I. G. Edmonds (1917–2007)

These tales were collected and published mostly for the American forces stationed in Japan following WWII. Judge Ooka was a real person, of whom many legends arose. Although the adaptations are clearly directed to non-Japanese readers, they did acquaint a new audience to the fascinating world of ancient Japan.
IMO, this has carried over to the later popularity of Japanese anime and manga, as illustrated by our own family: they were acquired by "Dad" in the 1960s; and he read them to our 5 children, who developed a life-long love of Japan.… (more)

This book takes a simplistic and slightly dated look at the origins and theories behind reincarnation. Written for young adults the author here takes pains to keep the writing straightforward and easy to understand, which is why I sometimes prefer YA texts on interesting subjects. Although I wasn't very impressed with his personal anecdotes and didn't feel that they added much overall, I did find the discussion of reincarnation in various religions, how reincarnation works into the choosing of the next Dalai Lama and the theory of the Akashic Records interesting. Also, there were a few case studies that were investigated, such as Bridey Murphy and Imrad Elawar that sounded pretty intriguing.

I don't really think this book would hold much interest for anyone who has any more than a very passing knowledge of reincarnation (such as knowing the definition of the word) but I did like that it was straightforward, easy to understand and did a pretty good overview of the subject as a whole.… (more)