Resumo de Children Who Have Lived Before

As the title implies, Children Who Have Lived Before (published in 2000), looks at the topic of reincarnation by highlighting cases of children who claim to have had previous lives. The book refers to a great many such cases, mainly from Asian countries where reincarnation is less of a minority belief than it is in the West.The book is structured so that the chapters look at different aspects of these children?s claims. For example, there are sections which look at such topics as children who are re-born into the same family, children who are re-born as the opposite sex, children re-born with distinctive birthmarks or deformities that relate to their death in a previous life and children who display panic attacks. Having read through all these cases, no one would dispute the author?s thoroughness. However, for all the author?s research and knowledge, one has to say that this is a disappointing book.The endless case studies make it clear that the author?s intention is to ?prove? reincarnation to the reader. However, by ploughing through case after case, the book does seem to descend into anecdote; anecdote which the author claims as irrefutable evidence. He also makes wild suppositions about the afterlife and the meaning behind certain aspects of life, based on no more than his personal supposition.A much more satisfying approach for anyone interested in the topic would be that taken by Dr. Weiss in his work, Many Lives, Many Masters. Here, Dr. Weiss takes only one case of reincarnation, but investigates it thoroughly. The fact that Trutz Hardo, the author of Children Who Have Lived Before, amasses as many cases as possible weakens his argument by its superficiality, rather than strengthens it by the amount of evidence.The evangelical zeal of the author also detracts from the book. His constant statement that reincarnation has been scientifically proven beyond any doubt jars with the reader, as it obvious that nothing in the metaphysical world has been proven to such an extent. Surely, the evidence should be presented and the reader allowed to make up his or her own mind. The author?s idolisation of Professor Stevenson - whose work he has drawn on extensively - is also off-putting; Mr Hardo insisting that Stevenson be awarded te Nobel Prize.If you are interested in the subject of reincarnation, then this book presents a large number of cases to the reader. However, it is doubtful whether one would actually learn a great deal on the subject through reading this book.

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