European Cases of the Reincarnation Type [Hardcover]

Ian Stevenson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786414588 | ISBN-13: 978-0786414581 | Publication Date: July 2003

Many cultures accept that a person may die and then come back to life in another form, but westerners have traditionally rejected the idea. Recently, however, surveys conducted in Europe indicate a substantial increase in the number of Europeans who believe in reincarnation, and multiple claims of reincarnation have been reported.

This book examines particular cases in Europe that are suggestive of reincarnation. The first section provides a brief history of the belief in reincarnation among Europeans. The second section considers eight cases from the first third of the twentieth century that were not independently investigated, but were reported and sometimes published by the persons concerned. The third section covers 32 cases from the second half of the twentieth century that were investigated by the author. Many of these cases involved either children who exhibited unusual behavior attributed to a previous life, or adults who experienced recurrent or vivid dreams attributed to a previous life. In the fourth section, the author compares European cases suggestive of reincarnation with those of other countries and cultures.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A research professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia, Ian Stevenson, M.D., is also the author of Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation (2001).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 278 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786414588
• ISBN-13: 978-0786414581
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,767,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for anyone interested in European CORTs, February 3, 2006

By 

Titus Rivas (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type (Hardcover)

American psychiatrist Dr. Ian Stevenson is especially renowned for his world wide reincarnation research among young children. Most of Stevenson's publications deal with non-Western subjects, especially in Asia. This is related to the frequency in which memories of previous lives among such children are reported. But also to this quest for cases with birthmarks and birth defects that often seem to refer to the death at the end of the previous incarnation. For these reasons, dr. Stevenson needed about 30 years to finish this latest book, dedicated to European cases.
The subjects of investigation in this book live(d) in Great Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Germany, France, Austria and the Netherlands. Apart from young children with spontaneous memories, Stevenson also discusses recurrent dreams, and curious cases among adults, namely Ruprecht Schulz, Edward Ryall, Peter Avery and the Dutch lady Henriette Roos. The latter appeared to have been possessed by Goya's spirit while making what seemed like automatic paintings. A spiritualist medium told Henriette she would have taken care of Goya in her previous life during his long stay in France. There really turned out have been such a woman and the story even seemed to shed light on inclinations and talents of Henriette.
There are also two remarkable cases of possible memories of the Holocaust, that remind one of the books of Reb Yonassan Gershom and the Dutch case of Shai Simpson-Baikie.
A relatively large part of the cases concern reincarnation within the same family or circle of friends, but this does not mean that they should be dismissed as worthless. It seems clear that they usually show the same structure as cases involving memories of the life of a deceased person who did not belong to the child's direct social environment.
The book's main message reads that there are classical cases of the reincarnation type in Europe, even among children of parents who had not believed in reincarnation before their cases developed. The cases are characterised with the same age category and show many other resemblances to non-Western cases. For instance, many European children recall a violent death, just like children in Asia and Brasil or among North-American native tribes. Some of them act out their memories of a previous incarnation by specific playing patterns. A number of them suffer from phobias and some have birth defects that correspond with the cause of death, or they show skills that they have never learnt in the present life-time. All of these children show noteworthy behavioural patterns which relate to the life they remember.

Ian Stevenson concludes that the information supplied by some of this children is paranormal, because they could not have gathered it in a normally way. The most impressive example of this, is probably the case of Helmut Kraus who recalled the life of a General Werner Seehofer and was even able to mention his exact address in Vienna.
More generally, Stevenson also regards the children's behaviour as paranormal, because it is impossible to give a mundane developmental explanation for it and because the behaviour is connected to the child's statements. The author certainly realises that most European cases are not as strong evidentially as many non-Western cases, but he does conclude that the reincarnation hypothesis is the best hypothesis for some of these European cases.
Whether deliberately or by accident some well-known sources about European reincarnation research have been left unmentioned, notably the work by Peter and Mary Harrison (although strangely enough their case Carl Edon is discussed in this book), the book Destiny by Martin Heald and the books by Jenny Cockell, a subject thoroughly studied by Mary Rose Barrington.

This book cannot be judged separately from the rest of Stevenson's monumental production. As such it can hardly serve as a general introduction to reincarnation research. Considering the increase of reported Western cases, European Cases of the Reincarnation Type is clearly essential reading for anyone who wishes to study the phenomenon. Let us hope that this 21st Century will bring the breakthrough in studies of spontaneous European memories of previous lives and that many books about this topic will follow. L'éminence grise of reincarnation research Ian Stevenson has doubtlessly laid a solid foundation for such developments.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Surprising Book For Dr. Stevenson!, December 27, 2005

By 

Sunday "SundayAtDusk" (PlanetEarth) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type (Hardcover)

This book is a bit of a surprise, if you've read any of Dr. Stevenson's other books on reincarnation. He is usually so strict as to what cases he puts in his books. In this book, he is anything but...he has cases I would not have included, he has cases he says he really didn't want to include. :) It's like because there is so little scientific research of reincarnation cases in Europe, he used stories told to him and even dreams! Seeing possible past life dreams in a Stevenson book was a real shocker! Everything I had read from him, or about him, in the past rated dreams right up there with past life regression--past life fantasies, nothing more! And not only does he include dreams, he even states past life hypnotism is all right, as long as the person has come up with that specific past life before in some other manner. He sees it as a useful tool to possibly acquire more details of that life.

My favorite story in the book was the one the front cover painting comes from...the possible reincarnation of the daughter of artist Goya's mistress. Very fascinating story. It's good it was put in the back of the book, too...because it made all the other stories in the book seems quite dull in comparison.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but not Compelling, December 7, 2010

By 

Kumar Ganesh (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type (Paperback)

Any reader seeking solid evidence suggestive of reincarnation in this book is likely to turn the last page disappointed. In contrast to Stevenson's other works in this area, many of the cases in this volume are frankly not worth the paper they are printed on. One wonders why Stevenson bothers to spend so much time and effort trying to verify them. He also appears to interpret a great deal of the purported evidence rather generously, and the readiness with which he gives away the benefit of the doubt to strengthen the cases is really quite alarming. Again, this is in contrast to his other works featuring cases from cultures where belief in reincarnation is common.

By all means, read this out of curiosity or interest, and the last case featured is full of colour and mystery, but as Stevenson finally admits in the closing pages, these are not the most compelling cases of his remarkable career.