Talking to Heaven: A Medium's Message of Life After Death (Chivers genre series)

The jacket on this best-seller reads: "...a book that will forever change the way you look at death-and life." Not a believer in the occult or mediums, I must confess Author Van Praagh changed my views. A medium is described as a sort of middleman able to interpret thoughts, feelings and sights from spiritual to physical life, according to Van Praagh. Author Van Praagh presents many interesting, unique ideas about life after death along with a do-it-yourself program for communicating with the spirit world. Discussions about this shadowy area of life never seem completely satisfying because there is no hard evidence those who have gone before exist in spirit form. The idea that print (and broadcast) dignify any subject, comes into play here. One cannot help but be reminded th:tt anybody can publish anything, particularly something we would all like to believe. On the other hand, what Mr. Van Praagh has to say is intriguingly plausible never forgetting he did a stint as a writer for Paramount.

As in the case of James Redfield's The Celestine Prophecy, once in a while a book comes along that unexpectedly soars to the bestseller lists simply because it feeds a specific spiritual hunger. Talking to Heaven is one such book. Based on the personal insights and memories of highly acclaimed medium James Van Praagh, Talking to Heaven offers comforting and startling stories about his contact with the deceased. Van Praagh could have used this text to prove that his gifts as a medium are authentic--the story about the deceased teenager who led his parents to his murderer is impressive (the result was a murder conviction)--but instead, Van Praagh offers spiritual and psychological comfort to those grappling with the loss of a loved one. He also helps readers develop their own means of talking to heaven. Even those who aren't aching for contact with the deceased will find Van Praagh's down-to-earth discussions of karma, the afterlife, and spiritual guides fascinating.