The Other Side and Back by Sylvia Browne

by Sylvia Browne

The Other Side and Back is an empowering, lively, and transforming book of wisdom and healing. Inspired by the most frequently asked questions during her thousands of readings and public appearances, Sylvia Browne has written a guidebook for those who want to deepen their spirituality, by understanding psychic energy and how it works in our world. Readers will gain astonishing insights, including how spirit guides and angels talk to us daily; the shocking truth about ghosts and hauntings; solving missing persons cases; how psychic energy can keep people healthy and help in relationships; why we shouldn't fear death and aging; and must-read predictions for the new millennium. Both a how-to book and a narrative adventure through other worlds, The Other Side and Back is an invitation to view our world from a different perspective and to see another world we thought we never could.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Paranormal, New Age, Religion, Self Help, Biography

Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

About the author

Sylvia Browne was an American author and self-proclaimed psychic who built a lucrative career through books, television appearances, and psychic readings. Known for her frequent guest spots on The Montel Williams Show and Larry King Live, she claimed to communicate with angels, spirit guides, and the deceased, and said she had psychic visions from the age of three. In 1986, she founded the Society of Novus Spiritus, a Gnostic Christian church, and ran a variety of businesses, reportedly earning millions annually.
Browne wrote over 40 books, many of which were bestsellers, and maintained a dedicated fanbase throughout her life. However, her career was marked by controversy. She made numerous high-profile predictions about missing persons and criminal cases that were later proven false—errors that drew widespread criticism and scrutiny from skeptics and media outlets. A 2010 study by the Skeptical Inquirer concluded she had not been accurate in any verifiable case. Her reputation suffered further after her 1992 conviction for securities fraud.
Despite criticism from figures like James Randi and John Oliver, Browne retained a devoted following. Her vague prediction about a “pneumonia-like illness” spreading around 2020 drew renewed attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. She remained a polarizing figure—revered by some, discredited by others—until her death in 2013 at the age of 77.

Reviews

[Ashlie Gillis Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book literally change my life and my faith. I was 21 when I first read this book on a whim. I was browsing the book isle while waiting on pictures to be developed at wallgreens when I saw this book and had remembered hearing about Sylvia Browne on TV and thought I would check it out.

I have change my belief systems many times over. I have been Baptist, Non-denominational, Wiccan, Buddhist and a few others. I have always been fascinated with death and life after death and searching for the one religion and faith that had all the answers. I don't think we are meant to know all the answers, but Sylvia Browne seems to have more than most others. Sylvia even admits that she is not always 100% right. No psychic ever is. So it makes me sad when people give her such a hard time when she has been wrong in the past. She stats in more than one of her books that her accuracy is not always right, but most of the time she is.

The best thing about this book is you don't have to be religious to enjoy and find comfort in it. After reading the first few chapters I was hooked! I have been following her and her spiritual teachings now for 13 years and am a member of Novus Spiritus. I have attended two of Sylvia Browne's seminars live twice while I lived in AZ. I own almost all of her books and have been involved in her study groups. I am currently working towards becoming a ordained minister through her church.

This book is amazing and it will bring you the peace you need in your life.

[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my elderly woman brought this book from the library, gave it to me, and told me to read it out loud to her.. next thing you know, over the time frame of 3 days, I have a group of people around me listening and we had very good conversation about this today. Yes.. it was a little heated at times because you have so many people and so many opinions, but all in all this was a great book. They really enjoyed it and so did I.. if not for what the book was about, then atleast for the fact that it gave elderly people whom are closer to death and what possibly comes after it than a lot of us reading this, a chance to really think and use their brains for more than BINGO.
They talked about their own experiences, the things they have seen and/or felt when someone has passed in the room.. the things they have heard others say in the hours leading up to their deaths.. This book had everyone thinking and I honestly believe that is what it was put in my hands to do.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am writing this review now 11 years later and to this day I live my life based on the beliefs Sylvia Browne has laid out in this book.

I read this book back in 2001 just after the loss of our daughter Victoria. It helped me a lot to understand the other side (Heaven) and why everything happens for a reason and how we choose our life before we come to this life or the body.

I will add to this review again after I read the book again.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that has lost a loved one. If you can believe in Sylvia it may heal your wounded heart as it did with mine.

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Other Side And Back", 1999, is an important book to any faith. Sylvia Browne insisted on substantiating spiritual details she received, with research. Banish any bias conjured by the word "psychic". This discusses everyday topics and some Heavenly questions we were keen to have answered. Sylvia consulted for a living but accepted no money for missing persons and refused a "psychic hotline". Our impressions of well known personages should not derive from hearsay. Read this book.

