Soul Traveler: A Guide to Out-Of-Body Experiences and the Wonders Beyond

Rating:
Summary: Hubris is a Downfall
Review: Soul Traveler by Albert Taylor contains 118 pages of astral travel. Albert Taylor includes 10 chapters in his book with a glossary at the end. I believe one of the biggest down falls of this book is it's length. This book is too short and took me only a short time to read. The one thing I found interesting is that the book is orginal. It tells stories of a man learning to astral project and the fears one must overcome. Most of the book however tells of how Albert Tayler projects and soon reurns to his body out of pure timidity. I also feel that Albert Taylor used his ethnic background to sell more books. E.G. in the foreward it states this "It is not normal to be an African-American NASA space engineer. And for that matter, it is not normal to be an African-American on the metaphysical lecture circuit. No Albert Taylor is extraordinary." Personally I believe metaphysics has nothing to do with physical races because our souls are all the same "color, race, etc." I do realize the foreward was not written by Albert Taylor however he could have chose to exclude this part from his book. Overall this book is about average. It is interesting to read about the astral experences however it is too short and filled with the same story (I felt the vibes, saw a spirit, got scared, and flew back to my body). I mean no disrespect to Mr. Taylor however I believe he could have done a better job at putting this book together and adding some more content.

Rating:
Summary: More than a mere "how to" manual.
Review: This is the best single volume introduction to out-of-body experiences that I've found. While I consider Robert Monroe's classic three volume collection to be the best (Mr. Taylor also sites them and lists all three in his bibliography) I do believe that this is the book that I would recommend to a beginner in the field. It is extremely well-organized and the language is clear and straight-forward (as one would expect from a NASA engineer.) Having worked most of my life in engineering departments I can appreciate the courage that it took to publish this book on the part of the author.
I especially recommend chapter 9 (The Ultimate Truth.) This gives a very plausible metaphysical explanation of the meaning and purpose of these experiences. This raises the book above a mere "how to" manual.