Reviews
"In this very elegant book, Dr. Tucker offers the most convincing scientific evidence for the fact that our consciousness survives physical death. And indeed, takes quantum leaps of creativity in the form of reincarnation. The model that Dr. Tucker presents opens a new vision of who we are, limitless beings that fill up all of space and time."--Deepak Chopra, author of Life After Death: The Burden of Proof "[A][ solid case for reincarnation…. Tucker introduces powerful grounds for credulous speculation."-- Booklist "Jim Tucker gives us a clear, concise and eminently rational insight into a 40 year investigation of what is unquestionably the best evidence for the existence of reincarnation. We are lucky to have in him a worthy successor to Ian Stevenson."--TOM SHRODER, author of Old Souls: Compelling Evidence From Children Who Remember Past Lives "Anyone with an open mind, on reading Dr. Jim B. Tucker's Life Before Life ,will realize that our conventional concepts of life and death are ripe for revision. The possibilities raised by this book for human destiny are as hopeful as the current view is grim. Life Before Life is extraordinarily important. "-- Larry Dossey, M.D. , author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words "With his training as a pediatric psychiatrist, and the mind of an inquiring scientist, Dr. Jim Tucker takes a fresh look at one of life's most intriguing questions: 'Does consciousness survive death?' Through the hundreds of case studies of his predecessor, Dr. Ian Stevenson, and his own cases, Dr. Tucker adds new insight to this amazing research, and draws us closer to understanding this perennial mystery."--CAROL BOWMAN, author of Children's Past Lives and Return From Heaven " Life Before Life adds to the increasingly impressive science of consciousness and the continuity of mind/memory…this book is the tip of an important iceberg that will continue to expand our knowledge of the spiritual reality of Life."--C. NORMAN SHEALY, M.D., Ph.D., President, Holos University Graduate Seminary; Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association; author of Youthful Aging--Secret of the Fountain " Jim B. Tucker's fine presentation of Ian Stevenson's decades of rigorous scientific research into evidence of children's apparent past-life recollections expresses the true spirit of scientific skepticism, rather than the knee-jerk materialism that all too often waves that proud banner."--B. ALAN WALLACE, President of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, "In this very elegant book, Dr. Tucker offers the most convincing scientific evidence for the fact that our consciousness survives physical death. And indeed, takes quantum leaps of creativity in the form of reincarnation. The model that Dr. Tucker presents opens a new vision of who we are, limitless beings that fill up all of space and time."--Deepak Chopra, author of Life After Death: The Burden of Proof "[A][ solid case for reincarnation…. Tucker introduces powerful grounds for credulous speculation."- Booklist "Jim Tucker gives us a clear, concise and eminently rational insight into a 40 year investigation of what is unquestionably the best evidence for the existence of reincarnation. We are lucky to have in him a worthy successor to Ian Stevenson."-TOM SHRODER, author of Old Souls: Compelling Evidence From Children Who Remember Past Lives "Anyone with an open mind, on reading Dr. Jim B. Tucker's Life Before Life , will realize that our conventional concepts of life and death are ripe for revision. The possibilities raised by this book for human destiny are as hopeful as the current view is grim. Life Before Life is extraordinarily important. "- Larry Dossey, M.D. , author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words "With his training as a pediatric psychiatrist, and the mind of an inquiring scientist, Dr. Jim Tucker takes a fresh look at one of life's most intriguing questions: 'Does consciousness survive death?' Through the hundreds of case studies of his predecessor, Dr. Ian Stevenson, and his own cases, Dr. Tucker adds new insight to this amazing research, and draws us closer to understanding this perennial mystery."-CAROL BOWMAN, author of Children's Past Lives and Return From Heaven " Life Before Life adds to the increasingly impressive science of consciousness and the continuity of mind/memory…this book is the tip of an important iceberg that will continue to expand our knowledge of the spiritual reality of Life."-C. NORMAN SHEALY, M.D., Ph.D., President, Holos University Graduate Seminary; Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association; author of Youthful Aging-Secret of the Fountain " Jim B. Tucker's fine presentation of Ian Stevenson's decades of rigorous scientific research into evidence of children's apparent past-life recollections expresses the true spirit of scientific skepticism, rather than the knee-jerk materialism that all too often waves that proud banner."-B. ALAN WALLACE, President of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, "In this very elegant book, Dr. Tucker offers the most convincing scientific evidence for the fact that our consciousness survives physical death. And indeed, takes quantum leaps of creativity in the form of reincarnation. The model that Dr. Tucker presents opens a new vision of who we are, limitless beings that fill up all of space and time."--Deepak Chopra, author of Life After Death: The Burden of Proof "[A][ solid case for reincarnation…. Tucker introduces powerful grounds for credulous speculation."