Near Death Experiences Books

What I like most about what I feel are TRUE spiritual teachings are their inclusiveness. I truly resonate with the message that all true spiritual teachings speak of the same thing and that ideology is not a part of it. I believe Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed were all enlightened men who stood out among the few who have truly been fully enlightened and are therefore special human beings, but one not "better" than the other. What I felt uncomfortable about in Mills' book is the overemphasis on Christianity. He never says outright that you have to be a Christian to go to heaven, but it seems that Heaven is dominated by all things Christian. He actually says he met the "Father" and he was a man with white hair. He says he saw buildings leafed in gold. He says he met the Virgin Mary and Jesus. He makes Heaven sound like a very Christian,"Defending your Life" movie-ish version of heaven and that's what makes me uncomfortable. It doesn't ring true that God is a man sitting in the sky with white hair. I'd like to believe God is all around us and in everyone as well. On a tangential note, there's a story about killing a turkey that I couldn't stomach, but Mills calls it one of the funny things written in his pre-written Life book. Things like that didn't resonate with me at all.

I would like to believe as another commenter noted that if Roy Mills had been Buddhist he would have seen a Tibetan Lama instead of Jesus. This makes me feel better about his experience because I believe he hits on some wonderful points. I just can't embrace the wholeness of his story. I believe he probably had a profound spiritual experience of some kind and maybe filled in the details with some egoic concepts that fit into his Christian ideology. Then again, I could be completely wrong. Who knows? Nevertheless, I found the book insightful in many areas. It's message is one of unconditional love and of being non-judgmental, which can be somewhat lacking from some Christians.

I enjoyed every page... in fact, I've re-read this book a few times. I enjoyed the story of the author's childhood and felt it to be an integral part of the whole picture, i.e. his chosen lessons and his ability to overcome painful experiences. I did not feel he was "lamenting" his childhood as another reviewer feels. The sad parts made me feel very sad, but they are important. Bottom line, I believe, is if the reader is interested in the subjects of life after life and near-death experiences, he or she will enjoy this book; if a reader is skeptical about this kind of stuff, an understandable point of view, he or she will not enjoy it. It is a book I'd like to give to my friends who are interested in the subject. I have a library of sorts in this area and this book is one of my must-haves.

This is one of the greatest books ever written. It's a gift from God.
Roy Mills is just the messenger. It's too bad that most people are just
too busy to stop and read a book like this so they can learn and grow.
Spiritual growth is important. Most people ignore their spirit and
just work with their minds and bodys. It is important to create a harmony
between your eternal spirit, mind and body. I'm looking forward to
my trip to the Heavenly Council. My life review will be easy if i
simply do selfless acts and expect nothing in return.

This book is spectacular! As I read it, I was continually amazed at the tremendous amount and depth of the wisdom in it. Although this book is not about a Near-Death Experience (NDE), the information in it is similar to and consistent with that reported by many people who have had an NDE. I've read over a dozen books on NDEs, and if I had to choose, I'd say that "The Soul's Remembrance" contains the most insights and the most useful information applicable to living a loving life. It is truly excellent, and I highly recommend it to all seekers.

I read the excerpts available on line and purchased this book largely due to Betty Eadie's recommendation. I have plodded thru about 1/3 of the book and am very disappointed. Roy Mills spends most of his time lamenting his difficult child hood and we hear very little about his soul's remembrance. I would not recommend you waste your $11 to $12. Buy another of Ms Eadie's books instead. Sorry Roy. I'm sure your heart and soul mean well but your words just don't have the power of delivery that I was expecting after reading Betty's review.

Based on his own experience with a close brush with death due to complications from colon cancer, the author, a Catholic priest, reflects on church doctrine and philosophical issues surrounding the prospect of death, as well as describing his experience of almost dying.

The book is deeply-textured with layered thoughts, yet quite readable. As the author points out, we all will face this event, and it is beneficial to contemplate it beforehand, but when the time comes we will probably not care very much due to the physical misery and detachment that comes with trauma and extreme illness. The act of dying involves a "letting go" and loss of self that is expressed in Christ's admonition of "dying to self." Because the Christian is already crucified with Christ, he/she is already dead and already living eternal life. Yet the separation from the physical body is not without significance, and we may not feel complete joy in Heaven until the day of resurrection when we are reunited with our bodies.

During the darkest hours of his physical misery in the hospital, the author sees a bluish-purple curtain in his room and sits up with full alertness, even while knowing that his physical body lays on the bed. For only a few moments, he is aware of two "presences" represented by the curtain, which he senses to be angels. The message "everything is ready now" is communicated to his mind. He senses that he may decide to let go and go with the angels, or remain. He chooses to remain. It is a blessing to us that he did, and that he subsequently wrote this book.