Largely autobiographical, we learn Sylvia Shoemaker was the apple of her Dad's eye, mistreated by a dark-spirited Mother, and oddly; inherited second-sight from her maternal Grandmother. She found the courage to flee an abusive husband with her two sons. Those personal experiences are enough to connect with many people. Anyone religious-minded, leery of this book, should know she grew up Protestant and catholic and was a convent schoolteacher. No matter how surreal Sylvia's books might feel, to those who are new to peeking outside the box of what we've called "normal"; they are all about God. God outside of religion reassuringly reflects my beliefs!

Imagine that we started as spirits and blueprinted an educational mission: these Earthly lives we are leading. This is a better explanation for sorrow, than wondering if God was unfair; like a cat we love so much, dying at only 4 years-old! Our physical state doesn't recall what we mapped, or any expedition would be mute. We affect some outcomes. We are not programmed. Although physical separation grieves us because contact is not the same, loved-ones are not inaccessible to us. The most helpful portion to me are Sylvia's hilarious, no-nonsense, surprisingly logical rebuttals to scoffers of our beliefs and intelligence! Low reviews you come across? Scoffers. *This* is the book that would sustain me on a deserted island.

[Jam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought The Church of Scientology was ridiculous until I read this book. I have a very open mind and was looking into a lot of spiritual based books to give me insight after the death of a good friend which I did not find through the pages of this book.

Browns' “ideas” are so out there, they are ridiculous and demented! It is no surprise she appears on daytime talk shows. This book is meant for people who enjoy Jerry Springer and other trashy TV programs.

Brown tells us that “the other side” is a dimension exactly three feet off the ground where we live with dinosaurs and mystic creatures, all spirits are 30 years old and can change gender/race/clothes with the blink of an eye. Time on the “other side” is spent living in a variety of homes, cruising around in hover carts, going to cocktail parties, concerts, art exhibits and lectures, all the while trying to decide if and when they should "re-visit" Earth for another incarnation.

Although I found this book in the New Age section Brown is trying to market the book as non-fiction when it is nothing but a fairytale. After reading a few chapters I tossed the book in shame because I would be humiliated if anyone saw this trash on my bookshelf.

[Ann-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with any spiritual book, you take from it what you desire to know. I met Sylvia Brown before she became famous when I was 19 years old. I can attest to her amazing gifts. That being said, nothing is constant and predictions should be taken with a grain of salt. You are the creator of your path in life. If you are curious to matters beyond the physical existence, this is a great insight to those possibilities.

[MizzSandie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This woman is apparently surrounded by controversy and a lot of people say she is a fraud, and of course she herself claims to be a true psychic. I don't know what to believe, to be honest, but the truth is i'm enjoying this book regardless. What's important to me isn't so much wether she really did and have seen all the things she says she did, or if they come true, I still find it an interesting read, and i like the overall messages in the book.
I definately think it's good to be skeptic about these kind of things and not to take anyone elses claims for granted, whatever they say and whoever they are. Don't let yourself be led blindly by anyone. Think, feel and live for yourself and stay true to your own convictions.
It just so happens that I believe a lot of the same things as Sylvia believes, and her being a fraud or a 'true' psychic doesn't make what i believe any more or less true.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not everyone believes that Sylvia browne is a true Physic, me.. i dont know what i believe but i do know this Parts of this book rang true to me as it supported a few experiences that i have had, If your not a fan of Sylvia browne thats ok you dont have to be this is not a book of perdictions or anything truely Physic its is more or less a book about the other side told by those who believe they have seen it themselves

[Maria Carmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if I have some different perspectives regarding some of the subjects, it is a good book in as much it encourages people to be positive, have the courage to search for their own truth and not to put themselves under any external influence that may take away their dignity and well being. It is certainly written by someone who is filled with good "vibes" and I enjoyed reading it.

Maria Carmo

Lisbon 15th. August 2012.

[Lake Eerie Mermaid · Rating 1 out of 5]

After going through a crisis of faith, I was sure that psychics could help restore my faith in the divine. After buying several of her books and reading them I was completely convinced that she would make a wonderful fiction writer. She has no talents. After reading her biography and reviews of her 'psychic' sessions I realized she was a complete fraud. Her ideas are absolutely looney. If she believes half of what she writes she's a nut.

