It took award-winning journalist and ferocious sceptic Tom Shroder many years to persuade Dr Ian Stevenson--a distinguished psychiatrist and scholar who has travelled the world investigating and documenting more than 2,000 cases of young children who speak of remembering past lives--to allow him to observe his field of research. But, eventually Stevenson agreed to allow the cynical, hard-nosed journalist to accompany him first to the Lebanon, then to India and finally to the American South as he continued his research into this remarkable phenomena. And the result--Old Souls--is extraordinary. Of course, like Shroder, many are justifiably sceptical of the idea of reincarnation; after all, how often have we read of adults who, after being regressed under hypnosis, suddenly decide that they were once Cleopatra? But Stevenson's subjects--small children who, from the moment they can talk, spontaneously speak of past lives, beg to be taken "home", pine for husbands, lovers, children from another life--do not speak of vague lives from centuries ago but instead are able to give details of specific, identifiable, ordinary individuals who may have died merely months, weeks or hours before the birth of the child in question. Shroder, the journalist, constantly questions the discoveries: what if the parent had somehow suggested the idea to the child? What if the child had somehow picked up on the story of someone's death? What if the culture into which they were born encourages the idea of reincarnation? But Shroder, the man, struggles to hang on to his scepticism as Stevenson's plodding, methodical and repetitious modus operandi throws up more and more evidence to suggest that the children are telling the truth. Old Souls is a study of scientific evidence for past lives. It is also a study of a man whose dogged research into reincarnation has spanned more than three decades. But most importantly it is the story of children across the world whose lives are touched by a phenomenon that most of us will never truly understand. Be prepared to have your mind opened. --Susan Harrison

2004-12-09 Good book but just lacking that little bit....

As a believer in reincarnation but still quite sceptical, I found this book to be a very interesting read. The author does a good job of documenting the research of Ian Stevenson but it's the research that leaves me with doubts. I was expecting (and hoping for) case studies where the interviewee would be able to come up with verifiable facts without the possibility of intervention and subsequent coercion from their families to change the evidence to suit the facts. Of the few cases where this happened, I wasn't convinced of the results. Given that 90% of the cases in this book were secondary visits to past-life people originally spoken to 17 years previously, I feel that the chance to change the evidence to be too great to make the cases fully believable.
The book itself is well written and entertaining and worth reading, certainly raising questions about the whole aspect of reincarnation.
After reading the two books by Michael Newton (Destiny of Souls and Journey of Souls) I find it difficult to reconcile what he said (that souls usually take many years to prepare for their next incarnation and rarely incarnate back into the social group they have just left) with the plethora of cases in this book where the majority of souls reincarnate in the next village.
I'd recommend the two books mentioned above, the consistency throughout both is outstanding.