I think this would be a good book for anyone who was facing terminal illness or trying to come to grips with grief or the thought of personal mortality.

When you are a Catholic of certain sympathies, you have a strange feeling opening a "little book" like this. I get the same feeling when I see an opinion piece by Peggy Noonan or George Weigel; I'm not sure if I can describe it. You like the writer - they're sort of on your side - but you inevitably come away wondering if you can really trust what they wrote. I don't know if trust is the right word. It's about the images they use and the memories they awaken; you wonder if they're exactly right. It's not a matter of intelligence or talent. You can't really blame them for not being poets, they've never claimed to be. But they like poets and they quote or otherwise evoke them. And you dread the evocation because you might not be able to believe in it; it will have been somehow trivialized or changed along the way. And you regret it because there are few enough people "on your side" and you want to feel good about those already there, especially those with the courage to speak. And these are good writers.

But this little book is different from what I expected. Fr. Neuhaus humbly anticipates those feelings - he almost shares them - and weaves them into the style of his meditations:

"These are snatches of philosophy, theology, biography, poetry, and heaven knows what else, all churning, as I discovered them churning, around the question of what was happening to the me I call 'I'" (137).

That is a good thing to say, for several reasons. It is, in part, an apology for the kind of book that it is - but an apology that would not, in the end, preclude its writing; it does, in fact, call for it. It is also a kind of apology for the lack of a "definitive authority" (and thereby, a lack of apparent "coherence") for he does not claim to know what is operative in the "churning," that is, he does not really know the kind or source of the strength that binds his disparate thoughts together. He only marks a certain consistency guiding his thoughts by which he is able to bring them together into a piece of writing.

This deference before the sharpened possibility of death explains his willingness to speak with different voices, using the words of poets, philosophers, and novelists together with his own and those of his friends and family, that is, it is a statement of style, alluding also to a "justification" for that style. It is never a celebration of his own erudition (which is, nevertheless, considerable). It has often been said that the novel is the only kind of writing where this "crossing of disciplines"is appropriate (if it is ever appropriate). But, in the end, it is not really the author's "fault" that he thought what he thought as he lay dying. As he says, "death is the death of explanation" (124). To write in this way is to give up explanation as the usual "motive" for writing. In a time that seemingly belongs to "experts" and "scientists" this book is an important reflection on why and how we write at all.

This short book is sub-titled "Meditations Upon Returning". It is written by former Lutheran minister now Catholic convert-priest Richard John Neuhaus. Neuhaus is the editor of the interfaith journal First Things, and a prolific author and commentator.

Neuhaus spends the first part of the book musing on life and death, and then writes about his own experience of illness, misdiagnosis, colon cancer, botched surgery, ICU, and almost dying in 1995. He offers some cogent reflections on the experience, based on his own faith and clinging to that faith.

On page 112, Neuhaus describes the strange experience/vision he had a few days after leaving ICU. Rather then describing it as a "near death" experience, he says "I am inclined to think of it as a 'near life' experience."

"...All of a sudden I was jerked into an utterly lucid state of awareness. ... By the drapery were two 'presences.' I saw them and yet did not see them, and I cannot explain that ... And then the presences - one or both of them, I do not know - spoke. This I heard clearly. Not in an ordinary voice, for I cannot remember anything about the voice. But the message was beyond mistaking: 'Everything is ready now.'

That was it. ..."

Neuhaus goes on to discuss this event in the context of his whole experience of sickness, near-death and rocovery. He draws no concrete conclusions, beyond affirming that it was a real occurrence and he drew some comfort from it.

The book is a quick read - less then 170 pages long, and is a good account of one man's confrontation with mortality and what he learned from it. Neuhaus weaves a great deal of Christian reflection, philosophy, poetry, and literature into his narrative. It is much more then just an analysis of the strange experience recounted above.

So, the interesting reflection of a Christian intellectual believer facing his own possible death around the age of 60.

Very interesting and objective report on the actuality of being face to face with death. I hope it will be of help to me when it comes my time to know that this is it - I'm dying - I am about to face my God right this minute, and give an account of my life. No second chance, no excuses. Better be prepared.

I hate to beat up on a guy who practically died, but having suffered through this tedious little book, he owes me.