[Iona Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I’ve read by Sylvia Browne and now I’ll be trying to get hold of her other books.

This wonderful book exceeded my expectations.

Sylvia was born in 1936 and has since passed on herself; she tells us she will not be coming back.

Sylvia was born with a caul wrapped round her head – an ancient sign that a newborn has been given the psychic gift at birth.

She saw visiting spirits as clearly as she saw everyone else in the room.

When she was eight, her Spirit Guide, whom she called Francine, appeared. Francine was her constant companion and friend. She told Sylvia she would become a well-known psychic some day, helping a lot of people and talking to large audiences.

Sylvia knew that The Other Side and the Spirits who live there are as real as the earth we live on, and the only thing separating us is “a thinly veiled difference in vibrational frequency”.

She knew that there is no such thing as death and that before we come here we write our own blueprint to chart exactly what we want to accomplish “on this brief trip away from Home”.

She knew that we are always surrounded by Spirit Guides, Angels, departed loved ones, and God Himself.

The Other Side is right here among us, “another dimension superimposed on our own world, some three feet above our version of ‘ground level’”. “Its vibrational frequency is much higher than ours, which is why we don’t perceive it.”

It is actually in the Spirit World that all beings are completely and fully “alive”.

Sylvia informs us that all Spirits on The Other Side are thirty years old, even though we may be two or ninety-two when we get there.

The Other Side is immensely beautiful - “a breathtaking infinity of mountains, and oceans, and vast gardens, and forests”.

Residents of the Other Side study, work, research, and have brilliant social lives, full of parties and music, dancing and sporting events.

Telepathy is the most popular form of communication, though all languages are spoken and understood.

There is no negativity there, no aggression, jealousy or judgement.

We all have a Spirit Guide, someone we were very close to on The Other Side, Spirit Guides have spent at least one life here. They are not someone we have known in this lifetime.

The Spirit Guide’s job is “to urge, nudge, encourage, advise, support and --- guide us on our life’s path”.

Spirit Guides communicate with us in a variety of ways. Even if you can’t hear them, they are still sending us plenty of messages, most often through our subconscious mind.

When we ask for help, we must remember to be specific and tell our Spirit Guide what is wrong, and what we need.

There is a section telling us about the various sorts of angels, and about departed loved ones.

There’s a chapter about how to discover your own past lives, and this also contains a list of 44 life themes; we all have both a primary and a secondary life theme.

Sylvia’s primary life theme was “Humanitarian” and secondary life theme was “Loner”. One of mine is definitely “Loner” but I don’t know what the other one is.

A section about birthmarks tells us that a birthmark often indicates an injury we received in a past life.

Sylvia also provides a meditation by which to access our past lives.

In a chapter entitled “Hauntings” we’re informed about ghosts. These absolutely exist: Sylvia has met many and talked to them.

None of the ghosts knows it's dead.

Mostly, ghosts refuse to transcend to The Other Side but insist on staying earthbound.

Sylvia talked to a ghost who had been imprisoned in Alcatraz. He was a convicted hitman named Abie Malkowitz who’d been killed by another prisoner in the laundry room.

She told him his life had ended and he could now go home, but he refused to listen.

Abie Malkowitz is still a prisoner there, an earthbound ghost.

However, Sylvia and The Other Side had one success - “the most frightened, desolate ghost she’d ever met”, a nun whose life had ended by an illegal abortion.

S investigated and talked to many ghosts and tells us the full story of each case.

She tells us about a stubborn, ornery and argumentative ghost in a Toys R Us in Sunnyvale, California. The ghost was not the man it was thought to be but another one, a preacher called John Johnston who bled to death from an axe wound in 1889. He was in love with a woman called Beth; S told him if he’d just go through the light he would find Beth on The Other Side, but he got so fed up with S nagging him about it that he told her “If you tell me I’m dead one more time, I’m not going to talk to you anymore.”

S informs us that sooner or later, in minutes or hundreds of years, ghosts will find their way to the light.

Spirits have already transcended to The Other Side and visit us from another dimension, which makes them more difficult to see and hear clearly.

I personally have been visited by at least three deceased beings, but I’m not sure whether they were spirits or ghosts, spirits, I think.

There’s also a section on imprints, which are caused by “a highly concentrated collection of intense feelings”.

There is an important section on The Dark Side, which contained new information for me.

The Dark Side exists because God gave us free will and some spirits have chosen to reject the light.

Entities of the Dark Side have no conscience, no sense of responsibility for their actions, and no remorse.

