Ian Stevenson Knihy

Exploring the phenomenon of children recalling past lives, this book presents over 2,600 cases from various cultures, particularly in South Asia and West Africa. The author, a psychiatrist and leading investigator, highlights 65 detailed reports where children's memories align with specific details of their claimed former identities, including family and manner of death. Notably, connections between these memories and physical traits like birthmarks are examined, inviting readers to reconsider the validity of reincarnation beyond Western skepticism.

This popular examination of research into children's reports of past-life memories describes a collection of 2,500 cases at the University of Virginia that investigators have carefully studied since Dr. Ian Stevenson began the work more than forty years ago. The children usually begin talking about a past life at the age of two or three and may talk about a previous family or the way they died in a previous life. Their statements have often been found to be accurate for one particular deceased individual, and some children have recognized members of the previous family. A number have also had birthmarks or defects that matched wounds on the body of the deceased person. Life Before Life presents the cases in a straightforward way and explores the possibility that consciousness may continue after the brain dies. It is a provocative and fascinating book that can challenge and ultimately change readers' understandings about life and death.