"As I Lay Dying" is a well-meaning book by a very intelligent, well-placed and well-read Catholic priest who (sadly) has nothing much to say. The book is an endless, detached musing on the meaning of death, on the experience of dying, and on the thoughts of poets, saints and philosophers. But it adds up to very little in the end. Neuhaus offers very few definitive insights and few interesting stories. He knocks (rightly) the dopey bravado we assume when facing death as well as our inability to help our loved ones to face the end of their lives. But these insights are told in passing -- as though he is retelling tales learned from others. Neuhaus tells little of his own story -- you don't even know what was making him sick until a third of the way through the book. (Spoiler: a tumor caused his colon to rupture -- now you know!) His suppositions and musings circle and circle aimlessly on the winds of his own meandering reminiscences.

I picked up this book as an aid to a family member who lost her father. She never made it past the dust jacket. It was a wise decision: the book would not have helped her in her own grief.

Some may interpret my harshness as my confession to being shallow. So be it. But now I know what it is like to wait for death; it is like reading this book.

In my opinion this book does not offer much new spiritually after the author's first book "Embraced by the Light", but rather it gives some insight into her publishing the book.

For the person/s worried that the bible and Christianity are diminished in this book, its message goes well beyond the bible and religions. Love embraces all religions yet exceeds all of them in its magnificent majesty. That universality and common humanity are the very fabric of what Eadie is discussing. Namaste...

I loved Betty Eadie's first book. It was excellent. But this book was uncomfortable for me as a Christian. It seemed she was getting into areas that were unbiblical. I know she is a Christian, but she is mixing new age with her Christianity. I feel that if you are a Christian, you may want to skip this book. It is not as good as her Embraced by the Light. I finally threw the book away when it conflicted SO MUCH with the Bible. I couldn't take any more. Book 1, Embraced by the Light is pretty good. Read and get the good and spit out the bones.

I loved "Embraced By the Light". It changed my life and way of thinking! "Awakening Heart" did not have the same effect until the end of the book. "Embraced By the Light" challenged old belief systems that were not working in my life and really made me stop and think and want to learn more. "Awkening Heart" seemed redundant until the end, where new information was given. Overall, it is worth the read.I can't wait to read Betty's latest book.

I so loved Embraced by the light that I sought out other books by Betty J Eadie. This book gives the message of hope and love, but not like her first book. Still worth reading if you are a fan of Embraced.

I happen to know Dr. Barbara Rommer. I was also one of the many people whom she interviewed for this book. This book delves into the near death experience in a way no other book has ever done. It covers the near death experience that was less than perfect. It explains the less than perfect NDE's in a way that anyone can understand. If you have ever heard Dr. Rommer speak about her book as I have several times you would absolutley want to read this book. I am actually one of the subjects listed in the book. If you fear death, read this book. Dr Rommer has been featured on many television programs such as Montel Williams. Many of you will be surprised to know that Dr. Rommer died a few weeks ago in February 2004. Thank God that the legacy of this book continues.

I have read this book,have heard Dr Rommer speak on two occasions and have seen her on A&E. It is a wonderful insightful book. I myself have had a NDE and find the cases sited to ring true to my experience. As shown in most of the reviews,(except for 2 obviously written by the same person), and in my experiences selling this book. (I work for a major bookstore and this is one of our bestsellers), most everyone feels the same as I, including several well known experts in this field. If you have an interest in NDE's this book is a must read.

In her book, Dr. Barbara Rommer shares with readers Another Side of the Near - Death Experience, i.e. the "less-than-Positive" experiences. This thought provoking book speaks through the words of the experiences themselves to those often frightening or unsettling experiences that have taken them on their journeys to the brink of death. Often for them, we find in the pages of this book their experiences, through unpleasant, become the entrance to positive and meaningful changes in their lives.

The ten chapters in this book take the reader from a revisit with peaceful near-death experiences to some conclusions, which is titled "A Plea to the Medical Community". In between, we find well-documented chapters, which deal with, and overview of Less Than Positive Experiences. While Dr. Rommer, like many of us, cannot absolutely say that there is an afterlife, she is able to present anecdotal evidence of the probability of the continuity of life beyond bodily death.

In the book, Dr. Rommer has interviewed over 300 patients and shares their experiences in their own words. As explained in the book, she has experienced first hand how often her patients, who fear the dying process, are really fearful of what happens after dying and therefore sometime fail to live life to the fullest. Therefore she, in this book, fulfills her goal "to allay people's fears by reporting the experiences of those who had died and been resuscitated".

In this book you will not only find the convictions of experiences shared in openness and with honesty, but you will also find the convictions of the author openly shared regarding her life's journey of her own soul's spiritual transformation. I found the book extremely informative of her research and extremely thought provoking on the question most people ask about life and death. It makes you stop and think about each and every day we live and how we must strive to make the very most of every moment. Worth reading and re-reading.

