The concept of reincarnation has been around for thousands of years, and is a part of many religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. In addition to these religious beliefs, many people believe it offers an explanation for the mysteries of life. There are children that claim to remember previous lives as adults or even animals. These claimed memories might affect the development of the child and be incorporated into the child's personality. This book presents an in-depth look at Dr. Stevenson's forty years studying children who claim to remember previous lives. It is an informative, professional read that dispels common misconceptions about reincarnation and offers an open-minded perspective. It provides an overview of the history of the belief in and evidence for reincarnation, with new material relating to birthmarks and birth defects, independent replication studies, and recent developments in genetic study. It also covers research on children, the methods used, the cases studied, and the analyses of the data. The idea of reincarnation is explored as an explanation for some unsolved problems in psychology and medicine. • INTRODUCTION TO REINCARNATION--Provides an introduction to the study of reincarnation, including a discussion of the belief in reincarnation. • VARIATIONS IN DIFFERENT CULTURES--Looks at how reincarnation is viewed in different cultures around the world and how it has changed over time. • EXPLANATORY VALUE OF THE IDEA OF REINCARNATION--The idea of reincarnation has been around for thousands of years, and many people believe it offers an explanation for the mysteries of life. • TYPES OF EVIDENCE FOR REINCARNATION--There are many types of evidence for reincarnation, including anecdotal evidence, case studies, and research studies. • TYPICAL CASES OF CHILDREN--Looks at typical cases of children who remember previous lives, with a focus on their characteristics. • METHODS OF RESEARCH--Discusses the methods of research and the various ways in which previous-life memories can be investigated. • ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF CASES--Analyzes a number of cases from the author's 40-year career.

No man dies insane or unconscious, as some physiologists assert. Even a madman, or one in a fit of delirium tremens, will enjoy perfect lucidity at the moment of death, though unable to say so to those present. A man may often appear dead, yet from the last throbbing of his heart, and the moment when the last spark of animal heat leaves the body, the brain thinks and the Ego lives over his whole life over again. Speak in whispers, ye, who assist at a death-bed and find yourselves in the solemn presence of Death. Keep quiet just after Death has laid her clammy hand upon the body. Speak in whispers, I say, lest you disturb the quiet ripple of thought, and hinder the busy work of Past casting its reflection upon the Veil of Future. At the end of the seventh Round, at the threshold of the long Nirvana that awaits us after we leave Globe Z, we will remember our collective lives on earth. Irretrievably bad must be that Ego that yields no mite from its fifth Principle, and has to be annihilated in the Eighth Sphere. And even the shells of those good men, whose pages will not be found missing in the great book of lives, will regain their remembrance and self-consciousness after the sixth and seventh principles, enriched with the essence of the fifth, have gone to their gestation period. The flame has left that candle forever; but are the particles that moved, their motion producing the objective flame, annihilated or dispersed for all that? Never. Relight the candle, and the same particles drawn by mutual affinity will return to the wick. Memory is one thing, and perceptive faculties quite another. A madman may remember very clearly some portions of his past life; yet he is unable to perceive anything in its true light because the higher portion of his Manas and Buddhi are paralysed in him. That which will “perceive” in the shell is something that perceives with a borrowed or reflected light. Personal consciousness does always vanish at death; and when the centre of memory is re-established in the shell, it will remember and speak out its recollections but through the brain of some living human being. At the seventh Round men will become gods; and animals, intelligent beings.

Has your child lived before? In this fascinating, controversial, and groundbreaking book, Carol Bowman reveals overwhelming evidence of past life memories in children. Not only are such experiences real, they are far more common than most people realize. Bowman's extraordinary investigation was sparked when her young son, Chase, described his own past-life death on a Civil War battlefield--an account so accurate it was authenticated by an expert historian. Even more astonishing, Chase's chronic eczema and phobia of loud noises completely disappeared after he had the memory. Inspired by Chase's dramatic healing, Bowman compiled dozens of cases and wrote this comprehensive study to explain how very young children remember their past lives, spontaneously and naturally. In Children's Past Lives, she tells how to distinguish between a true past life memory and a fantasy, offers practical advice to parents on how to respond to a past life memory, and shows how to foster the spiritual and healing benefits of these experiences. Perhaps the most moving, convincing, and best-documented evidence yet for life after death, Children's Past Lives will stand alongside the classics of Betty J. Eadie, Raymond Moody, and Brian Weiss in its power to comfort, uplift, and transform our thinking about life after death

Child psychiatrist Dr. Ian Stevenson describes what researchers at the University of Virginia Medical Center have learned by studying young children's reports of past-life memories.

Cases of responsive xenoglossy thus add to the evidence concerning the survival of human personality after death.

Many cultures accept that a person may die and then come back to life in another form, but Westerners have traditionally rejected the idea. Recently, however, surveys conducted in Europe indicate a substantial increase in the number of Europeans who believe in reincarnation, and numerous claims of reincarnation have been reported. This book examines particular cases in Europe that are suggestive of reincarnation. The first section provides a brief history of the belief in reincarnation among Europeans. The second section considers eight cases from the first third of the twentieth century that were not independently investigated, but were reported and sometimes published by the persons concerned. The third section covers 32 cases from the second half of the twentieth century that were investigated by the author. Many of these cases involved either children who exhibited unusual behavior attributed to a previous life, or adults who experienced recurrent or vivid dreams attributed to a previous life. In the fourth section, the author compares European cases suggestive of reincarnation with those of other countries and cultures.

Dr. Tucker, in a follow-up to his book Life Before Life, explores American cases of young children who report memories of previous lives in the New York Times bestseller, Return to Life. A first-person account of Jim Tucker's experiences with a number of extraordinary children with memories of past lives, Return to Life focuses mostly on American cases, presenting each family's story and describing his investigation. His goal is to determine what happened—what the child has said, how the parents have reacted, whether the child's statements match the life of a particular deceased person, and whether the child could have learned such information through normal means. Tucker has found cases that provide persuasive evidence that some children do, in fact, possess memories of previous lives. Among others, readers will meet a boy who describes a previous life on a small island. When Tucker takes him to that island, he finds that some details eerily match the boy's statements and some do not. Another boy points to a photograph from the 1930s and says he used to be one of the men in it. Once the laborious efforts to identify that man are successful, many of the child's numerous memories are found to match the details of his life. Soon after his second birthday, a third boy begins expressing memories of being a World War II pilot who is eventually identified. Thought-provoking and captivating, Return to Life urges its readers to think about life and death and reincarnation, and reflect about their own consciousness and spirituality.