Dark entities in human form are the true sociopaths among us. Dark entities don’t genuinely get to know or care about the people around them.

White entities are sensitive and compassionate. A dark entity can’t be turned white, no mre than a white entity can be turned dark.

S’s mother was a dark entity: a physically and emotionally abusive parent.

Francine states: “One white entity can dispel a thousand dark ones.”

There’s a right door and a left door on The Other Side.

White entities go through the right door when we die. Dark entities, on the other hand, go through the left door into an abyss of nothingness. Left door people have chosen to turn away from God. They do not stay there for long but go right back in utero again for another lifetime.

Dark entities recycle, life after life after life, without a blueprint, without Spirit Guides, without Angels.

I won’t go into more detail, but just conclude by stating that this is an informative, inspiring, amazing book that I highly recommend that you read.

[Carole Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second book I've read by Sylvia Browne. The first one I read was solely about reincarnation and near-death. That was really good and it reaffirmed my belief in reincarnation and spirit guides, so I've always been interested in Sylvia Browne's work since that book. Reece found this for me recently and I'm glad she did.

In this book she does talk a bit about spirit guides and reincarnation, but she mainly focuses on the "Other side" which is a form of heaven, but not your a-typical heaven with clouds and harps. Bleurgh. Who wants that? BORING. She talks about how the Other Side is much more in-tune in your interests and so forth. It is also on Earth, but its considered a different dimension. Better then the old tales of heaven and I can get behind something that doesn't involve me being naked on a cloud playing a harp. *nods*

She also does talk about talking the dead, ghosts, angels, and even the future. I've had my far share of ghostie encounters, but as for the future? I can't take her serious. No one can predict the future in my mind. Maybe you can predict a general thing that is set in stone, but I don't know if if "God" or whoever would curse anyone with that knowledge. Plus....it's like reading the end of a book. Leave well enough alone.

Now I have of course had my future told to me from many different psychics. They've been 20% right. I also do divination cards and tarot cards to give me direction or help or whatever (they've been more right then psychics), so I believe in those more so. However, the future is too fickle in my mind.

Now...reading the past is more set in stone. I totally believe in reincarnation and all that stuff, because I've experienced a couple of my past lives through regression. Its spooky and explains a lot about why I am the way I am. It also explains why I am here and trying to "better myself". I won't go into details about my stories, because I am shy and I don't really want people too know that. I rarely have told any friends or my parents (I oddly feel embarrassed and I don't want people to look at me like I am crazy - I know, I know.....I should not be ashamed in my beliefs).

This was a quick read and it was interesting. Do I believe in everything Sylvia Browne says? Hell no. Do I believe in some of it? Yes, but I've experienced some it and I'm a "have to see it to believe it" type of gal. THUS why I don't believe in aliens completely, because I have not had an experience with an alien or UFO or whatever.

I do recommend this to those with an open-mind. It's an interesting belief on the world. Is it any more crazy then any other religious theories? Nope. Some of it makes sense, some of it seems out of this world. Out of five stars, I stamp this with 4 stars. More like 3.5 stars, but I rounded.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Sylvia's style of writing. She is witty and interjects with many amusing things. Sometimes I find myself laughing out loud.

I am currently reading this book and find it fascinating. For me it's an exploration which I remember to take with a grain-of-salt but I can't help but think it all make sense. And thoughts that I had before... are coalescing together. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to study spirituality and work on it.
This book was witty, quick, and smart. It really urges one to trust in their higher power and offers so much insight!

[Maizie · Rating 4 out of 5]

With her super natural abilities she tells what happens when you die. You might not believe but she makes a skeptic change there mind. Her books are very informing and leaves you only wanting more. If your not sure pick up the book read a few pages and you just might change your view. she is a very intelligent women who has knowledge to share even if you don't believe in what she does it doesn't hurt to expand your knowledge.

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really need to read a few more of her books. This one fascinated me! I think my (by far) favorite part was when she explains how our children choose us. I was so overwhelmed with this idea that I immediately went to my son and put my arms around him in a hug and told him "Thank you for choosing me as your mother."

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has helped me so much. When I read any of her books she makes me feel so positive about life. I've learned to worry less and look at death as another adventure and not the end.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and gives a lot for us all to think about. I like her positive attitude!!