Barbara Rommer's book is quite extraordinary. Aside from the usual cases of heavenly abodes, angels, and cities of light, she dares to reveal more about those who have unpleasant or hellish near-death episodes. And she talks indepth about the people who experience this and their fears about what they went through. Near-death experiences are not religious experiences, nor do they reflect religious doctrines, per se. They are moments of "otherworldly" awareness that happen most often on the edge of death and to both children and adults. When we speak of near-death experiences, we're really talking about a complex dynamic that is not easily understood or explained. But true it is in the sense that this phenomenon happens to about 1/3 of those adults who face death, nearly die, or who are clinically dead but later revive or are resuscitated. With children, the figure is closer to 70%. Average length of time without vital signs is from 5 to 20 minutes. Not only are near-death experiences important because of the venue in which they occur, but because of the pattern of psychological and physiological aftereffects that tends to increase with time. Also, in many of these episodes, information is revealed or witnessed that could not have been known by the experiencer beforehand. The medical reality of near-death states can no longer be denied. That's why physicians, like Dr. Rommer, are finally speaking out. That Dr. Rommer focuses on the unpleasant aspects is critically important to our understanding of these states. I only wish that her publisher would have allowed her to carry more of her actual research findings and methodology in this book. Rather, they wanted to keep the text simple for the average reader. I think this is a mistake. "Average" readers are more intelligent than publishers think and are quite capable of evaluating and understanding good research. I have been speaking out about unpleasant near-death experiences since my beginnings in the field of near-death studies, and mostly to deaf ears. Now, finally, hellish and/or unpleasant experiences are receiving the attention and study they deserve, and without judgment or rancor. I congratulate Barbara Rommer for her courage in speaking out. And I hope she does more. If we only hear what we want to hear about this important phenomenon, we are robbing ourselves of a vast treasure-trove of material that very well could describe not only an "afterlife" - but the rich complexities of human consciousness and of our ability to change and grow, to transform.

Blessing In Disguise relates many patient accounts but in only a portion of these was clinical death recorded or reported to the reader. Many cases are used where patients were only under heavy medication or anesthesia this is not the proper study of NDE's since halucinations are too common. The book also overwhelmingly interprets patient accounts in terms of the paranormal such as astral planes, astral projection and mediums etc.. The book also seeks to see the reported NDE's in a theoretical model that is opinion. I am well read on this subject and have carefully interviewed people who told me of their NDE's. Though the book received positive reviews from other writers The reader should rely on more scientific, critical works such as Dr. Morse's CLOSER TO THE LIGHT. The book was not proof read well since there are a number of typographical errors.

Dr. Kenneth Ring is one of the original founders of IANDS, the International Association of Near Death Studies. Currently a non-profit organization headquarted in Connecticut. He has written two classics in the field: Life at Death & Lessons from the Light: What We Can Learn from the Near-death Experience. You could call him someone who is quite familiar with the subject matter.

Anyone conducting research on anything has to contend with the possibility of errors, and the outright falsification by those giving any kind of testimony, even given in a court of law! That does not mean that an entire field of research, such as Near-Death studies, can be simply be dismissed just because of some potential inaccuracies, anymore than the legal system would grind to a halt because some folks lie under oath!

Mindsight is a fascinating, and one-of-a-kind book. A must have for the serious student of Near-Death Studies! A book written with heart! It's not a book for someone without an open mind, or who is a determined materialist. Nor is the book providing conclusive evidence like one would find in a mathematics or physics book. And, it's rather obvious that no level of proof would be satisfactory for those who have a chip on their shoulder!

When studying Near-Death phenomenon. I like to think in terms of the legal system and instead of using the famous, "beyond a reasonable doubt" how about a "perponderance of evidence", as the standard of proof? Along with one's own experience(s)and/or the first-hand testimony of others. For one thing is certain: Everyone is not a liar, or delusional, or looking for attention when reporting this magnificent experience of mind-boggling love and light!

See:International Association for Near-Death Studies Professiona

The book is an important contribution to the subject for a number of reasons, one of which is that some of the so-called skeptics have dismissed NDEs as evidence in favour of the survival hypothesis on the grounds that the NDEs of the blind differ from those of the sighted. This book firmly puts that myth to rest.

The book consists mostly of reviews of various cases of OBEs and NDEs in the blind, and one of the strongest concerns a woman blinded during surgery who apparently left her body while she was dying on a gurney with a breathing apparatus over her face. She seems to have seen her boyfriend and former husband standing speachless some distance away down the hallway. Seperate interviews with the two me support her story.

