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Average Customer Review
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
This book will rock your world!, 15 Dec 2004
To me, books about reincarnation and karma that trawl through the backwaters of religions both ancient and modern can usually be ignored as 'New Age claptrap'. IF someone I didn't trust with my life hadn't recommended this book to me, I would have passed it over and IF that had happened, I would have missed out on the most life-changing read of my life.This book is so far removed from the usual lightweight, new Age tosh and drivel pumped out by well-meaning but useless authors that it's not only not in the same room, it's on a different continent. Quite simply this is the most comprehensive, objective, well-researched and fascinating book on reincarnation to have been written in the English language. Really, it is that good. After a fascinating review of all of the best academic evidence for the proof of reincarnation, a lot of which 99% of readers will have never encountered before, the book moves into high gear looking at the most intriguing questions that surround this subject. However, even when looking at what most books deem 'spiritual matters' and therefore not worth bothering to apply rational and scientific criteria, The Book of the Soul doesn't give up on being totally thorough and totally focussed on looking at the facts and coming up with answers based on them. The book is often at is best when it compares modern evidence with material thousands of years old to come up with some amazing new insights that I think can justifiably be called very important in our understanding of the nature of universe. I don't want to spoil anyone's pleasure of reading the book by giving a précis of some of the revelations it produces on reincarnation and karma, but if you have any interest in spirituality or science and have questions about life and death, then you will probably find this the perfect book. For me, this book reached out to me by the quality of its argument and evidence and yet touched me at a very deep, personal level. Part of that is because the voice of the author comes through and engages you emotionally, but it's much more down to the fact that after reading The Book of the Soul, you cannot help but change your worldview at both a spiritual and mental level. This book really does deliver the promised rational spirituality and can promise you that if you read it, then it will rock your world.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
A scholarly approach to spirituality, 10 Dec 2004
By A Customer
I really enjoyed this book. It gives you exactly what it says on the cover. It is a rational account for a 'spiritual worldview' as outlined by the author. It's a really good read with an important message. Well researched, scholarly, positive and revolutionary. It's about time for a book like this. I loved it and i think everyone else will too. I totally recommend this book to everyone, whatever your view on the issues and topics contained in it's pages.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
this book made me a karma chameleon!, 15 Dec 2004
A new book by Ian Lawton and one not about historical mysteries? That puzzle in itself would have been enough to get me to buy 'The Book Of The Soul' as Lawton is one of my favourite writers on that subject. He has made a name for himself by being brave, radical but entirely grounded in objective, academic research. This leads to his books always taking on received truths, really getting to the bottom of things and making you think. So what the hell was he doing writing a book on past lives, reincarnation and topics such as karma? The answer is writing the most daring, thought-provoking but grounded book on the subject to have been written to date. As someone coming to topic of past lives as an arch sceptic before reading this book, it is hard to describe just much it made my head spin and change my opinion on the matter. By tackling the most spiritual of questions through a lens of objective science, research and a willingness to look at facts instead of dogma, The Book of the Soul allows you as a reader to explore not just some of the most interesting cases of reincarnation, but the mechanics of just what the heck is happening to explain the way the universe seems to run. The material in this book on the interlife - that bit about reincarnation that had always troubled me as I always wanted to know what happens between lives if we live time and time again - and karma is fresh and will shatter a lot of people's preconceptions. In two short chapters, this book forced me to ask some of the deepest questions about life, the universe and everything by making me confront some of the most amazing evidence on this subject you will ever find. I'm still turning those questions over in my mind, but just accepting that the answers I found in The Book of the Soul may be right has changed my worldview in the most dramatic fashion. I have come away from reading this book with a new appreciation for life and its mysteries. The Book of the Soul has let me think about things on a spiritual level without the baggage of religious dogma but with my ability to think and question things critically intact. I have a strong feeling that others reading it will get the same benefit so I urge anyone interested in this field to read this book as soon as possible.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Potentially Life Changing, 6 Dec 2004
I say this book is 'potentially' life changing only because it has a message that you have to be ready to hear.
I have written a few reviews on amazon before and have never been afraid of being totally honest, even if that means being negative about parts of a book i actually liked in general. I will continue with great honesty now and say that i don't have a negative comment to make.
Readers of books on spirituality have waited long enough for a book that answers the fundemental question; 'but what does that mean?'. We want to know more than simplistic new age ideas or continuous biased digs at organised religion.
This book gives well researched evidence for the existence of a reincarnating soul and beautifully written conclusions as to how this affects us now, and who we are.
This is the first book that i know of to bring together all the important research into past lives and most importantly the interlife. The first chapters deal with near death experiences, children who remember past lives, past life regression and interlife regression.
The later chapters are the real eye openers. Based on the evidence and the authors own spiritual worldview, the knowledge from previous chapters is bought together and all questions are answered. Who are we? Where are we going and why are we here?
