The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a book I did enjoy for more reasons than one. The first reason is I found it fascinating in itself. The second, is that it helped me enormously in understanding the hallucinatory experiences of users of psychedelics.
Why was that important?
Back in the day as an undercover cop, there was no training for that role. I took it upon myself to learn about drug experiences prior to my involvement in one of the world’s largest drug busts, Operation Julie.
You may read about those days in my book Undercover: Operation Julie – The Inside Story
That was the review I left on GoodReads.
It was part of my preparation for being thrust into an undercover role that was about to change my life in so many ways. There was no training for undercover policing back then either formal or informal. You flew by the seat of your pants.
I was young and it was both exciting and an unforgettable experience. Would I do it again if twenty-nine again and armed with the benefit of hindsight?
Yes! That’s who I am 🙂
A friendly guy not averse to risk-taking in the right circumstances. Not so much physical risks but mental. I like to stretch myself, to know where my limits are.
In the first two weeks following publication of my book, I have noticed a few things.
One striking feature is the difference in American and British attitudes to my undercover experiences. Many Americans, total strangers, have commented and said, “thank you for your service.” That’s nice.
All the Brits I know have remained silent*. The Brits I don’t really know, except through social media, have politely applauded. Others have attacked me.
Strange breed, the British.
In case you haven’t yet read my book, this is what an experienced journalist had to say about it:
I’m absolutely blown away by your book, by what you did, and by what your achieved, but equally shocked to read how badly you were treated afterwards.
It is an incredible story, really well-written.The whole idea of turning into someone else is absolutely fascinating. The characters in the book are superb, it’s very funny at times (I had some strange looks from people on the train when I burst out laughing during the piano incident) and the constant danger and gradual building-up of evidence towards the eventual arrests all combine to make it compelling. I read it in a day.
- I do not include my fellow Brit authors who have all been supportive to a man and a woman
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