Very well written, easy to read book with a lot of thought and insight and research put into it.
I was delighted when I saw it - it is a gorgeous book with a really gorgeous cover - I LOVE that art - but I was pleasantly suprised that it came with Shamanic tracts on a CD. I had not realized the book came with a cd! I had no problem finishing this book. I read it in sections, and looked forward to my time alone with it.
What I liked might be hard to put into words....as one that's been on a Shamanic pagan path for many years, this book coincided very well with my beliefs and the ritual elements that it discussed, they are already my own, and I will vouch for their effectiveness. But it wasn't THAT... There's tidbits in this book, especially some of the words from the shamans interviewed for this book, that sort of flipped some switches I didn't know I had. I gathered some very AHA! insights from this book, which are well worth the cost in time and effort put into reading it. I felt PUSHED along on my current path, perhaps saving me unknown amounts of time and meditation on certain things. It's a bit surreal, it is by it's nature hard to express.
The CD tracks are also very effective - the author(s) have studied beats from many cultures, many Shamans, and have found that they have a lot in common, and that is what the trance drumming is based on.
I do think that Wiccans and Neopagans would enjoy this book as well. Some of the ritual elements certainly overlap.
This book was recently featured on a Coast to Coast radio show. If you read it, and like it, you might catch that on the web or something. One of the authors talked more about his personal journey and the effort of research that went into this. This book was well researched by a well educated scientist.