cover image We Are Eternal: What the Spirits Tell Me about Life After Death

We Are Eternal: What the Spirits Tell Me about Life After Death

Robert Brown. Warner Books, $23.95 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-446-52845-0

Brown, a""psychic investigator"" and medium to the stars, shares his first experiences with the spirit world, the path he followed to become a professional medium and his own multifarious belief system in this interesting but insufficiently detailed memoir-cum-apologia. Spiritualists, seances, spirit guides and even astral travel flit in and out of these pages, as Brown connects with those who have""passed over"" and shares the knowledge he says his spirit guide Ramadahn has taught him. His argument for life after death is supported primarily by his private""reading"" sessions with clients, but for the sake of confidentiality, he leaves out important details. It's is an honorable way to conduct business, but an unfortunate practice when it comes to penning a book whose subtitle promises insight into the unseen. (And some mentions of his reading sessions smack of name-dropping; the main thing readers will learn about his readings with Princess Diana is that she sent thank-you notes.) There's a lot of Brown's philosophy here, and most of it (learn from your mistakes; make the world a better place) will feel familiar; at the same time, though, readers unversed in the vocabulary of mediums will be confused by the casual usage of""Spirit"" (""In this way Spirit answered my request""),""beta body,"" or""crown chakra."" In the end, this well-intentioned book feels befuddling--first, because Brown grapples with timeless questions in hazy terms, and second, because his text cries out for better editing.