"The Spirits Book" (1857), written by Allan Kardec, is widely regarded as the most important piece of writing in the "Spiritist" canon. It is the first in a series of five books that Kardec wrote that are collectively known as the "Spiritist Codification". Although the other four books; "The Medium"s Book", "The Gospel According to Spiritism", "Heaven and Hell" and "The Genesis According to Spiritism" are of great importance to the Spiritist movement it is "The Spirits Book" that lays out the doctrine of the belief system. The Spiritist movement was founded by Allen Kardec and although its roots lay in Spiritualism there are differences in belief. The most important of these differences is the Spiritist belief in reincarnation. Although some Spiritualists believe in reincarnation and some do not, all Spiritists consider it as a basic truth of their ideology. In the 1850"s, whilst investigating the afterlife, Kardec communicated in seances with a collection of spirits named "The...