Bob's Best of Breed OBE Books

Bob's Best of Breed OBE Books

by Bob Peterson

Many people ask for a good book on Out-of-Body Experiences or Astral Projection. It depends on what you're looking for, right? It's a tough question because each OBE book has a different angle. I haven't updated my Top Ten OBE Books list since November, 2014, so I'm long overdue. This time, I'm going to break it down into categories.

This time I've ranked my top eight OBE books in these three categories:

• OBE Tips, Techniques & Instructions
• General Info, Theory, & Speculation
• OBE Narratives & Story Telling

In addition, I've ranked my top four in these additional categories:

• Monroe Institute Based
• Scientific & Skeptical
• Occult
• Wiccan
• Fiction

Many of the books listed are links to book reviews from my blog, so click on them for a full book review.

Disclaimer 1: I own a lot of OBE books, and have read almost all of them. Unfortunately, for some of them it's been too many years. If I don't remember a book, I didn't include it in the list. That doesn't mean it's not good; it just means I don't remember. Eventually I plan to re-read them all, time permitting, and then I might need to adjust the list.

Disclaimer 2: Some books fit into multiple categories, and it was sometimes hard to choose, but I only wanted to list one book per author.

Best of Breed - OBE Tips, Techniques & Instructions

This is what every beginner wants to know--how to do it themselves--right? These are books that have good solid OBE techniques to get you out there exploring:

1	The Phase	Michael Raduga	Probably the best instructional OBE book I've read. A wealth of good advice. (Book review coming soon!)
2	Astral Dynamics	Robert Bruce	Lots of good techniques and advice. Stresses energy work.
3	Adventures Beyond the Body	William Buhlman	A well rounded balance of info, theory and a variety of techniques.
4	Navigating the Out-of-Body Experience	Graham Nicholls	A good assortment of creative OBE techniques and general OBE info.
5	Travel Far	Darryl E. Berry Jr.	A well-rounded book with general information and techniques.
6	Leaving the Body	D. Scott Rogo	An oldie but goodie. Techniques and OBE advice abound.
7	Out of Body Experiences	Akhena	OBE Information, techniques, advice, excellent narratives, and validation.
8	Out of Body Experiences	Robert Peterson	General information, narratives and exercises after every chapter.

Best of Breed - General Info, Theory, & Speculation

These books include general information about OBEs, speculation about what is "out there" and often contain some techniques and pointers.

1	Explorations In Consciousness	Frederick Aardema	One of the best and yet underrated OBE books. Creative and informative.
2	The Projection of the Astral Body	Sylvan Muldoon and Hereward Carrington	A Classic from the 1920s, but still very much relevant today.
3	Journeys Out of the Body	Robert Monroe	The book that got me started. A classic in the field. Powerful.
4	Out-of-Body Exploring	Preston Dennett	Good solid OBE information.
5	Demystifying the Out-of-Body Experience	Luis Minero	Solid information. Brings the subject down to Earth.
6	Exploring Your Inner Reality	Jonas Ridgeway	Nice. Good solid info and OBE advice.
7	Astral Projection	Oliver Fox	Another classic from an early pioneer in the field.
8	Out-of-Body Experiences	Janet Lee Mitchell, Ph.D.	Chalk full of good information. It's been many years since I read it, but I remember it was good.

Best of Breed - OBE Narratives & Story Telling

These books are more geared toward telling the personal stories of those who have had out-of-body experiences, although light on techniques.

1	Multi-Dimensional Man	Jurgen Ziewe	Moving, touching, inspiring. A heart-warming ride into other dimensions. Still my #1 favorite OBE book.
2	The Out-of-Body Experience: An Experiential Anthology	Edited by Rodrigo Montenegro	A great collection of OBE narratives, many of which have validation.
3	Astral Projections	Michael Ross	Small, but well written and heart warming.
4	The Study and Practice of Astral Projection	Dr. Robert Crookall	Lots of good stories and speculation about their meaning.
5	Soul Traveler	Albert Taylor	It's been a long time since I've read it.
6	The Astral Projection Guidebook	Erin Pavlina	Amusing and well written, although a little far-out.
7	Persephone's Journey	Vicky M. Short	A heart warming journal of personal growth and out-of-body travel.
8	Loved	Mary Deioma	A touching personal journey.

Best of Breed - Monroe Institute Based

These books are for proponents of The Monroe Institute and Focus Level Experiences.

1	Ultimate Journey	Robert Monroe	Epic. Much more grounded than Far Journeys
2	Voyages Into the Unknown	Bruce Moen	Moen's whole series is good. Soul retrieval in the Monroe Institute tradition.
3	Cosmic Journeys	Rosalind McKnight	It's been a while, but I remember it was good.
4	My Big Toe	Thomas Campbell	I've never read it, but it comes highly recommended. I do own a copy. Big.

Best of Breed - Scientific & Skeptical

These books were written for the scientific, and often skeptical, person.

1	With The Eyes of the Mind	Glenn Gabbard and Stuart Twemlow	Compares OBEs to body boundary disturbances like autoscopy and schizophrenia. Fabulous. Highly recommended.
2	Beyond the Body	Susan J. Blackmore	A parapsychologist's view of OBEs. Level headed, although she became quite an outspoken skeptic in later years.
3	Flight of Mind	H.J. Irwin	Scientific and very dry, but very informative.
4	Out-of-the-Body Experiences	Celia Green	It's been a long time, but I remember it was good.

Best of Breed - Occult

These books are geared toward practitioners of western esotericism, magic and the occult.

1	Between the Gates	Mark Stavish	Some good solid out-of-the-box thinking and techniques on OBEs.
2	Soul Flight	Donald Tyson	I don't remember much about it, but Tyson's books are always solid.
3	Astral Projection, Ritual Magic and Alchemy	S.L.Macgregor Mathers	I own it, but I don't think I've ever read it.
4	Techniques of High Magic	Francis King & Skinner	I don't think I've ever read this one either.

Best of Breed - Wiccan 

These books are written for practitioners of Wicca, Druidism, and such. I've never been a fan of these, but I didn't want to discriminate against them either.

1	The Llewellyn Practical Guide to Astral Projection	Melita Denning & Osbourne Phillips	Maybe the second OBE book I ever read, in 1980.
2	Flying Without a Broom	D.J. Conway	Talks about astral lovers and such.
3	Astral Projection for Beginners	Edain McCoy	I don't remember much about this book, to be honest.

Best of Breed - Fiction

These books are purely fiction; novels that have OBEs as a primary theme. I'm sure there are more OBE-based novels, but I'm a nonfiction guy, so I don't focus on them. I have read and enjoyed every one of these, though.

1	The House Between the Worlds	Marion Zimmer Bradley	A parapsychologist's OBEs lead to incursions from another dimension! Love this book. Got Anteril?
2	Kindred Spirits	Alan Brennert	An OBE love story: Alan Brennert also wrote touching tales for The Twilight Zone.
3	Flying in Place	Susan Palwick	If I remember correctly, the main character uses OBEs to escape from her sexual abuse.
4	Nightflyer	Christopher Fahy	A teenage boy uses OBEs to get revenge on bullies at school. Maybe not uplifting, but definitely fun.

Of course, OBE books can only take you so far. I hope you explore the state yourself.

Bob Peterson
14 March 2017