who, in their own work, conjecture on global consciousness and the unity/inseparableness of the physical and spiritual/sentient, respectively.

The book brought back a relevant memory... One night, I had a quirky dream of a monkey skateboarding and hanging posters on telephone polls--like he was advertising a band performance. I awoke startled when the monkey fell off his skateboard. Amber awoke from my startle, and upon explaining the dream to her, we were both surprised to learn she had just had the same dream...

This indicates some type of extra "thought/feeling/psychic sensitivity" of which we do not normally experience. Who knows the possibilities. Perhaps this "sensitivity" can be developed like one´s cardiovascular capacity. And if many people develop such sensitivity...

On the whole, this is a good read that explores some of such possibilities. I just wish it would have explored them more so.

Kind of trippy. This guy is fucking wierd. He talks about psychotropic drugs and his entry into different worlds of thought and consciousness. He goes into ancient theories of time, evolution, and paranormal experience. He takes Theological and mythic tales from early civilization and implements them into our current thinking all the way from our calendar to the next stage of evolution which is supposed to begin in...yes 2012. It was definately worth reading because I never thought of anything this guy mentioned so at least I learned something.

Written in an similar style as Pinchbeck's swirling mind and nasally speech patterns, this book is less of a novel and more of a collection of author, philosopher and researcher quotes; personal journals; and hypothesis about past civilizations, the future of our existence, and everything in between. However, unlike many of the paranormal snobs with their noses and earl greys in the air, I greatly enjoyed 2012:The Return of Quetzalcoatl.
The content was a bit unorganized, but I found each chapter magnetic with Pinchbeck's vivid personal tales and intimate experiences. Much of the material is something we already have been enlightened to--we weirdos who are interested in these subjects to begin with-- but his biographical perspective and word smithery is impressive in the least.
I walked away from each chapter thinking about what I just read for a decent span of time afterwards, and I wanted to excitedly discuss my commentary with anyone within earshot--and I beg your forgiveness.

The shift at winter solstice 2012: Creating / Intensifying the impulse to opt-out of the contemporary Western worldview, and opt-into a new consciousness, a visionary, spiritual consciousness. It's available, just beyond the boundaries of life-as-usual... So says Pinchbeck.

Crop circles; the interconnection between the world of the psyche and the external world; the arch-typification of of the external by the the psychic; their interplay; the interwoven consciousnesses in the psychic realm, in which there are beings of varying intelligence and will... upon these earnestly muses Pinchbeck.

It's all One, inner and outer, and the purpose of philosophy is to reconcile the psychic with the external. And the 2012 shift accelerates the process intensely. So says Pinchbeck.

This book:
a) develop the visionary
b) create!
c) celebrate the psychic actuality
d) envision...
e) for me... inspiration to make art, to manifest the internal by externalizing it...

A fun trip, this; inspiring for anyone with some New Age sensibilities. Whether you buy into it seriously or not.

I wasn't quite sure how to feel about this book. It was very technical and dry at times and hard to get through. I found myself zoning out in certain parts. The information on Mayan cosmology was very interesting and I found the sections on aliens very entertaining but very hard to swallow. Daniel Pinchbeck's writing feels incredibly self-involved and narcissistic at times which makes his writing less respectable. At one point in the book he refers to himself as the avatar and as a prophet, bringing to earth the message of Quetzalcoatl himself. He also, for no apparent reason, throws in details of his mother's relationship with Jack Kerouac and accounts of his marriage. It was completely irrelevant to anything discussed in the book. This aside, it was fun to open my mind to such new age ideas and possibilities, breaching on anthroposophy, the noosphere, Native American mythology and spirituality, shamanism, psychedelic visions, the Mayan calender, the sacred feminine, remote-sensing, and ancient mathematics, just to name a few. I didn't take any of it to heart and it was rather easy to reject many of Daniel's theories, because there was no concrete ground to support them. The book was entertaining at times and sometimes thought provoking. That is about as excited as I could get about this book. All around, it didn't meet the expectations I had, and was rather disappointing, but not something to be completely thrown aside.