I just happened across this book at random in a used book store and I was actually rather surprised by its content after reading it. I originally didn’t have high hopes for this book, and while it isn’t by far the best, its still a rather decent work. This book does not go over the practices often found in shamanism, but instead goes over the impact mysticism and shamanic insight has on the society in which it occurs. The book also goes into the general mechanics of overall belief systems and mythology and how the relate to personal experiences, the imagination, and society as a whole. One thing I particularly like about this book is the author often affirms that people in the modern world should not simply jump and take from the cultures of the past, abandoning their own cultures , but instead learn a new way in their own culture to bring that part of vision and understanding into their own culture and in their own way. ( )

Full review located at http://paganbookreviews.com/2010/03/23/the-shamans-doorway-by-stephen-larsen/