Rating: 
Summary: Take What Makes Sense to You and Leave the Rest
Review: *Visits from the Afterlife* chronicles Sylvia Browne's lifetime experience of ghosts and ghost hunting. As with all of her books, she has a wonderful sense of humor about the whole thing and seems most sincere. I also think she is motivated by a desire to help people. In other words, I believe *she* believes everything she writes. But...I never know exactly what to think of her writing. At times she makes complete sense to me and I find myself nodding my head in agreement. At other times, her writing is, well, just plain wacky. (Like her story of being covered with gooey, ghostly ectoplasm.) Still, I am in love with the *possibilities* presented in her book. No one has ever proved beyond doubt that ghosts exist, but no one has ever disproved it, either. *Visits from the Afterlife* validated some of my own lifetime ghostly experiences. It doesn't matter if ANY of it is true or not. (After all, I may be nuts, too.) I gave it four stars instead of five because of two irritating contradictions in the book: As another reviewer mentioned, she writes a lot about all her "pro bono" work. Then you go to her web site and see that she charges $700.00 for a half-hour phone reading, $750.00 if it is in person. I know the old saying "you get what you pay for" but she has made herself inaccessible by pricing herself out of most people's capacity to pay. (She calls herself "an instrument of God." I didn't know God was so expensive.) She justifies her hefty fees by telling us that she charges a lot for readings so that she can keep doing her pro bono work. Hmmmm.... The second contradiction in the book is that she tells us she reads every single E-mail she receives. And she makes a very big issue out of the fact. She explains that she can't respond individually to the thousands of E-mails she gets, of course, but she swears she reads every one. The first thing you find when you get to her web site is a notice: "Sylvia does not read E-mails." So, OK, which is it? Having said that, the most important thing to me is that Browne's writing had the overall effect of comforting me somehow. I suggest that you take what is yours to take from this book and leave the rest. I took comfort, and isn't that a wonderful gift from any writer?
Rating: 
Summary: All I Can Say..
Review: All I can say is THANK GOD I RENTED IT AT THE LIBARY instead of wasting my money on it this time. I have bought 5 other books of Sylvia's and I am finding that most of her material is either recyled from her other books, or "borrowed" from other great mediums of the past such as Ruth Montgomery, or Jane Roberts (The Seth Material). --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
Rating: 
Summary: Something in this book disturbed me.
Review: And it wasn't any of Sylvia Brown's accounts of hauntings.
In fact, I was reading along, very absorbed in this book - most of it was new to me - when I was brought up short by a statement made by Sylvia Brown that made me question her entire persona.
Sylvia Brown claims that Madelyn Murray O'Hair, the world's most famous atheist, made an immediate "U-turn" back to earth upon her death, and Sylvia - after making many disparaging comments about O'Hair - wished her new parents "good luck with it."
This begs the question of O'Hair's murderers, whom Brown lets completely off the hook - did they also make an immediate U-turn? AND, the parents in question. In my view, it's startling enough that Brown - who affects a serene, loving, accepting persona - apparently feels that atheists automatically come back to earth, don't pass go. What literally made me do a double take was her statement "good luck with it" directed to the parents of O'Hairs latest incarnation. What did THEY do to deserve Sylvia's wrath?
As a non-Christian (non-anything) myself, I had no idea that Sylvia had it in for anybody who didn't toe the Christian line.
Now that I know it, I will never read one of her books again.
Hope you get more open-minded in your next round, Sylvia!
Rating: 
Summary: Captivating Reading
Review: Being a believer of Sylvia Browne, I ordered this book after I was unable to find it in any local bookstores. As soon as the postman delivered this book to my door, I immediately opened this book and began reading it, finding it extremely difficult to put it down for periods at a time. Needless to say, this book was such an easy read and very captivating; I finished it in less than three days. I was surprised to hear that Sylvia's favorite ghostly encounter was from that on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach. I too have had a ghostly encounter of sorts on that ship, however it was in the engine room. Also intriguing were her conversations with Elvis and Marilyn Monroe. Suffice to say, this is probably the best non-fictional book I have ever read on ghosts and explanations of the afterlife. If you are a believer, this is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Ghost stories and a whole lot more
Review: For ghost story afficianados as well as skeptics, the numerous stories of actual sightings and encounters are truly fascinating and well-documented. I found it impossible to put down until I had literally consumed the entire book twice.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT READ GREAT BOOK GREAT AUTHOR
Review: Great book Great read and wonderful author.