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books on life after life give me immense clarity and peace and they have been my favourite reading field since I came to conclusion that a lot of them share similarities. Writers have been loyal to their descriptions, which my mind translated into credibility and OK, OK my current incarnation, I understand my life choices, my soul contract and overwhelming amount of life lessons that I chose for myself. But the thing is; since I have my life and I live my life, I just think that I was goddamn drunk and stoned as fuck when I decided to write its story. Oh, but Jana, you are very old and evolved soul and you can handle it, and then I came here, with a hangover as huge as our galaxy and I forgot everything except for I have a deep pulling magnetic ache that had been murmoring within me since I was a child, that whispers ... home, I want to go home, this planet Earth is too tight, too brutal, too heavy, humans are still in sleeping trance. And my life has been a deep extreme voyage between unbeliveable spiritual depths and ... negotiations with my nervious system since here in this current 3D which is shifting as we speak, I depend on my physical thriveness and ability to neurologically translate and adapt to a life that is called, "live outside your comfort zone" but meet plethora of incredible human beings who will help you along the way. Life leaves me in awe when I understand its originality and mastery but it hurts, as, this time around, I have chosen to clear immense amount of my past lives karma and I have decided to upgrade myself on a frequency level which hums above my head but clearly drunk and stoned as fuck I sat with my soul family and I said to them, look, I have an idea... But it will hurt you as hell, are you sure? Yeah, yeah, just give me extraordinary and unique and radical and mystical and its ups and lows, and give it to me often.

''And when your work/ life is over, you’ll find that same Home and family waiting right where you left them, so safe and familiar and happy to see you that you’ll wonder what gave you the bright idea to leave them in the first place. If, like me, you’ve gone through life feeling a bit homesick no matter where you were, it is because our souls are remembering and yearning for a place where we have all been before.

We owe ourselves and each other profound respect just for having the guts to come here. Once our spirits make the decision to inhabit a human body, we create a blueprint for this life based on what we’re most interested in experiencing and learning to overcome in our eternal pursuit of knowledge. That blueprint includes everything from the kind of parents, families, and childhoods we will have to our career paths, health and financial circumstances, sexual preferences, marriages, children, and the length of our lifetime. We also select an “option line,” or area in which we feel we have the most to learn and will therefore be especially challenged by while we’re here.

Our Spirit Guides know our blueprints, but those blueprints hardly contain every momentary fear we will ever have. Also, speaking from practical experience, as psychic as I am, I can’t read minds, either. When a friend or client says, “Help me!” I’m going to say, “With what?” every time

You were probably taught from an early age that there is something wrong with loving yourself, that it is egotistical and unattractive and you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking such a thing. It is true that self-love doesn’t mean considering yourself superior to anyone else. That is egotistical and unattractive. I’m not promoting a world full of people swaggering around with swelled heads. Self-love, put simply, means that you treat yourself well and with respect. You surround yourself with people who treat you well and respect you. You live your life according to the advice you would give your child or your closest friend.

A combination of three elements can make a miracle—prayer, belief, and affirmation—together with the will of the intended recipient of that miracle.

I’ve been asked a thousand times why I don’t teach a course in how to be more psychic. The answer is, it would be the world’s shortest course. But if you are interested in taking it, it goes like this:
1. Ask a question, silently or out loud.
2. Say, from your heart, in your own words, to your own Higher Power, any version you like of: “Hit it, God!” That’s your cue to step aside to receive a far greater Wisdom than yours.
3. Be willing to accept the first response you get. Using the piano analogy, that is the “chopsticks” of developing your psychic intuition. Even after forty-seven years of readings, I admit I’m still amazed at how hard Step 3 can be, so don’t be discouraged if you find yourself having trouble with it, too.

All karma means is “a balance of experience.” When you write your blueprint on The Other Side, you know what you have worked on and learned in past lives, so your new blueprint will be composed according to what you decide you still need to experience. It is not inflicted on you. You choose it, based on your own goals for the lifetime you are about to tackle. Here are two sayings about patterns that I really love. One is, “It’s a sign of insanity to repeat the same behavior over and over again and expect different results.” The other is simpler but equally true. “When you do what you did, you get what you got.”

You may have heard the saying: If you really want to find a new love interest, stop looking. This is true for a couple of very good reasons. We are all psychic sponges, picking up impulses and energy and messages from the people around us. Whether we call them instincts or a sixth sense or just funny feelings, they are the psychic impressions people make on us before they’ve ever spoken a word or even looked our way. What we tend to forget sometimes is that we’re also psychic transmitters, sending out just as many impulses and energy and messages to all the other psychic sponges we meet. And you certainly don’t need a psychic to tell you how prey naturally reacts when they sense a hunter in the area. Any elk, rabbit, or goose will back me up on this—they race to escape.

