Children's Past Lives

Children's Past Lives
Author Carol Bowman
Language English
Subject Reincarnation, Paranormal
Genre Non-fiction
Publisher Bantam
Publication date
 1997
Pages 368 pp
ISBN ISBN 978-0-553-57485-2, ISBN 0-553-57485-X
OCLC 39668467
Followed by Return From Heaven

Children's Past Lives: How Past Life Memories Affect Your Child is a 1997 book by Carol Bowman. It a non-academic book, that was the first to explore the putative phenomenon of children’s spontaneous past life memories.[1]

In the book, Bowman suggests that many children will speak spontaneously (without hypnosis) of their past lives, but not all unusual statements or stories from children are past life memories. Most of the time, children are imitating storybooks, TV or movies. But sometimes a child may talk about a genuine past life.[2] Bowman says there are four ways to tell when a child may be talking about a previous life: look for a matter-of-fact tone, consistency over time, knowledge beyond experience, as well as corresponding behavior and traits.[3]

The book received a positive review from Publishers Weekly and was recommended to readers of the new age community.[4] However, philosopher and skeptic Robert Todd Carroll heavily criticized the book and described it as a "firsthand testimony to ignorance of science, to gullibility and, above all, to wishful thinking."[5]

Carol Bowman's second book, Return from Heaven, published in 2001, focuses specifically on children who appear to have reincarnated in their own previous family or extended family.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Carol Bowman". Retrieved 2014-10-11.
  2. ↑ Book review: Children's Past Lives (Archive copy at the Wayback Machine)
  3. ↑ Elisabeth Sherwin. (1997). "Bowman's Book Explores Children's Past Lives". Retrieved 2014-10-11.
  4. ↑ "Children's Past Lives: How Past Life Memories Affect Your Child" Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2014-10-11.
  5. ↑ Robert Todd Carroll. (2010). "Mass Media Bunk". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2014-10-11.