-Booklist "Jim Tucker gives us a clear, concise and eminently rational insight into a 40 year investigation of what is unquestionably the best evidence for the existence of reincarnation. We are lucky to have in him a worthy successor to Ian Stevenson."-TOM SHRODER, author ofOld Souls: Compelling Evidence From Children Who Remember Past Lives "Anyone with an open mind, on reading Dr. Jim B. Tucker'sLife Before Life,will realize that our conventional concepts of life and death are ripe for revision. The possibilities raised by this book for human destiny are as hopeful as the current view is grim. Life Before Lifeis extraordinarily important."-Larry Dossey, M.D., author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things, Reinventing Medicine,andHealing Words "With his training as a pediatric psychiatrist, and the mind of an inquiring scientist, Dr. Jim Tucker takes a fresh look at one of life's most intriguing questions: 'Does consciousness survive death?' Through the hundreds of case studies of his predecessor, Dr. Ian Stevenson, and his own cases, Dr. Tucker adds new insight to this amazing research, and draws us closer to understanding this perennial mystery."-CAROL BOWMAN, author ofChildren's Past LivesandReturn From Heaven "Life Before Lifeadds to the increasingly impressive science of consciousness and the continuity of mind/memory…this book is the tip of an important iceberg that will continue to expand our knowledge of the spiritual reality of Life."-C. NORMAN SHEALY, M.D., Ph.D., President, Holos University Graduate Seminary; Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association; author ofYouthful Aging-Secret of the Fountain "Jim B. Tucker's fine presentation of Ian Stevenson's decades of rigorous scientific research into evidence of children's apparent past-life recollections expresses the true spirit of scientific skepticism, rather than the knee-jerk materialism that all too often waves that proud banner."-B. ALAN WALLACE, President of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, "In this very elegant book, Dr. Tucker offers the most convincing scientific evidence for the fact that our consciousness survives physical death. And indeed, takes quantum leaps of creativity in the form of reincarnation. The model that Dr. Tucker presents opens a new vision of who we are, limitless beings that fill up all of space and time."--Deepak Chopra, author of Life After Death: The Burden of Proof "[A][ solid case for reincarnation…. Tucker introduces powerful grounds for credulous speculation."--Booklist "Jim Tucker gives us a clear, concise and eminently rational insight into a 40 year investigation of what is unquestionably the best evidence for the existence of reincarnation. We are lucky to have in him a worthy successor to Ian Stevenson."--TOM SHRODER, author ofOld Souls: Compelling Evidence From Children Who Remember Past Lives "Anyone with an open mind, on reading Dr. Jim B. Tucker'sLife Before Life,will realize that our conventional concepts of life and death are ripe for revision. The possibilities raised by this book for human destiny are as hopeful as the current view is grim. Life Before Lifeis extraordinarily important."--Larry Dossey, M.D., author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things, Reinventing Medicine,andHealing Words "With his training as a pediatric psychiatrist, and the mind of an inquiring scientist, Dr. Jim Tucker takes a fresh look at one of life's most intriguing questions: 'Does consciousness survive death?' Through the hundreds of case studies of his predecessor, Dr. Ian Stevenson, and his own cases, Dr. Tucker adds new insight to this amazing research, and draws us closer to understanding this perennial mystery."--CAROL BOWMAN, author ofChildren's Past LivesandReturn From Heaven "Life Before Lifeadds to the increasingly impressive science of consciousness and the continuity of mind/memory…this book is the tip of an important iceberg that will continue to expand our knowledge of the spiritual reality of Life."--C. NORMAN SHEALY, M.D., Ph.D., President, Holos University Graduate Seminary; Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association; author ofYouthful Aging--Secret of the Fountain "Jim B. Tucker's fine presentation of Ian Stevenson's decades of rigorous scientific research into evidence of children's apparent past-life recollections expresses the true spirit of scientific skepticism, rather than the knee-jerk materialism that all too often waves that proud banner."--B. ALAN WALLACE, President of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, "In this very elegant book, Dr. Tucker offers the most convincing scientific evidence for the fact that our consciousness survives physical death. And indeed, takes quantum leaps of creativity in the form of reincarnation. The model that Dr. Tucker presents opens a new vision of who we are, limitless beings that fill up all of space and time."--Deepak Chopra, author of Life After Death: The Burden of Proof "[A][ solid case for reincarnation'. Tucker introduces powerful grounds for credulous speculation."-- Booklist "Jim Tucker gives us a clear, concise and eminently rational insight into a 40 year investigation of what is unquestionably the best evidence for the existence of reincarnation. We are lucky to have in him a worthy successor to Ian Stevenson."