Secrets & Mysteries of the World [Gekürzte Ausgabe, Audiobook] [Englisch] [Audio CD]

"In this book, you'll read about some of the secrets and mysteries that have greatly puzzled humankind, in some cases for centuries...I've personally visited most of the places where the mysteries in this book originate. I've walked the paths and used myself as a psychic barometer first, and then I've gone back to see if I could prove what I telepathically picked up using research, statistics, eyewitness accounts, and sometimes just good ol' common sense." - Sylvia Browne

The Bermuda Triangle, crop circles, stigmata, the crystal skulls, and spontaneous human combustion are fascinating and puzzling phenomena. As a child, I remember eagerly watching the TV show In Search Of..., hosted by Leonard Nimoy. At times frightened, I couldn't sate my curiosity when presented with unexplained mysteries like Easter Island, Sasquatch, and the lost continent of Atlantis. I couldn't get enough of these intriguing subject matters!

Although my interest in many of these types of mysteries has waned over the years, I found Sylvia Browne's new book Secrets & Mysteries of the World to be absolutely irresistible. This is one of those rare books that cross my desk which could be called a real page turner. I looked forward to reading about each phenomenon presented in this book-sometimes reading it during commercials when watching TV! I finished it in a weekend, and learned some amazing facts in the process.

One of the most intriguing subjects in Secrets & Mysteries of the World is that of tulpas. According to Browne, a tulpa is an entity created by an act of imagination. She quotes an excerpt from the book Body, Mind, & Spirit: A Dictionary of New Age Ideas, People, Places and Terms by Eileen Campbell and J.H. Brennan. In the excerpt, an amazing incident is chronicled: a woman was so interested in the concept of tulpas that she set out to create one. Employing intense visualization and concentration, she "created" a benign little monk, similar to Friar Tuck. As time wore on, her vision grew in clarity and substance-a sort of self-induced hallucination. The fascinating part of this story, though, is that her companions-who were unaware of her mental experiment-began to ask about the "stranger" who had turned up at their camp. What began with imagination began to have objective reality.

Sylvia discusses other examples of tulpa creation, including a group of Spiritualists in England (comprised of educated folk like a journalist, scientist, dentist, doctor and a businessman) who "created" a man named Edward Howard. One night, after almost a year and a half of constructing the full scope of Edward's life, the man-in the flesh-appeared to them! This story has been well-documented; in fact, Sylvia talked to a woman named Minnie Bridges, who was a student at the Spiritualist college that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle frequented, and she corroborated that she had also seen Edward. In fact, many area mediums were called upon to get rid of him.

Interestingly, Sylvia considers the Loch Ness Monster, Sasquatch, and even "the devil" tulpas created by mass belief.

Secrets & Mysteries of the World covers mysterious places, strange creatures, unexplained objects, mystic phenomena, and Christian controversies. Among these fascinating subjects, Sylvia discusses Shangri-La, Lemuria, Extraterrestrials, the fairy world, otherworldly maps and instruments, auras, black holes, the Holy Grail, and the lost years of Jesus.

Although Sylvia relies heavily on psychic information gleaned from her spirit guide Francine, she backs up the psychic information with scientific studies and historical research. At the very least, we're offered though provoking theories to these unexplained mysteries-as well as why we're here on this Earth and why many things happen as they do. Sylvia also provides the names of books, researches, and scientific studies so one can do further research on their own-and make up their own mind what to believe.

At 237 pages, Secrets & Mysteries of the World is absorbing and easy read. For those of you fascinated by phenomena like the pyramids, the Shroud of Turin, and the Ica stones, you'll be highly entertained-and given food for thought about the origin and existence of these mysteries.

I usually enjoy reading Ms. Browne's books, but I must say even I (one of her biggest fans) was disappointed in this book. The only reason I give it 2 stars is because SOME of the information was interesting, however I could have found most of it online! In fact she refers to websites throughout the book. I thought the book would contain more psychic information than it did---just a few tid bits from Francine. It seems as though she compiled some data from online and wrote the book on one of her flights. I'm sure she did more research than that, but the book just reads like it was thrown together in a rush. If you are interested in this book, I highly recommend just getting it from the library.

I usually enjoy Sylvia Browne's books; however, I was somewhat disappointed in this one. The title lures you in, promising great secrets of the universe to be revealed. Well, there were no great secrets, just a few comments from her spirit guide, Francine. Most of the information was just from stuff she researched on the internet, which I'm sure was a lot of work but nothing we couldn't do ourselves if we had the time. The one section I found of most interest was "The Lost Years of Jesus." I found it to be the most credible of all the chapters and gave me a lot of new information and new ideas for my own research. But as far as revealing all -- no, it didn't do that.