They’re something to do while you don’t wait but instead actively live your life, with these constant reminders of your divine, eternal, worthy spirit, and its direct lineage to God. The more you learn to appreciate, respect, and love the God soul inside you, the more quickly you’ll master the biggest secret of all to finding and keeping healthy, happy relationships throughout your life: No other relationship on this earth will ever offer as much potential security, comfort, and peace of mind as your relationship with yourself. Learn to love your own company, and other people are bound to follow. After all, no one wants to miss out on a good time.

I read something recently that struck me as a beautiful way to end a chapter on relationships. It applies to couples, to friends, to family members, to anyone else we let into our lives, and mostly to the all-important relationship between ourselves and the divine light of God inside us. It’s called “The Invitation.” It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human. It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul, if you can be faithless and therefore be trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it’s not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!” It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children. It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. —Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder''

[Morten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creer o no creer, he ahí la cuestión

[Tracie Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other Side and Back Again: A Psychic’s Guide to Our World and Beyond by Sylvia Browne and Lyndsay Harrison

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
(Available in Print: COPYRIGHT: 7/1/2000; PUBLISHER: SIGNET; 1st edition; ISBN: 978-0451198631; PAGES: 274; Unabridged.)

*This edition-Digital: COPYRIGHT: (1999) 7/1/2000; ISBN: 9781101209219; PUBLISHER: Penguin Random House LLC (New American Library:Berkley); Unabridged; PAGES: 304; FILE SIZE: 764 KB

Audiobook-Possibly on Cassette.

Film or tv: No.

SERIES:
No

MAJOR CHARACTERS:
N/A

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it: The print paperback was at a book sale. I have read at least one of Sylvia’s books, and liked it for the most part, though I would disagree with many of the conclusion she draws. She fortifies them with the ol’ “higher authority” trick, that being her Spirit Guide, Francine. I don’t begrudge her her Spirit Guide, or disbelieve in her, only in the assumptions and translations that Sylvia adopts based on what she feels she’s received from her. Anyway, it had been a couple of decades, plus or minus a few years, since I’d read one, and I decided to refresh my memory on Sylvia’s views. I left it at the house I only visit most weekends and wasn’t finding time to read it, so when I, and a couple of friends, started experiencing interesting phenomena, I borrowed the digital copy though LAPD’s Overdrive.
What it’s about: Sylvia talks about her life as a psychic, about her Spirit Guide, about the psychic gifts everyone has to one degree or another, about loss, death, and other self-help topics for which she provides insight and tips for dealing with.

I still find myself thinking, “No, that doesn’t make sense, I disagree.” About many of her conclusions, but more importantly, I still find most of her information worth consideration.

AUTHOR:
Sylvia Browne:
Sylvia founded a church; Society of Novus Spiritus, in Campbell, California, which continues to carry on.

This Wikipedia article on Sylvia was obviously written by someone who was not a fan (and proud of it) . . .
“Sylvia Celeste Browne (née Shoemaker; October 19, 1936 – November 20, 2013)[1] was an American author who claimed to be a medium with psychic abilities. She appeared regularly on television and radio, including on The Montel Williams Show and Larry King Live, and hosted an hour-long online radio show on Hay House Radio.
Browne frequently made pronouncements that were later found to be false, including those related to missing persons. She was also a convicted criminal, having faced theft charges in 1992. Despite the considerable negative publicity, she maintained a large following until her death in 2013.[2]”


Lindsay Harrison:
Near the end of this book, in a section called “Departed Loved Ones” Sylvia mentions sitting down with Lindsay to write the book, and similar mentions occurs in Chapter 7, but the book is written in first person, so, as with most, if not all, ghost writers, Lindsay doesn’t actually have a “voice”.

One of the few things I find on Lindsay is this sentence at Amazon: “Lindsay Harrison is a writer living in Los Angeles, specializing in ghostwriting and celebrity memoirs.”
Only Sylvia’s books appear in the list, although further digging does bring Lindsay up as one of two co-authors with Catherine Hickman. Perhaps there are more books, and one must simply hunt for them.

