Rating: 
Summary: the subtitle should be:
Review: "my personal exploration of reincarnation cases." the number of pages spent discussing actual cases is few. the author spends much more time working through his own doubts on the subject and describing the scenery of the countries he visited. it is not badly written, but you will only througholy enjoy it if you are looking for a travel guide, an autobiography, and some information on reincarnation.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating material, not well written
Review: Although I thought the stories and evidence presented in the book was extremely interesting and convincing, the way it was written (somewhat like a journal from the skeptic's point of view) wasn't very appealing. If you are seriously considering buying this book though, keep in mind that I personally was looking for an easier, "can't put it down" sort of book. My "3 star rating" is the result of my craving for more drama than this offered.
Rating: 
Summary: Establishing Dr. Stevenson's credibility
Review: Although Tom Shroder's stated purpose for writing "Old
Souls" was to bring Dr. Ian Stevenson's work to life,
making it approachable by the lay audience, there is a
deeper purpose to it. The only rational (note I stress
rational) argument against Stevenson's findings is to
attack Stevenson's credibility. One must assume that
either he is fraudulent, that his methods are sloppy,
or that somehow he is not really getting the evidence
he's reporting.This is where Tom Shroder steps in and puts the final
seal on Stevenson's work. Because, what he's done is
to act as a *professional witness*, i.e., a
highly-credentialled, objective journalist,
to confirm the credibility of Stevenson's research. The book "Old Souls" fulfills this mission faithfully,
and the results of Shroder's investigation are
affirmative--Stevenson is, in fact, getting the
results he claims to be getting, and he is using the rigorous
methods he claims to be using. The point is not whether the cases provided in "Old Souls" are convincing in and of themselves. The point is that Shroder's
conclusion means that the *other* cases Stevenson
reports--as in "20 Cases Suggestive of
Reincarnation"--are *also* credible, and hence even
more convincing. And if Stevenson's credibility holds, then his
conclusions hold. And if his conclusions hold, then
the philosophical bases for about 90% of our predominant Western
culture--our science, religion, philosophy, relationships, everything--will have to be seriously revisited. Turned upside-down, actually. No wonder it's met with so much resistance.
Rating:
Summary: Open mind
Review: As a native Korean, I enjoyed the book despite my handicap in reading in English. It was interesting to know what Westerners think about reincarnation. This book certainly is based on scientific skepticism. I enjoyed the tours into Lebanon and India, where everyone must be a kind of philosopher to survive in such miserable conditions. Reincarnation is a question for life and death, endless cyclic struggles to maturity. One objection to the author is that scientific experiments are feasible for validating or falsifying the concept of reincarnation. Several years ago, I watched a commercial TV show made in Korea that compared the predictions by two persons who insisted that they can track down or can see the past lives of people. One person was a psychiatrist who uses hypnoanalysis, and the other was a psychie who allegedly was able to see the images of the past lives. In the sense of blind experiment, the descriptions of the past lives of several subjects by the two person were nearly coincident. If rate of coincidence is statistically significant, you may reject a null hypothesis, and vice versa. I do not believe that the TV show was a hoax. I expect some scientific studies will be published in the near future. although too many people are too skeptistic nowadays.
Rating:
Summary: Well-written - Shroder offered more than I hoped for.
Review: As a recommended book, I had set my expectations fairly high. I wasn't disappointed. Tom Shroder takes us on a ride through the dung fires and rutted roads of India, the bombed out buildings of Beirut, and the norms of agricultural America in the company of after-life researcher, Ian Stevenson. There are lots of reviews about this book presented on this page, so I'll bottom line it. Was I over-all satisfied with the book? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes. Did it present facts as facts and postulates as postulates? Yes. Personal likes - 1. Shroder presents his own skeptical anticipations before we go with him to explore Stevenson's encounters with children who remember pieces of past lives. 2. Shroder's writing style makes the journey well worth the read. 3. Evidence presented from the children's testimonies often raised my eyebrows. I especially was drawn into the birthmark incidents (where some children in this generation display birthmarks in the similar locations where they supposedly were mortally wounded in their prior life.) From what I could tell, Stevenson pulled no punches and told no lies. Worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Well-written - Shroder offered more than I hoped for.
Review: As a recommended book, I had set my expectations fairly high. I wasn't disappointed. Tom Shroder takes us on a ride through the dung fires and rutted roads of India, the bombed out buildings of Beirut, and the norms of agricultural America in the company of after-life researcher, Ian Stevenson. There are lots of reviews about this book presented on this page, so I'll bottom line it. Was I over-all satisfied with the book? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes. Did it present facts as facts and postulates as postulates? Yes. Personal likes - 1. Shroder presents his own skeptical anticipations before we go with him to explore Stevenson's encounters with children who remember pieces of past lives. 2. Shroder's writing style makes the journey well worth the read. 3. Evidence presented from the children's testimonies often raised my eyebrows. I especially was drawn into the birthmark incidents (where some children in this generation display birthmarks in the similar locations where they supposedly were mortally wounded in their prior life.) From what I could tell, Stevenson pulled no punches and told no lies. Worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: On average, balanced...