--TOM SHRODER, author of Old Souls: Compelling Evidence From Children Who Remember Past Lives "Anyone with an open mind, on reading Dr. Jim B. Tucker's Life Before Life , will realize that our conventional concepts of life and death are ripe for revision. The possibilities raised by this book for human destiny are as hopeful as the current view is grim. Life Before Life is extraordinarily important. "-- Larry Dossey, M.D. , author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words "With his training as a pediatric psychiatrist, and the mind of an inquiring scientist, Dr. Jim Tucker takes a fresh look at one of life's most intriguing questions: 'Does consciousness survive death?' Through the hundreds of case studies of his predecessor, Dr. Ian Stevenson, and his own cases, Dr. Tucker adds new insight to this amazing research, and draws us closer to understanding this perennial mystery."--CAROL BOWMAN, author of Children's Past Lives and Return From Heaven " Life Before Life adds to the increasingly impressive science of consciousness and the continuity of mind/memory'this book is the tip of an important iceberg that will continue to expand our knowledge of the spiritual reality of Life."--C. NORMAN SHEALY, M.D., Ph.D., President, Holos University Graduate Seminary; Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association; author of Youthful Aging--Secret of the Fountain " Jim B. Tucker's fine presentation of Ian Stevenson's decades of rigorous scientific research into evidence of children's apparent past-life recollections expresses the true spirit of scientific skepticism, rather than the knee-jerk materialism that all too often waves that proud banner."--B. ALAN WALLACE, President of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, "In this very elegant book, Dr. Tucker offers the most convincing scientific evidence for the fact that our consciousness survives physical death. And indeed, takes quantum leaps of creativity in the form of reincarnation. The model that Dr. Tucker presents opens a new vision of who we are, limitless beings that fill up all of space and time."--Deepak Chopra, author of Life After Death: The Burden of Proof "[A][ solid case for reincarnation.... Tucker introduces powerful grounds for credulous speculation."-- Booklist "Jim Tucker gives us a clear, concise and eminently rational insight into a 40 year investigation of what is unquestionably the best evidence for the existence of reincarnation. We are lucky to have in him a worthy successor to Ian Stevenson."--TOM SHRODER, author of Old Souls: Compelling Evidence From Children Who Remember Past Lives "Anyone with an open mind, on reading Dr. Jim B. Tucker's Life Before Life , will realize that our conventional concepts of life and death are ripe for revision. The possibilities raised by this book for human destiny are as hopeful as the current view is grim. Life Before Life is extraordinarily important. "-- Larry Dossey, M.D. ,author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words "With his training as a pediatric psychiatrist, and the mind of an inquiring scientist, Dr. Jim Tucker takesa fresh look at one of life's most intriguing questions:'Does consciousness survive death?' Through the hundreds of case studies of his predecessor, Dr. Ian Stevenson,and his own cases, Dr. Tucker adds new insight to this amazing research, anddraws us closer to understanding thisperennial mystery."--CAROL BOWMAN, author of Children's Past Lives and Return From Heaven " Life Before Life adds to theincreasingly impressive science of consciousness and the continuity of mind/memory...this book is the tip of an important iceberg that will continue to expand our knowledge of the spiritualreality of Life."--C. NORMAN SHEALY, M.D., Ph.D., President, Holos University Graduate Seminary; Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association; author of Youthful Aging--Secret of the Fountain " Jim B. Tucker's fine presentation of Ian Stevenson's decades of rigorous scientific research into evidence of children's apparent past-life recollections expresses the true spirit of scientific skepticism, rather than the knee-jerk materialism that all too often waves that proud banner."--B. ALAN WALLACE, President of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, [A][ solid case for reincarnation…. Tucker introduces powerful grounds for credulous speculation."-Booklist "Jim Tucker gives us a clear, concise and eminently rational insight into a 40 year investigation of what is unquestionably the best evidence for the existence of reincarnation. We are lucky to have in him a worthy successor to Ian Stevenson."-TOM SHRODER, author of Old Souls: Compelling Evidence From Children Who Remember Past Lives "Anyone with an open mind, on reading Dr. Jim B. Tucker's Life Before Life, will realize that our conventional concepts of life and death are ripe for revision. The possibilities raised by this book for human destiny are as hopeful as the current view is grim. Life Before Life is extraordinarily important."-Larry Dossey, M.D., author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words "With his training as a pediatric psychiatrist, and the mind of an inquiring scientist, Dr. Jim Tucker takes a fresh look at one of life's most intriguing questions: 'Does consciousness survive death?' Through the hundreds of case studies of his predecessor, Dr. Ian Stevenson, and his own cases, Dr. Tucker adds new insight to this amazing research, and draws us closer to understanding this perennial mystery."