Another website, allstarbio.com, assumes that the Lindsay Harrison who co-authored Sylvia’s books is the same Lindsay Harrison who wrote, “Missing,” an autobiography of when that Lindsay’s mother, Michele, went missing. The thing is, in the dedication here, our Lindsay says her mother’s name is Fern Underwood—Fern Underwood and Lindsay Harrison both appear as co-authors to the afore mentioned Catherine Hickland book published in 2014. The forward of Catherine’s book discusses her friendship with Lindsay and the contributions by Lindsay’s then 94 year old mother, Fern, so it would seem this is NOT the same Lindsay who wrote the memoir, “Missing”. There’s always a chance that Fern was a step-mother (although what little I read about the "Missing" memoir indicated that that Lindsay's father married another Michele), or a mother figure, but my guess is that the memoir author is a different Lindsay Harrison than our ghost writer.

NARRATOR:
N/A

GENRE:
Non-fiction; Autobiography; New Age; Religion & Spirituality

LOCATIONS:
United States

TIME FRAME:
Contemporary (1999)

SUBJECTS:
Self Help; Loss; Death; Spirituality; Predictions for the new Millennium

DEDICATION:
"From Sylvia: For my family . . . For Angelia, may I be the wind beneath your wings that my Grandma Ada was to me . . . And always, for Montel

From Lindsay: For my mother, Fern Underwood, who has brought more to my life, including my introduction to Sylvia, than I can repay”

SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From “Mind and Body”:

“I think we’ve all had this experience. You’re trotting along through the day, feeling perfectly fine, when someone says, “Are you okay? You don’t look well.” Sure enough, as the day wears on, you start to notice that you’re really not feeling so great after all. Ten times out of ten, the person who said you don’t look well isn’t blessed with the amazing power to judge your health better than you can. The only power they have is the power of suggestion. Before you know it, you’re thinking, “If I don’t look well, maybe I’m not well.” Your body, always eager to please, hears “not well” and dutifully conjures up some kind of discomfort. Next time, instead of “Maybe I’m not well,” try thinking, “I don’t have time for that foolishness.” Keep right on thinking it until you mean it. It’s a safe bet you’ll get through the rest of the day feeling just as fine as you did to begin with.

That leads to my strong belief that we should eliminate a whole other definition of “body language” from our vocabularies—ie., the stream of careless clichés that can cue the body to develop health problems. An extreme illustration was a friend of mine whose boyfriend had left her. She kept repeating over and over, “He broke my heart.” I kept asking her to please stop saying that, but clichés are hard habits to break. Two months later she was in surgery for a double bypass.

Make a deal with your spouse or a friend to notice how often you use this form of negative “body language” and work together to break the habit. Here are just a few examples:
“He/she makes me sick.”
“He/she is a pain in the neck (or other body part).”
“I’m worried sick (or worried to death) about . . .”
“He/she wears me out.”
“You’re giving me a headache.” “You’re going to give me an ulcer.”
“Something is weighing heavy on my heart.”
“You’re going to be the death of me.”
“I’d rather die than . . .” “He/she/this is nauseating . . .”
If you listen closely, you’ll be shocked at the frequency with which you’re subtly sabotaging your body and almost ordering it to break down.

Similarly, your body is absolutely literal in the way it responds to the environment around it. I first started noticing this many years ago when I visited a dear friend, Dr. James Cochran, who was in the hospital dying of bleeding ulcers. I held his hand and asked him what was going on, and he looked back with the saddest brown eyes and said, “I don’t know, Sylvia, I guess I just can’t stomach life anymore.” Not long after that I was at a doctor’s appointment of my own, trying to get rid of a recurring bladder infection. Another friend, Dr. Jim Fadiman, who’d known me forever, listened patiently to my list of symptoms and then said, “You know better than this. Talk to me, what’s going on with you?” Without a moment’s thought I blurted out, “It’s my family. They just really piss me off.” And I wondered why my bladder was acting up? We had a good laugh over that.

I’ve run across countless variations on that theme with clients in all these years since. Very often, if there are issues in our lives that our minds refuse to address, our bodies will speak up loud and clear:
Your neck chronically hurts? Who or what is the pain in your neck?
You have chronic backaches? Who or what are you carrying on your back?
Eyesight failing? What in your life don’t you want to see?

Chronic laryngitis? What don’t you want to say . . . or what did you say that you shouldn’t have? Hearing starting to fail? What are you trying not to hear? By the way, have you ever noticed that it’s always only one person in a couple, never both of them, whose hearing goes? The words “take a hint!” leap to mind.
Chronic breathing or bronchial trouble? What do you need to get off your chest?
Dizzy spells? Who or what is keeping you off balance?
The list goes on and on. But the point is, remembering how literally the body reacts to information, many recurring health problems can be healed when the mind identifies the real source of the problem and starts taking steps to address it.”