Review: but it falls short of any serious explanatory effort ( from thetraditional ones to the more "in" hypotheses based onnon-locality a la David Bohm's struggle for deciphering the universe). Be as it may, for a radical revision of our perception of Cosmos (and this book tacitly infers at this, notwithstanding the detective-thrill superficial layer ), much, much more has to be presented, because much, much more is at stake. As it is, we are now faced with, give or take, the following possibilities ( many of them virtually defunct ): 1. Materialist stance 2. Animist, with a few subvariants, spanning from some sort of immortality of one ( or more ) soul(s) among the entire spectrum of an individual, via survival in a tribe/group ( "antlike immortality" ), not as an individualized conscious subject ( because one hadn't been one during his earthly life, just a part of a group ), but as an "atom" or "cell" in group soul of a tribe, to the more familiar dungeon-like shadowy anemic quasi-existence in Hades/Sheol. 3. "Ethical immortality": after death, one either enters in a cataleptic hybernation, or is "judged" ( by his deeds or faith, doesn't matter ) once or many times. This is frequently set in a resurrectionist framework with heavens and hells. 4. Fall into matter & return into the source. This scenario can be staged only once, or many times ( reincarnation ). 5. In the case of reincarnation, it is either illusory ( Buddhism, Advaita ) or real. Also, it can be interpreted as a wheel meaninglessly circling, or as the crucial means of gaining experience, ethical perfection & so on ( various branches of theosophy ). Reincarnationist view refurbished as a simplified theosophy: Essentially, man is not a "soul", but "self". So, the structure of man is:physical/gross body, subtle body and atman (self) in/with causal body. Subtle body is storage of emotions and thoughts. In this world view the existence of "higher" worlds is presupposed; for the sake of brevity, physical, subtle and causal world with God as the source and all-encompassing Being. In the time of death, atman in causal body wrapped in emotions and thoughts (subtle body) leaves the physical body to disintegrate. After a while, the second death in the subtle world occurs ( with different "flavor" compared to the physical death; expansion of consciousness in dimensions & potency now dominant ), with disintegration of subtle body and all the information of the preceding life stored as a "computer record"/engram in causal body.Now, atman in causal body is living in the causal world, with eagle's view on phantasmagoria of existence, aware of all preceding lives and contemplating further opportunity for progress overseeing possible future lives as a possibility to process "karma" ( imprinted deeds in causal body, reflecting "good" and "bad" behavior). Two forces ( his inertia ( karma ); so, a deterministic factor "narrowing" possible choices ), and a will to incarnate to "improve" his "karmic" record; so, a free will element ) combine to drag him on downward-spiral into existence, first to obtain subtle, and physical body at the end. During this process centre of consciousness shifts from semi-divine at causal plane to progressively restricted on lower planes with final awareness of just the physical plane/world. New life begins. So, in this Weltanschauung the essence, atman in causal body "profits" from successive existences; it is, as Upanishads repeatedly insist, Lord, Inner Controller, Self-not the empirical psyche, who is just a "sheath" or coat in the string of existences. Personally, I remain skeptical.
Rating:
Summary: Scientific attempt to unviel truth beyond the West?
Review: Hi I enjoyed this valid attempt to establish a realm of reality mostly unthought of by those with a western scientific worldview, however the absence of insight from certain other disciplines and cultures, gave me the sense that contrary to appearence, this was a biased work which was unwilling to consider alternative reality objectively. Feel free to write for further comment. a1040watch@yahoo.com
Rating: 
Summary: Bait and Switch!
Review: I am so frustrated with this book, I feel like I am a victim of the old bait and switch game. The title, Old Souls the Scientific Evidence for Past Lives, along with the back cover would lead the average consumer into the belief that they are purchasing a book about SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE or at least anecdotal stories about reincarnation - not a travel journal! It's page after page of a travel journal as painful to endure as someone's stack of 253 vacation photos - the amount of pages.
Rating:
Summary: Bait and Switch!
Review: I am so frustrated with this book, I feel like I am a victim of the old bait and switch game. The title, Old Souls the Scientific Evidence for Past Lives, along with the back cover would lead the average consumer into the belief that they are purchasing a book about SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE or at least anecdotal stories about reincarnation - not a travel journal! It's page after page of a travel journal as painful to endure as someone's stack of 253 vacation photos - the amount of pages.
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