-CAROL BOWMAN, author of Children's Past Lives and Return From Heaven "Life Before Life adds to the increasingly impressive science of consciousness and the continuity of mind/memory…this book is the tip of an important iceberg that will continue to expand our knowledge of the spiritual reality of Life."-C. NORMAN SHEALY, M.D., Ph.D., President, Holos University Graduate Seminary; Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association; author of Youthful Aging-Secret of the Fountain "Jim B. Tucker's fine presentation of Ian Stevenson's decades of rigorous scientific research into evidence of children's apparent past-life recollections expresses the true spirit of scientific skepticism, rather than the knee-jerk materialism that all too often waves that proud banner."-B. ALAN WALLACE, President of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, "In this very elegant book, Dr. Tucker offers the most convincing scientific evidence for the fact that our consciousness survives physical death. And indeed, takes quantum leaps of creativity in the form of reincarnation. The model that Dr. Tucker presents opens a new vision of who we are, limitless beings that fill up all of space and time."--Deepak Chopra, author of Life After Death: The Burden of Proof "[A][ solid case for reincarnation.... Tucker introduces powerful grounds for credulous speculation."-- Booklist "Jim Tucker gives us a clear, concise and eminently rational insight into a 40 year investigation of what is unquestionably the best evidence for the existence of reincarnation. We are lucky to have in him a worthy successor to Ian Stevenson."--TOM SHRODER, author of Old Souls: Compelling Evidence From Children Who Remember Past Lives "Anyone with an open mind, on reading Dr. Jim B. Tucker's Life Before Life , will realize that our conventional concepts of life and death are ripe for revision. The possibilities raised by this book for human destiny are as hopeful as the current view is grim. Life Before Life is extraordinarily important. "-- Larry Dossey, M.D. , author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words "With his training as a pediatric psychiatrist, and the mind of an inquiring scientist, Dr. Jim Tucker takes a fresh look at one of life's most intriguing questions: 'Does consciousness survive death?' Through the hundreds of case studies of his predecessor, Dr. Ian Stevenson, and his own cases, Dr. Tucker adds new insight to this amazing research, and draws us closer to understanding this perennial mystery."--CAROL BOWMAN, author of Children's Past Lives and Return From Heaven " Life Before Life adds to the increasingly impressive science of consciousness and the continuity of mind/memory...this book is the tip of an important iceberg that will continue to expand our knowledge of the spiritual reality of Life."--C. NORMAN SHEALY, M.D., Ph.D., President, Holos University Graduate Seminary; Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association; author of Youthful Aging--Secret of the Fountain " Jim B. Tucker's fine presentation of Ian Stevenson's decades of rigorous scientific research into evidence of children's apparent past-life recollections expresses the true spirit of scientific skepticism, rather than the knee-jerk materialism that all too often waves that proud banner."--B. ALAN WALLACE, President of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies
Synopsis
For the past forty years, doctors at the University of Virginia Medical Center have conducted research into young children's reports of past-life memories. Dr. Ian Stevenson, the founder of this work, has always written for a scientific audience. Now, in this provocative and fascinating book, Dr. Jim B. Tucker, a child psychiatrist who currently directs the research, shares these studies with the general public. Life Before Life is a landmark work-one that has the potential to challenge and ultimately change our understandings about life and death.Children who report past-life memories typically begin talking spontaneously about a previous life when they are two to three years old. Some talk about the life of a deceased family member, while others describe the life of a stranger. They may recount details about previous family members, events in the previous life, or the way they died in that life. The children tend to show a strong emotional involvement with the apparent memories and often cry to be taken to the previous family. In many cases, parents have taken their children to the places they named, where they found that an individual had died whose life matched the details given by the child. During the visits, some children have recognized family members or friends from that individual's life. Many children have had birthmarks that matched wounds on the body of the deceased individual.Researchers have studied more than 2500 such cases, and their careful investigations have produced an impressive body of work. JAMA , the Journal of the American Medical Association, stated in a review of one of Dr. Stevenson's scientific books that, "in regard to reincarnation he has painstakingly and unemotionally collected a detailed series of cases . . . in which the evidence is difficult to explain on any other grounds." Life Before Life explores the various features of this world-wide phenomenon, describing numerous cases along the way. We meet a boy in Michigan who, after being born with three birthmarks that matched wounds on his deceased brother, begins