Return to Life

By: Jim B. Tucker

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

A first-person account of Jim Tucker's experiences with a number of extraordinary children with memories of past lives, Return to Life focuses mostly on American cases, presenting each family's story and describing his investigation. His goal is to determine what happened - what the child has said, how the parents have reacted, whether the child's statements match the life of a particular deceased person, and whether the child could have learned such information through normal means.

Tucker has found cases that provide persuasive evidence that some children do, in fact, possess memories of previous lives. Among others, listeners will meet a boy who describes a previous life on a small island. When Tucker takes him to that island, he finds that some details eerily match the boy's statements and some do not. Another boy points to a photograph from the 1930s and says he used to be one of the men in it. Once the laborious efforts to identify that man are successful, many of the child's numerous memories are found to match the details of his life.

Soon after his second birthday, a third boy begins expressing memories of being a World War II pilot who is eventually identified.Thought-provoking and captivating, Return to Life urges its listeners to think about life and death, and reflect about their own consciousness and spirituality.

©2013 Jim B. Tucker (P)2014 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"An important milestone of an emerging scientific paradigm." (Deepak Chopra)

Nothing new

Would you consider the audio edition of Return to Life to be better than the print version?

The narrator was excellent. He made the book an easy listen, which is probably the reason why I finished it.

What could Jim B. Tucker have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

My disappointment with this book resides on the fact that it adds no original material to the serious literature on re-encarnation (which is a topic I am very interested on). The author worked with Dr. Ian Stevenson, who did most of the academic research on cases of reincarnation available today and basically capitalizes on that relationship.

What about Patrick Lawlor’s performance did you like?

This is a short book that can be listened to in one or two sittings.

Any additional comments?

If you are interested in reincarnation and are not familiar with Ian Stevenson's work, this book may serve to guide you in his direction and expose you to some interesting rigorous research on a number of cases. If you are already unto Stevenson, you can skip this.

4 people found this helpful

I think we do!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book is not just your mystical, airy fairy book. Mr Tucker has done his research and produced some compelling evidence for Reincarnation.

What did you like best about this story?

The stories were incredible but in the last two chapters he provides his theory and some scientific exploration. This went a bit over my head but it was very interesting.

What does Patrick Lawlor bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great Narrator. Just suits this book down to the ground.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

3 people found this helpful

This is a must read.

Well written and very affirming. It is very rich in content. I will read it again.

2 people found this helpful

might not be what you're looking for

if you want to hear a collection of stories relating children's experiences of past life memories this isn't the book for you. while there are some of these experiences related through out the book the remaining text is dry. I wish I knew how many times he wrote " as I mentioned in my previous book..." or "I won't get into this now because I did in my previous book". At the end he got into a long dialogue about physics that just didn't even connect to the subject matter for me. I did like the narrator though and wondered how often he yawned while reading this book.

4 people found this helpful

A. good case for the plausibility of reincarnation

A worthy read that takes measures to look at a controversial subject through the lense of scientific inquiry.

1 person found this helpful

Good book - would like more stories investigated

This book was good but left more questions. The author was focusing more on the science and explanation of science concerning reincarnation; that was fine but I would have enjoyed hearing theoretical thoughts or what the cases had to say they did while waiting or how they came to be reincarnated.

1 person found this helpful

very compelling

solid data to back actual experiences. thought provoking science and possibilities to explain the afterlife

1 person found this helpful

Re-think everything you thought you knew

Just like there are no words to explain the phenomenon of the universe, there are no words to explain the eye opening inspiration that comes from this book. With an open mind, the author will transform your understanding of the "after life, " if not the very easy you see the world around you.
Pure and honest, I will be looking for more great work by this author.

1 person found this helpful

all I wanted was to hear stories of past lives.

boring, all I wanted to hear was stories of past lives. not a physics lesson.

Very Interesting

If you are interested in a scientific endeavor into the existence of life after death, higher consciousness, or any paranormal investigation this is the book for you. Not overly embellished or exaggerated. A very clean cut look at the statistical evidence that these cases present. More of a social science text book then a dramatized telling of past lives.

Was a lot of reference to prior book which I didn’t read.