Anyone who disagrees has defenit close mindness, after all the facts we have all the people who had incounterd with spirits, spirit guides and ghosts, it's wrong to deny and be so closed minded.
They are with us, around us.It is so easy to say, everyone is crazy, there is no such a thing, and just be so stuborn not to hear and recieve what had been said for hundreds of years. It is real and when you choose to ignore, you choose to live lonely life, it's not smart to ignore your spirit guide, who is only there and has been there to help YOU thru this jorney.
Anyway I am happyer now then I was before. I wish you all the best and God be with you! A.W. from Va Beach.
Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking......
Review: Having read several of Sylvia Browne's books, this is another one that is an easy to read, entertaining account of Sylvia's experiences. She again gives readers her interpretations of hauntings, spirit visitation , imprints, and all kinds of stuff in between. This is territory that is revisited by Browne, but is presented in a way that is review rather than redundant. What was especially good, were the numerous accounts sent in by readers who share their unique experiences both good, bad and mysterious. Our life is so much more than we can perceive with our limited senses and it is a pleasure to read about these aspects beyond ordinary sight. According to Sylvia Browne, visits from the afterlife, in whatever form are absolutely normal in her world as well as in many others as evidenced from her letters. I appreciate her straightforward, honest and humorous style. She is not trying to prove something but rather deliver her experiences to the reader in an interesting and insightful manner. Some stories are chilling, some sad and some joyful. We all have had sometime in our life when we have questioned life after death and Sylvia delivers convincing truth through her words and the many stories of people who contributed to the book. A thought provoking account.
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Rating: 
Summary: Highly suspicious
Review: I find the content of this book highly questionable, mostly due to the alleged comments made by Elizabeth Short. The bulk of the comments were not anything you could not find out by doing a bit of research of your own. But what gave it all away was the reference of TWO books written by people who place blame for Beth's death on their fathers. The reference was given PAST tense, even though these comments were allegedly made two years BEFORE the second book (Steven Hodel's BLACK DAHLIA AVENGER--don't bother). Furthermore, reference was given to her "killer", Dr. Walter Bayley. The only problem with this is, of course, at the time of Beth's murder, Bayley was a senile old man; hardly someone with the cunning and precision this dreadful action took. And this was a suspect first introduced by LA Times reporter Larry Harnisch, who Browne openly acknowledges in the opening of her book. Finally, if you want to ask her a question about it, well, guess what? According to her website, you have to make an appointment and pay her money first. Calling James Randi.......
Rating:
Summary: fascinating
Review: I found the sections on bela lugosi and alfred hitchcock fascinating.
I read and reread the part on tulpas.
Rating:
Summary: God bless Sylvia!
Review: I have admired Sylvia from the moment I saw her on The Montel Williams Show. Just listening to her, you could tell that, indeed, she was "for real." She has stated in every book - or the vast majority of them - that she simply does not believe in pretending to feel something that's just not there. In this book, she stated that there are loads of film in production companies' wastebaskets with her saying, "Nope. Nothing here." In this book, Sylvia explains the difference between ghosts and spirits. Ghosts are souls who do not realize they're dead or don't want to face that fact. Very often, they are seen on our level (eye-to-eye) because, technically, they are still on our plane. Spirits, on the other hand, are souls who have made it to the Other Side and visit us (they are seen, according to Sylvia, three feet higher because their dimension is higher than ours). Spirits do their part to warn us of impending danger, or some joyous event, or comfort us in times of deep grief and sorrow (many times, they visit us to let us know that they're alive and well on the Other Side and thinking of us). She rehashes her favorite ghost stories and gives us updates on older ghost stories from previous books (for instance, Johnny Johnson in the Toys "R' Us, who is still exactly where he was all those years ago). The one thing that makes Sylvia stand out is the fact that she encourages people to be skeptic about everything (she admits she's one of the world's biggest skeptics), including all matters psychic. A charlatan just wants you to believe everything, without question. I enjoy and admire Sylvia's honesty, sarcasm, and sense of humor. She has done her small part to make me understand the meaning of life and the fact that, indeed, there is life after "death," and that life is eternal.
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