(My reaction to all of that is that, I do not literally think that every vision problem means you're trying to avoid seeing something, or a hip pain is due to saying someone is "a pain in the a- -.", but it wouldn't hurt to watch what we say, all the same . . .and it does make me worry about the AA group that begins every session, and presumably every day with the pronouncement that each member is (and always will be) an alcoholic." I get that they want to remember to stay away from the poison that is alcohol--that they think some people can consume it without ill effects (I, personally am not so sure) but that they are of the group to who it is always unsafe to consume it, but I just don't feel right about them declaring everyday, all day, that they are sick. An oncologist would NEVER tell a patient to mantra-ize their ailment, I'm not sure it's any wiser with this ailment.

RATING:
3 stars.

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
5-19-2022 to 7-3-2022

[Anne Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I read this book, I kept comparing the thoughts of this psychic and author, Sylvia Browne, with Lorna Byrne, the author that can see angels. Lorna talks about our guardian angels, where Sylvia says we have a "spirit guide." Lorna seems to have more of a spiritualness about her, while Sylvia just wants to tell us all about her psychic readings and visions. Most of Sylvia's book really to me was telling us how to live a happy life, and be positive. I got very curious as to how Sylvia Browne passed away, but I couldn't find any indication as to a cause of death on the internet. I don't understand why her family would keep it a secret since she was a pretty popular public figure. Searching more online, it became more apparent that many people thought Sylvia to be a fraud since many of her predictions did not come true or were wrong. My "favorite" prediction was aliens will begin allowing themselves to be seen on earth in 2010. Has anyone seen an alien or do I have to watch the Syfy network for that? Well all I can say is this woman seemed very nice, was surprisingly a Catholic school teacher, and seems to have a very vivid imagination. May she rest in peace and hopefully she is in a better place.

[Rosalinda Sepeda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have manually read many of Sylvia Browne’s books but when either kindle or audible reads makes more sense because we are listening, we or could reread the books again because there some information that is needed in this lifetime.

The information she has in most of her books has helped me open to my spiritual self.
This book itself indicates how to contact spirit guides, angels, different stories to make a point and we should not fear aging or death, ghost, and hauntings.

Also, this book if you are looking for a little more understanding on questions, they may be having about your life’s purpose. It will not tell you exactly what your purpose here on earth is, but it does make you think deeper inside yourself

It touches so many different aspects of this world and the other side and beyond. A wondering Why' things happen to them or me, we all struggle with: 'Who am I and what is my purpose'.

To each its own, though this is only my opinion.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book that gave me so many answers I didn't even know I was looking for- but my soul did. I haven't read these books in so long and have found I wish I still had them. I've read nearly all of her books cover to cover and then would use as reference. Sometimes it just helps to read a section or two of other people's experiences to know you're not alone or just if you need your spirits lifted. This book changed me and once I read it. As Sylvia always said, "take what you want and leave the rest", you don't have to believe blindly, she never intended that. But some things will just click.

[Melissa Knotts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for a paper I was writing in college on psychics. It was extremely interesting whether you believe her or not or in afterlife itself. The extremely detailed and discriptive way she speaks of angels, ghosts, our spirit guides etc. is very interesting and really makes you think and wonder about all the things that might be out there.

[rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book.alot of information that I found valuable for my own beliefs.

I gave this book 5 stars. it helped me to understand better and put things in perspective.but I still have alot to learn .about certain topics discussed in this book.but if you are a curious .this is a good read very informative.

[Amber Kuehler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting and a lot of it was really nice to think about, but I still feel skeptical. But, I think that's okay though! Despite my skepticism it was still an interesting read and I would recommend it to others wanting to learn more about the different "afterlives."

[Rachel June · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing book about the other side (life after death). I've read this book 3 times and still want to read it again. Highly recommend to those curious about the afterlife or to find comfort in their grief.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of it resonated with me, some of it didn't. All in all an interesting read with some decent tips and amazing stories (take 'em or leave 'em). Writing style was fun and conversational. May she rest in peace.

[Donna Dobihal Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though readers may be skeptical, taking or leaving the information shared by the author, this work is compelling, offering hope and practical suggestions for living one's life, through the good times and bad. Interesting, useful, positive - a great read!

[Inra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. I couldn't stop reading it till the end. It's really is a page-turner and a mind-blowing experience. An eye-opening for spiritual enthusiast. Read this book and you will get plenty of knowledge. Thanks Sylvia! I know you can hear me from the other side :-)