Why people recommend it
The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda is a classic 1960s anthropological account that chronicles the author's claimed apprenticeship under a Yaqui Indian shaman exploring the use of psychotropic plants and mystical self-exploration. On Behind the Bastards, the host discussed the book as a foundational text of the 1960s counterculture and a major inciting incident of the broader New Age movement. On Stuff They Don't Want You To Know, guest Ryan Bethea recounted how a college friend was reading the book around the time he experienced a vivid and terrifying nocturnal encounter with a shadow entity. Dennis McKenna also mentioned on The Joe Rogan Experience that his brother gave him the book for his eighteenth birthday, noting that despite its likely fictional elements, it provided a valuable ethnographic lens through which to view psychedelics. Readers and podcast guests frequently reference the work because it remains a legendary cultural artifact that bridged academic anthropology with psychedelic mysticism, capturing the intoxicating search for altered states of consciousness and alternative spiritual realities during a transformative era in American history.
Who recommended it
- Robert Evans Discussed
- Ryan Bethea Discussed
- Dennis McKenna Discussed
Robert Evans — 2 mentions
“Now, a lot of people are probably familiar with the Don Juan books, right? So Carlos Castaneda, these are like 1960s; they come out chronicle of mystical self-exploration that are kind of one of the inciting incidents of the New Age movement.”
“Castaneda was this Peruvian writer who comes to the United States and gets a doctorate in anthropology from the University of California, and he writes three books starting with the teachings of Don Juan, which he claims are a faithful representation of his apprenticeship of a traditional shaman of the Yaqui people in northern Mexico.”
Ryan Bethea — 1 mention
“it's like man you know too much drink that night or whatever right but like one of them actually said that he was reading a book the teachings of Don Juan and had which you know that definitely is probably the you know if you're gonna point to a book that could be maybe the beginning”
Dennis McKenna — 1 mention
“and about the same time I discovered the teachings of Don Juan which my my brother gave to me for my 18th birthday”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 1
“but like um one of them actually said that he was reading a book uh the teachings of Don Juan um and had uh which you know that definitely is probably the you know if you're gonna point to a book that could be maybe the beginning and um he said he he was awake he was sleeping at night”