Perhaps C. W. Leadbeater summarized this work better than anyone: "In 1881, Mr. Sinnett startled the literary circles of London by the publication of The Occult World. Here was a book by a man whose position vouched for him - a book short, definite, and to the point. True, it told an astounding story - a story to the ordinary man of the world all but incredible, though strangely attractive; but it told it in the most straightforward and transparently truthful manner, so that to many of us - in spite of its overwhelming novelty - it carried conviction upon its very face. It is no exaggeration to say that thousands of souls were stirred into instant and delighted recognition of a knowledge which had been theirs long ago in other bodies and under other skies."