talking about events from the brother's life; a boy in Turkey who gives a number of accurate details, including the name, of a man who lived 500 miles away and died fifty years before the boy was born; and a girl in Sri Lanka who is able to recognize the family members of a deceased stranger as they are presented to her one by one, giving specifics about their lives that she could not have known from their appearance.Dr. Tucker presents this material in a straightforward way, relating extraordinary stories that have been amassed with a scientific approach. He then considers how best to interpret the evidence, and he lets readers reach their own conclusions-which, for many, will be profound., From the editors: "This book began as a broad set of interests in the rhetoric of health and medicine. Between 2004 and 2007, the authors in this book met in various configurations at the National Communication Association, Rhetorical Society of America, and Society for Social Studies of Science conferences. The conversations there began to produce a set of questions that emerged time and again. We began to think of these as "rhetorical questions of health and medicine" and recognized that, despite the diversity of rhetorical text, our questions emerged from a common disciplinary tendency, rhetoric and its subfield studying the rhetoric of health and medicine. Crucially, at the beginning of 2008, we were able to come together with the support of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of British Columbia. As a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Institute, Judy Segal had dedicated time and energy to the questions at the foundation of this volume, and she used the generous support of the Institute to organize our workshop ("Rhetoric and Knowledge-Making in Health and Medicine"). We gathered in Vancouver to speak with a range of researcher/scholars from disciplines across the university (in humanities, social sciences, medicine, and health sciences)-an audience that was drawn, it turned out, to the ability of a rhetorical approach to ask questions of health and medicine that other researchers had not always considered; these were, what Judy had called, "prior questions," questions of meaning that usefully can be posed in advance of questions of health and medical practice. We also gathered in Vancouver, though, to speak with each other. We spent the second day of our workshop in a room overlooking English Bay, with food, talking about the papers we had brought to our meeting, and picking up conversations we had started all over the world and had been able to continue, to that point, only at the next conference or meeting, or, of course, on email. For this opportunity t, For the past forty years, doctors at the University of Virginia Medical Center have conducted research into young children's reports of past-life memories. Dr. Ian Stevenson, the founder of this work, has always written for a scientific audience. Now, in this provocative and fascinating book, Dr. Jim B. Tucker, a child psychiatrist who currently directs the research, shares these studies with the general public. Life Before Life is a landmark work-one that has the potential to challenge and ultimately change our understandings about life and death. Children who report past-life memories typically begin talking spontaneously about a previous life when they are two to three years old. Some talk about the life of a deceased family member, while others describe the life of a stranger. They may recount details about previous family members, events in the previous life, or the way they died in that life. The children tend to show a strong emotional involvement with the apparent memories and often cry to be taken to the previous family. In many cases, parents have taken their children to the places they named, where they found that an individual had died whose life matched the details given by the child. During the visits, some children have recognized family members or friends from that individual's life. Many children have had birthmarks that matched wounds on the body of the deceased individual. Researchers have studied more than 2500 such cases, and their careful investigations have produced an impressive body of work. JAMA , the Journal of the American Medical Association, stated in a review of one of Dr. Stevenson's scientific books that, "in regard to reincarnation he has painstakingly and unemotionally collected a detailed series of cases . . . in which the evidence is difficult to explain on any other grounds." Life Before Life explores the various features of this world-wide phenomenon, describing numerous cases along the way. We meet a boy in Michigan who, after being born with three birthmarks that matched wounds on his deceased brother, begins talking about events from the brother's life; a boy in Turkey who gives a number of accurate details, including the name, of a man who lived 500 miles away and died fifty years before the boy was born; and a girl in Sri Lanka who is able to recognize the family members of a deceased stranger as they are presented to her one by one, giving specifics about their lives that she could not have known from their appearance. Dr. Tucker presents this material in a straightforward way, relating extraordinary stories that have been amassed with a scientific approach. He then considers how best to interpret the evidence, and he lets readers reach their own conclusions-which, for many, will be profound.
