Middle of the road

"Past Lives" by Peter and Elizabeth Fenwick was one of the first books on the paranormal I read. It's relatively light reading, and obviously intended for the general public.

As an introduction to the subject of (purported) past-life memories and reincarnation cases, the book could be useful to both sceptics and true believers.

The Fenwicks fall somewhere in the middle: they are sceptical to reincarnation, but seem to believe in other paranormal phenomena, including the existence of discarnate entities. Thus, they tend to explain one seemingly supernatural phenomenon (past-life memories) in terms of another one (telepathic contact with spirits, occult "place memories", etc).

This will inevitable strike people with CSICOP-ish sympathies as too far out, while anyone with a keen eye to Adyar or Eckankar might find this little work too sceptical!

Still, "Past Lives" does give a good overview of the field. All the classic reincarnation cases are mentioned: Bridey Murphy, Shanti Devi, the bizarre tale of Arthur Guirdham and the Cathars, etc. There are chapters on past-life regression, reincarnation dreams, "children who remember" and the research of Ian Stevenson. The authors also mention a number of cases from their own files. The last chapter discusses possible explanations, and refers to the works of both Rupert Sheldrake and Amit Goswami, who would both be considered too "new agey" by the sceptics.

All in all, I'd say "Past Lives" is a relatively good book. I'll end with Voltaire's classical quip: "Being born twice is no more remarkable, than being born once"...