I have never heard a more academic, eloquent and rational explanation of karma than the one in this book. Everyone must read it.
This ia a bold statement to make, but i'm not afraid to make it. This book has genuinely changed my life.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
SPIRITUALITY AT ITS BEST, 22 Nov 2005
The sanity I've been waiting for.A truly objective presentation of spirituality that is just so relevant to the 21st century - where people are moving away from "religion" but still have a natural thirst for "spirituality. Mr Lawton does not dabble in sentiment, religious dogma or old wive's tales. It is a well researched and documented book that will be like a breath of fresh air to any intelligent person with a desire to learn more about spirituality and the truth of our existence. You cannot "un-learn" the truth so you may find your life changed (I believe for the better) after reading this book. The man deserves a round of applause for putting this book together.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Outstanding, 8 Jan 2005
I always had a belief that there's more 'out there' than us humans understand. Reading this book gave me more stock to my beliefs in a way that was easy to read and at the same time informative and interesting. Well recommended....
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A beautifully written book presenting a rational worldview on spirituality........, 12 Sep 2006
Are you ready for a life-changing book? The fact that you are even reading this review and considering buying this book leads me to think that you are ready! Rational Spirituality for the 21st Century is the most amazing book I have ever read and one, which I know, has already changed my life for the better. I won't go into the principles contained in this book as this is already covered in the book description, but I will tell you the impact on my life and what it can do for you.
I'm an Analyst by profession, so it's in my nature to have all the facts in front of me and from those facts make rational judgement calls backed up by evidence of why I chose that path. I seem to apply this unconsciously in my personal life too, which is why I have ended up reading Rational Spirituality for the 21st Century.
I was bought up in a family who considered themselves faith healers, looked after by spirit guides etc. So as a child I was always being told stories of miracles or tales of what their guides has told them about Life and Death. To me as a child, this was simply an opportunity to be told another story and I didn't really buy any of it (I just hoped that nothing scary happened to me!). I also was obliged to attend church occasionally, and Sunday school. I think the intention was to raise me as a well-rounded individual. As I have grown, I have come to feel that rather than having belief in orthodox religion, I believe in the power of the mind and that we are somehow we're not living to a full potential or that there's more that we can do, we just don't know it. How ever, I still felt that this life is it...and that is depressing. I have no interest in new age religion and can't fully accept concepts that aren't backed up by scientific fact as I always seem to come up with a trait in human nature which is the cause or reason for certain religious or spiritual occurrences or beliefs.
As we all have, I have been disturbed by the history of violence and death caused by religion or simply by having different religion to your neighbour. I just feel that it's a control mechanism to provide people with power and authority over mankind. People believe because they cant' face up to not having something to believe in. It's a depressing reality to believe that this is it! How many people do you know would snap if they thought that once you die, your dead and that is it? I do not mean to offend; this is just how I feel and everyone is entitled to that right. This had left me rather despondent to life and what it's all for. I kept my anxiety private as I didn't want people to think that I was a bit mad! I eventually told a friend and she directed me to the RSM website (http://www.rsmovement.org/).
FINALLY, I have found like-minded people that aren't just flying along on a belief because they can't handle not having a god of some kind to believe in. I ordered the book straight away and within the first chapter I was blown away by what I was reading. Ian Lawton does not push his views, he researches and analyses all alternatives and then presents his conclusions based on facts. PERFECT, finally something that's real and unbiased. I think he was an analyst in a past life!! My outlook on life and death is somewhat different. Maybe my belief in the power of the mind sits comfortably in with Rational Spirituality albeit, not just in this life but the next? My character is changing too. I feel that I have more patients with people and have started to be more positive about human nature and the individuals on this planet. Instead of judging people for their actions, I try to understand why they acted like they did? I also have started to become aware of how I handle certain situations. In times of stress or grief, it's how to handle those emotions and learn from the experience, which is key and that skill once learned, will be with you forever. These are just one of the many lessons which I have learnt from this book.
You know that every once in a while, the question is posed asking, "Whom dead or alive would you like to meet (or had the opportunity to meet)"? For me, Ian Lawton is top on my list. I'm not a writer, so I find it hard to put words together to do justice to Ian and his book, but I'll give it a try. Somehow, Ian manages to make a potentially complicated subjected incredibly easy to understand. He is not aggressive in his beliefs and his research and knowledge has no end! He has that ability to make you think and consider alternatives regardless of your beliefs. The fact that Ian does not push the RSM group, they are not asking for money and Ian has struggled to even get this book published are all factors, which make Ian seem more genuine and in turn make the concepts in his book more real. Ian's peace, patients and insight makes him sound like one of the most incredible individuals on the planet and I'm incredibly grateful that I've had the opportunity to read this book and discover the movement.
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