I've always been interested in science, religion, and ancient cultures as well as neurology and the general workings of nature. Recently I've been doing a lot of research on the pineal gland, DMT, enlightenment, and Mayan/Aztec culture. A friend gave me this book with a little note that said "food for thought" and he was dead on. I was very surprised to see the majority of the above mentioned subjects discussed in a cohesive, plausible, and interesting way in this book. Narby has some outstanding ideas that lead to many unanswered questions (some of which we will probably never know the answers to) and I thoroughly enjoyed the read. Yea, he's not the best author in the world, but he does a good job and I didn't find myself bored at any point. I wish he'd gone into further detail describing his and others' hallucinogenic experiences and I honestly can't believe that he didn't go for a second try. If I had the chance to experience DMT in it's natural setting like he did, I'd definitely do it as many times as I could. That's beside the point, though. This is a very easy read. I sat down today and read the whole book in one sitting. The bulk of it is only 162 pages, but Narby provides a wealth of references to continue your search if you so desire. About half of the pages are reference materials to further your studies of any of the subjects you find in the book. I'm impressed with his theory and I hope he's right. I'm not sure if it changes anything for us at this stage, but it's a very powerful idea that has life changing potential. I recommend the read, even if you aren't into this sort of thing, just to get your brain working on something you probably wouldn't have thought of otherwise.

I'm surprised that no one before me has mentioned how poorly written this book is. It sounds like it was written by an eighth grader with no imagination. For somone who is discussing hallucinations, he would have done well to have been more colorul in his writing. It reads like a technical brochure. Half the things he talks about are of no consequence to the point he's trying to make.

I found the book to be well researched with over 90 pages of notes, indexes, and bibliography to support the 162 pages of the author's perspective and one possibility of how all life is interconnected. Myth or truth? Not easily answered because I don't think one could ever know now that most every inch of the planet has been explored and the primitive cultures "found" have been affected in too many ways. What impressed upon me most was that there is something profound that we can learn from studying and understanding these ancient ways. An interesting read.

Apparently countless civilizations have recognized the serpent or other double-helix like shapes as of primal importance, and consumption of hallucogenic drugs induces similar visions. Narby has taken this information and declared that humans are, and always have been, somehow aware of the DNA that underlies our existence. He also believes that DNA has intentions, can communicate with us, and it not of this world (he does not believe in natural selection, etc). As a geneticist with an interest in neurobiology and consciousness myself, I am aware that he has butchered much of the science he presents (for example, claiming that the circularity of natural selection makes it untestable). However he writes well, and I enjoyed reading about the anthropology (which appears well documented to my admittedly inexpert eye) that led him to derive this new mythology. I certainly don't agree with his conclusions, but I appreciate his intellectual creativity and sense of discovery.

Parts of this book were really interesting, and others were a bit tedious. Overall, the author's theory that Shamans are "seeing and learning" from plant DNA (that looks like snakes/serpents to them, hence the inordinate amount of ancient paintings that depict snakes) is certainly counter to conventional Western thought.

If you enjoy learning about alternative ideas, you'll enjoy this book. Who knows, it may be generally accurate -- Western science certainly can't explain the knowledge native Shamans have acquired.