I predict more cases like this being made public in this decade. We could use a book on the cases of NDEs occuring during times when the patient's EEG recording was flat.

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES ARE FAKE!!!!I WAS CLINICALLY DEAD FOR 6 AND A HALF MINUTES. DURING THAT TIME I SAW NOTHING. AFTER DEATH YOU CEASE TO EXIST. NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE STORIES ARE MADE UP SO AUTHORS CAN MAKE MONEY ON PEOPLES FEAR OF DEATH. DONT SUPPORT THESE CON ARTISTS.

A stunning collection of pseudoscience and anecdotal evidence without a single redeeming value, except possibly as material for campfire ghost stories. This should appeal to new-age types who can't really buy into the religion thing, but have a need to believe in an afterlife anyway. If you wish to enjoy it, leave your critical thinking skills at the door.

Whatever one may say about the actual evidece, the book is downright gripping reading. When you start reading it, you will _not_ want to stop. The stories are absolutely fascinating!

What about the actual evidence? Weak or strong? Well, it is problematic... You can't structure an experiment for NDEs all that well. After all, you can't really study this in the lab (unless you're an unethical mad scientist). This, natrually, brings the problem of credibility. And this is valid. But, hand waving is not much good. As a matter of fact, if we can't trust humans at all, we're going to have to scrape _all_ of the social science, because that's almost all its got.

Overall, then, the state of affairs is not so bad. Obviously, the book has problems, but it is rigorous enought to have been cited in more than one medical journal.

Near birth experience basically shares the same concept as the past life regression... it will guides you to regress into the womb and the interlife, before the past life...ive always agree upon past life regression which could help you understand better the meaning and purpose of your life here in this lifetime...as for the near birth regression concerns, it could help you feel back the warmth, love and joy from the other side, thus broaden up your inner awareness and peace...this book is merely for pleasure reading since its rich with stories of real people and how their near birth experience has changed their lives

Expecting at least a little critical thinking and examination by the author, I was sorely disspointed in this book. One would think that because he states early in the book he was worried he would be thought a "kook" by others that he would be more rigorous in his studies so that he could prove he was not. Instead, the book is pretty much about one anecdote after another, almost all with the same general theme: "So-and-so was regressed hypnotically, they saw God and/or a past life, and now they have made a positive change in their life".

I would expect he would try a few novel hypnosis experiments (with patient permission, of course) to further explore what was going on. For example, if people can migrate out of their body back in time, why not forward? They could tell him what happens tomorrow and see if it comes true. Or, if it doesn't work that way, fine, how about he hypnotizes them to travel to a foreign country and tell him what the weather is like. Compare their description to what the weather was really like and how likely they would have got it right by chance (e.g. sunny in the Sahara? Gasp!). Something! Anything! Instead, he just completely buys into whatever his patients say.

I'm sure Bongard's intentions are good, his job has been to heal people suffering from traumatic experiences, which is very noble. But selective truth-telling = lying, regardless of intentions. The best example of his non-critical thinking comes around the middle of the book when a patient gives him exact details of her car-crash death in a prior life: Names, times, places. So he checks the records to see if it's true and he can't find anything. Rather than conclude the obvious (that it's all made up), he instead concludes that it's not important whether or not the events really happened, but the message that the memory is telling us. Unbelievable. How much you like this book depends upon how critical you are. If you believe whatever people tell you, you'll be enthralled and fascinated by these warm and fuzzy stories of healing. If you are skeptical, you will be disgusted by the non-critical, non-verifiable, anecdotal, sketchy stories that lead you no closer to any kind of understanding of what's really going on.

The way it is described you would think you would learn some techniques for remembering birth experiences or past life experiences. There is no journey to center self but just a bunch of stories told about other people that remember their past which is completely unentertaining and useless to my life.

The Near Birth Experience by Jerry Bongard is one of those landmark publications that opens the windows of our minds. We all ask, "Who am I?, Where did I come from?," and "What is my purpose in life?" The Near Birth Experience leads us to the answers to those questions. Very importantly, Jerry Bongard leads us to find our own answers to those questions through the memory regression technique he has used countless times as a professional counselor and which he describes and documents in his book. Jerry Bongard joins Michael Newton (Journey of Souls) and Loel L. Whitton and Joe Fisher (Life Between Life) in exploring the boundaries before our birth and revealing the deep roots, the guidance and connections we bring with us on our life journey. His evidence is clear! A "must read" for any soul in search of truth and meaning, and a beautiful addition to anyone's metaphysical/spiritual library.

