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Writer's picturePaul Amirault

Book Review: The Boy Who Knew Too Much


Photo of a well-worn baseball by Paul Amirault

I just finished reading Cathy Byrd’s new memoir of reincarnation, The Boy Who Knew Too Much—which interestingly, has a similar title to my own, similarly themed work, The Man Who Sent the SOS. I unabashedly give Cathy’s book five stars, both for her terrific and easy-to-follow writing style, as well as for the phenomenal number of confirming details the author was able to uncover, as she investigated both her son’s past-life story—and ultimately, her own.

Cathy Byrd was a typical Southern California wife and mother, whose two-year-old son Christian became inexplicably obsessed with playing baseball—at an age when most kids can barely focus on any one thing for more than a couple of minutes.

But the story really takes off when the toddler starts talking about memories of his previous life as a grown up, professional ball player. In one memorable scene—which takes place at the start of a plane trip to Boston—the boy refuses to buckle up, telling his exasperated mother, “When I was big, I didn’t wear seatbelts, and I drank alcohol.”

From there things snowballed—and quickly. Soon Christian was regularly entertaining the family with tidbits from his previous life…which the parents mostly wrote off as fantasy, until the toddler, presented with a photograph of some old-time baseball players, pointed to one and declared, “That’s me.”

The man in the picture was legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who retired from baseball at the height of his career after coming down with a rare degenerative disease. (For decades thereafter, ALS was commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.)

This bombshell led Cathy, step-by-step, to the inescapable conclusion that not only was her son telling the truth…but that she herself had a past-life connection to the Gehrig family.

To reveal more would rob the reader of much enjoyment from The Boy Who Knew Too Much. However, suffice it to say that the book is a thought-provoking, highly intelligent page-turner. It vividly captures Cathy’s journey from skeptic to believer—as she tries to reconcile her deeply held Christian faith with the unusual story that’s playing out behind the scenes in her home. And, with her prodigious skills as a writer, Cathy succeeds in bringing the reader along with her for the ride.

In the end, Cathy uncovers—and shares—a treasure-trove of spiritual wisdom—making The Boy Who Knew Too Much the New Age equivalent of a grand slam. It shouldn’t be missed.

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Paul Amirault is a television producer, writer and photographer. His first book, The Man Who Sent the SOS: A Memoir of Reincarnation and the Titanic, chronicles a 12-year search he undertook after seeing images from the sinking of the famed White Star liner during a past-life regression.

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