Adam Berry is a paranormal investigator who earned a place on the Ghost Hunters television show after winning Ghost Hunters Academy in 2010. He is now the executive producer and co-host for the show Kindred Spirits. In this book, Berry discusses his journey into the paranormal field and how it has affected his thoughts on death and dying. He attempts to see death from the perspective of not just the living but the dead. He stresses that it is essential to humanize the spirits encountered during an investigation in order to fully understand what is happening in the situation. 

Would I recommend this book? Yes! I think this is a good book for anyone searching for deeper meaning beyond the “spooky” occurrences that happen everyday.  

Pros: I really appreciate that Berry chose to not just tell his stories but to dive deeper into what they may mean in the larger scope of life and death. This is a very hard subject to tackle but he does a good job of floating between different perspectives (home owners, psychics, investigators, and the dead) while reinforcing the fact that he doesn’t know the full answer. I think the most impactful part of the book occurs in the introduction. He tells the story of a conference event in which he meets someone who only had a few weeks left to live and she asked him a question he never expected: “I want to know how I can communicate with my family and loved ones after I die.” I think this is the thing that we miss so often in investigation, the desire to know if we go on and if so, how does it work so we can continue to care for our loved ones? Berry tries his best to understand how the dead communicate with us, why, and what that really means for the living. 

Cons: This is a hard topic to cover so I commend Berry for even trying. The book is 100% from the perspective of someone who believes that our spirits go on so don’t expect any scientific explanation of how this is possible. This book isn’t about science, it’s about larger philosophical ideas and that is okay. 

Overall thoughts: I really think that anyone who investigates the paranormal needs to consider all of the things Berry talks about in this book. We need to humanize the spirits that we may be communicating with and learn to think about the larger picture beyond the “spooky” things that happen. Why do they happen? What does this mean for us as living beings? What does it mean for our death process? What does it mean for our afterlife? These are important questions that you should be asking yourself if you spend any time attempting to communicate with the dead.  

Side note: I was honestly excited for the release of this book because I want to read more about how investigators are integrating their investigations experiences into a greater understanding of life and death. I think building meaning is an important part of moving forward in the field. 

You can get your own copy here.