My favorite quote from the book is, "...that who you are is not primarily a human being having a spiritual experience but rather a spiritual being having a human experience."

This book addresses our connection with God without the confines of religious thought. It addresses very human experiences. This book gives support for the idea that the "unexplainable" things we experience may have meaning in the bigger picture.

I recommend pages 135 - 136 as a preface to reading the book for anyone who struggles with the role of God in their lives. This is an excellent book for everyone, even skeptics! This is an uplifting and quick read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

P.M.H. Atwater is a well-respected long time researcher on the subject of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs). Her fascination for the subject originated with her own multiple NDEs. Children of the New Millenium is the most complete work, to date, dealing with the NDEs of children. Dr. Atwater feels that transformation of consciousness, regardless of the cause (including NDEs) is a "structural, chemical, and functional change that occurs in the brain." She states: "This sudden change, sometimes akin to a quantum leap, flings the experiencer from one mode of existence to another - as if on cue....I call the phenomenon a brain shift/spirit shift." She feels that the "brain shift", in particular, is affected to a greater degree in children than in adults, "propelling them into abstractions and learning enhancements". She presents an excellent and thorough discussion of all aspects of the characteristics and many possible after-effects of the NDE in children. She then compares and contrasts these with the changes commonly seen after adult NDEs. As well, there is an excellent presentation of four phases in the process of integration which she sees the child experiencers undergoing after the event. She has documented an average of 15 years for children, as opposed to an average of 7 years for adults, to integrate the NDE into their lives. Dr. Atwater obviously loves children. She is fascinated with, and respects, what those child NDErs can teach us all. She shares more directly quoted childhood NDEs than can be found in any other source including my own book which is Blessing in Disguise: Another Side of the Near-Death Experience (Llewellyn 2000). She also includes many of the sketches that the children drew of their events. Her statement that: "The child you get back after a near-death episode is a remodeled, rewired, reconfigured, refined version of the origional" certainly piqued my interest! This book also addresses a multiplicity of other fascinating subjects such as pre-birth memories, reincarnation, future memory, a review of the author's classification of four types of NDEs, and even alien abduction to name a few. There is something for every reader of every background. Whether or not you are open to the concept of alien existence and/or abduction, and whether or not you accept the author's theory of brain shift/spirit shift, the fact remains that the absolute merit of this book is the wealth of information it contains, especially about childhood NDEs, their after-effects, and their impact on us all. Most of us have come to agree that we most certainly are all interconnected to each other and to that Energy Source which created us. Therefore, what happens to one of us (including the child NDEr) will ultimately impact us all. Whether or not the author's theories resonate with your own, I believe that you will find them as intriguing as I have. This is a fascinating mind-stretching work!

P. M. H. Atwater presents a very rich feast of materials on NDEs of children and how these transformed their lives.

She defines four types of experiences, finding that the distribution of each of these reported by children differs from the distribution reported by adults. :

1. An "initial" or "nonexperience," of "loving nothingness;"

2. Unpleasant or hell-like experience;

3. Pleasant, or heaven-like experience; and

4. Transcendent experience.

Significant numbers of Atwater's reporters had multiple NDEs, each adding its transformative influence to their lives.

This is a book that is worth a slow and thoughtful read, presenting a wealth of observations and thought-provoking explanations of the worlds beyond physical existence.

Atwater is hanging by his/her fingernails from the last leaf at the end of the branch!! If you sent some Deadheads to a UFO convention for a week and then had them drop acid and write a book in 12 hours, - this is the book they would write!!

Don't get me wrong, - I enjoy reading about near-death experiences, but the flimsy "theory" put forth in this book is so wacky and unsupported that I found myself laughing at it.

Essentially, the author contends that in order to bring on the next stage in human evolution, aliens are abducting children who have had near-death experiences and altering their DNA in order to create a human super-race. The wholebook is filled with similar wacky, unsupported assertions - many lifted from others works. For example:

Taking an idea from another book, she asserts that globally, children born after 1982 are the most educated, smartest ever. And to support this she offers the following quote from a "Mexican Pediatrician": "The new crop of infants are coming in more aware...eyes focused and alert, necks strong, lying in bassinets no bigger than chickens and with a knowingness I can not describe. They are very special babies this new crop." (If an anonymous Mexican pediatrician comparing children to both crops and chickens in the same breath is your idea of "proof" then this book is for you)

