It might be useful to know that while these books are written as first hand accounts of actual events there is much to be questioned in them. First most of the accounts of the amount of time he spent in the "village" seem to be greatly exaggerated. Those of us who remember when the books of Carlos Castaneda came out, and who cared enough to look into his claims, soon uncovered them as a hoax. Stand warned, the differences between these books and those of Castaneda is that Prechtel did seem to have "some" actual contact with a shaman and did spend "some" time in the "village" however from there it become impossible to sort out what is fact and what is fiction and if you are reading it as fact you are likely to be disillusioned.