Official Review: How To Talk With Spirits: Séa...

kady24 · Post by **kady24** » 20 Jun 2015, 14:18

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "How To Talk With Spirits: Séances • Mediums • Ghost Hunts" by June Ahern.]

1 out of 4 stars

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In June Ahern's book How to Talk With Spirits: Séances, Mediums and Ghost Hunts she says "The goal is to teach how to safely and wisely interact with spirits of the dead". She goes on to outline the very basics of how to communicate with the dead starting with how to mentally prepare yourself, figure out your purpose, and prepare your surroundings for a positive and successful experience.

I give this book 1 out of 4 stars. If you have never read a book or watched a TV show involving ghosts or séances then this book is for you. However, most of us have and Ahern does not enlighten us in any way. The things we have always heard regarding this subject are reiterated in this book: trust your instincts, keep an open mind, evil entities seek out the weak and fearful, etc. I found her advice painstakingly simple and overly cliché. She writes, "Develop psychic abilities as you would anything you wish to master by studying and practicing consistently". Other advice is "send prayers and good thoughts if you see or feel a troubled ghost or spirit to help them rest in peace" and "spirits communicate with you because they have a message for you". One of my favorites: It is more likely you will find ghosts "in old buildings with some history". Thank you but I didn't need to read a book to know that.

At the outset I was confused by this book on a few different levels. First, the book felt more like a rough draft than a polished piece of work. Grammatical errors and typos run rampant throughout the text which distracted from the content. It would benefit from a good edit. Next, the structure of the book is baffling. Almost the entire first half of it is questions and answers. Traditionally, these come at the end of a book, lecture or presentation and in this case it would have made more sense as well. Lastly, the sentence structure and wording chosen made it hard to read through smoothly. I found myself re-rereading the text on more than one occasion to try and reconcile inconsistencies. One example I found within the first few pages and it made the author seem not credible! She writes about her car accident and says she was "ejected through the windshield" since she was not wearing a seatbelt. In the very next sentence she says "then I reentered the vehicle, jagged glass ripped and embedded into my face". I couldn't help but wonder why she would go back into a car she'd just been thrown from. It doesn't seem likely or plausible. Readers want to be able to believe the stories they are being told so getting the details right is essential, especially in a book about ESP.

I was excited to read this book because I have met with psychics and read numerous books on the subject. However, the only things that peaked my interest were some of Ahern's own personal stories and the references she gave to other people's work. The ESP quiz at the end of the book was also fun and I enjoyed her synopsis of each score.

In the end, I feel this would be a much better book if it was repurposed into a collection of personal stories based on the events Ahern witnessed and ghosts she encountered during her 40 years as a medium.

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How To Talk With Spirits: Séances • Mediums • Ghost Hunts
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Lisalovecraft · Post by **Lisalovecraft** » 21 Jun 2015, 22:02

Nice review! I'm a skeptic, however I and interested in ghosts. Sounds like this book would be better with some editing and maybe a change of focus.

zeldas_lullaby · Post by **zeldas_lullaby** » 21 Jun 2015, 23:15

Huh. Great review! I agree that you'd only snap back into the car if you were wearing your seatbelt.

The author's advice seems really bad, I agree. "Find an old house with history,"? The part about mentally preparing yourself is preposterous, and here's why: if I mentally prepare myself right now to interact with ghosts, and then I sit silently and wait for them to come, and/or if I consult with my handy Ouija board, nothing's going to happen! And I went to all the trouble to prepare myself mentally!!

Here, I'll bring some ghosts to the party...

LivreAmour217 · Post by **LivreAmour217** » 04 Jul 2015, 14:49

I live in a community that is famous for its paranormal activity, and having had some spooky encounters of my own, I would have been very likely to pick up this book. Thank you for preventing me from making that mistake! A lot of the "advice" in this book sounds like stuff anyone could figure out.

Levi · Post by **Levi** » 04 Jul 2015, 14:59

Great job on the review. I especially like your idea for a potentially better way to frame the book to make it better, because the point of any criticism should be to make the object of said criticism stronger.

zeldas_lullaby · Post by **zeldas_lullaby** » 04 Jul 2015, 21:55

LivreAmour217 wrote:I live in a community that is famous for its paranormal activity, and having had some spooky encounters of my own, I would have been very likely to pick up this book. Thank you for preventing me from making that mistake! A lot of the "advice" in this book sounds like stuff anyone could figure out.

Wow, awesome!!

kady24 · Post by **kady24** » 05 Jul 2015, 19:59

Escapeartist wrote:Great job on the review. I especially like your idea for a potentially better way to frame the book to make it better, because the point of any criticism should be to make the object of said criticism stronger.

Thanks! I was really trying to give my honest opinion but also thinking "What would make me want to read this book more?". I like to write also and find feedback very helpful