Later she describes this "crop" of children as the "Blue Race", because they represent the 5th of 7 (why did I know there were going to be 7?) stages in human evolution (Don't worry she provides a handy chart so you know what all 7 stages are, - 1.Red/Physical 2. Orange/Astral, etc.). To lend support here she quotes another author as follows: "All children born after '98 shall be telepathic at birth. The physical body shall change to reflect the vibrational changes of Earth under the influence of the Blue Star...All races of people shall have a bluish tint to the skin as a result." She goes on to say these children will have mastered multiple languages by age 2 and will live 200 years. - Well, I have a beautiful child born in '99, but the Blue star must have missed us because she's almost two now and barely learning English. She doesn't seem telepathic and she doesn't have blue skin. (But don't worry, the author gives an example of a girl in India that looked sorta blue when she was born).

If this review seems jumbled,it must be because that's how the book is. She jumps through topics like the Hale-Bopp comet, alien-abductions and Christianity with only a cursory attempt to tie them all together into a theory. The only good thing about this book, was that the sheer absurdity of it provided a few chuckles...Ultimately this is just a terrible, terrible, jumbled discombobulated emalgamation of loony metaphysical yammerings - masquerading as research. The only thing "near-death" in this book is the author's reasoning ability!

The early sections of this book, which deal with the author's research into children's near-death experiences, are moderately interesting, though Atwater's criteria for an NDE are rather loose, and she includes many cases that seem more like vivid dreams - and even cases when no NDE was remembered at all! But it's the later chapters that drag this book down into 2-star territory, as Atwater blends UFOs, alien abductions, genetic modification, folklore, channeling, and wacky predictions in a fruity melange of New Age craziness. Here's a typical quote:

"A contemporary voice on the subject of the new race aborning in our time is Gordon-Michael Scallion. He is known as an intuitive futurist and modern-day prophet ... It was he who several years ago affirmed that the fifth root race [i.e., the alleged next phase of human evolution] is the blue race and linked it with the then soon-to-appear blue star, which he later identified as the comet Hale-Bopp. He associated the manifestation of both of these developments with Christian beliefs about the Second Coming of Christ, and also with the Native American prophesy of the White Buffalo and the portentous 1994 birth, in Jamesville, Wisconsin, of an all-white female buffalo calf ..." (pp. 211-212)

Scallion goes on to establish his prophetic bona fides by predicting that "between 1998 and 2001, everyone with eyes to see and ears to hear will experience a spiritual event that parallels the event that occurred two thousand years ago" (i.e., the birth of Christ). Well, it's 2005, and if it happened, I missed it. But maybe I lacked eyes to see and ears to hear.

Don't get me wrong. I think near-death experiences, when properly researched, provide compelling evidence of life after death. But Atwater's silly book cheapens the field and undercuts the serious work done by others. Read it for amusement only.

this book is a very solid and complete study of NDEs in kids. There are many stories of people who experienced NDE, usually with peaceful outcomes. I ordered this book, looking for a different subject, and still enjoyed it very much. For me it was a little hard to read due to the many references, it made it feel like I was reading a textbook.

This book is all wishful thinking,Fokelore at its finest.

Always just seeming like a good friend telling you something she can see but you can't quite glimpse it, it is a wonderfully enlightening look at what we have to look forward to when we venture home. Always when reading about or hearing about heaven I could never get a clear picture so it was always very intangible. After hearing and reading all her books I can practically hear the birds, see the rainbows and can't wait to talk to old friends. I want all the people I love to read all her books and know that God is not about guilt,judgement,punishment and money. He is all about love, and helping other people the more often the better! I want my family to know what she has to say and not to greive for out loved ones who leave us because we KNOW they are in a better place and we will be with them again soon! We love you Sylvia.

And as for the person below who says Syliva Browne is all about money:

Sounds like you are a jealous & envious individual. And all gifts are God given, where did you think they come from? If you knew S. Browne before she was famous then you must have known her when she was trying to make ends meet as an abused single mom, raising two boys and a foster child I believe. She was using her "God given" talents to make money, I think people do that everyday and all hope to get rich. I don't know of any public speaker that doesn't charge a fee or author that writes book without getting paid. What are you objecting to? In addition she never charges for any work she does involving missing children, work she does for law inforcement among others. She has opened and supports many very God worthy businesses and yes her church is one of the greatest! Did you know, IN HER CHURCH when they pass around the plate to tithe they NEVER pressure you, they tell you if you can't afford it don't put it in AND if you need it TAKE SOME OUT... She's always HELPING GOD'S CHILDREN!!! I'm SURE GOD is very impressed by that; unlike churches who make you feel like crap if you can't afford anything that week as they are telling tithing stories designed to make you feel GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY. Why does GOD need with money? He'd rather you use it to help his other children, which Sylvia does in spades. I'm willing to bet she does more work for God in one day than you (or I) and most churches will do in a life time!!! She only keeps a small percentage of her money anyway a very large chunk goes to all the projects she has opened to honor God. She intends to open a children and indigent's clinic so that no one will be denied health care in her area... yeah her soul is rooted in something bad. I wish I had to motivation and drive to be so evil. You better look somewhere else to pin your guilt about not doing enough for God, or perhaps your jealously for not having the wherewithall to have such a full successful life that I am sure comes with many headaches and heartaches! Oh and I noticed that you didnt sign your name.... ashamed of something? I would be. Sindy B-Towne

Sylvia browne is a wonderful example of the way the world should work. The moron who wrote some crap about her being about $ only is ignorant and judgemental (not judging-stating a truth) , which are two things that i know Sylvia "preaches". Hey i'll even forgive the fact that these people are morons because i know you have a purpose too-somehow. Fokelore, huh? Test the methods for yourself and you will all be pleasently suprised (if your mind and heart are open enough)-remember its about finding your own truths as well. I've read all her books and feel as though they are eye opening and a gateway to gaining my own truths. peace and prosper-trubluv

One of Sylvia's warmest works. Side A of tape 2 is the best.
I wasn't interested too much in the Q&A after listening to it the first time but all-in-all a very informative audio book.

This is a 2 disk tape by sylvia browne and it's wonderful the way she explains about the other side of life and I recommend any of sylvia's tapes, books, etc. and her son's book if you want some wonderful reading!!

I first read this book around the age of 20. My mother had purchased it.
I already believed in re-incarnation because I had two clear memories of my own,...since childhood, of a nature no child of 3 or 4 could Possibly dream or fantasize about. (yet my mother had always told me they were 'dreams' when I tried to talk to her about them)

So,...at 20-ish,...here she suddenly had this book. I was a young bride, married to an adoring husband who had proposed to me the first time he saw me,...he'd explained "Something told me to look toward the door,...so I turned away from the person I was talking with and looked to the door, you came through a moment later,...and suddenly through my mind flashed the thought 'That's the girl I'm going to marry !!'... He said he felt a flood of love rush through him as he quickly made his way to my side, to introduce himself,...he already seemed (felt he knew)'everything important about me,...but my name (now)' He proposed just as quickly as he was able to,...but had to spend the next 8 months trying to convince me it was Real love and he wasn't crazy,...(it wasn't lust,...I was a plain mouse compared to his ravishing girlfriend who he dropped without an explanation) So, two years later I was to read my mother's book, about Bridey Murphy,....AT LAST,....Something Solid to confirm my own memories,...and explain the new husband's instant recognition of me, and subsequent proposal,.....he had 'remembered' me, not with his eyes, but with his soul (and the things he felt he 'already knew about me',...ALL proved to be true,....things he had No Way of 'knowing' on mere observation,....much less a flash recognition. 4 years after (I'd read the book) he decided to tell me that if there was ANYTHING to what I believed in,....he would find out, for sure, if anything ever happened to him in his (oftimes) dangerous job. And he'd added " If there IS,...then there is a way to 'come back',......and I WILL come back,...because there Can't be Anything greater in the Universe than 'love',...and Lady, I Love you !,....so God's gonna Have to understand and let me come back to find you, again" I filed that away and thought no more of it; he was young and healthy and loved life with a passion,...as far as I was concerned, my handsome young husband with the ever twinkle in his eyes,...was invincable (!)

2 years later, he was killed on the job in an accident so bad there was not enough left for me to have to go and try to identify. My children were young, one was in grade school. That one tried to comfort me. "Mom,...Dad Said he'd come back and find us, again" I believed he'd come back,...but Find us ? no. But for the next 12 months,...he visited me regularly in my dreams,...trying to help me deal with his loss,.....I was alone with my children and had no real family support.

On Nov. 11, 1977,...the Ann. of his loss,...he came one more time,...and he told me it would be the last time,..he had 'something he needed to go do',..He hugged me one last time, and then led me a few steps further,...to someone in the shadows,...and told me simply "stay with him, he'll be good to you" I woke up and spent that first Ann, of his loss comforted, Finally,...and the day was spent doing something creative, to mark his life and my on going forward. I was to celibrate every Ann. of his loss doing something 'positive' for my future,...often involving my children, who still do that,.....until last year,.....after Spring of '07,...there has been no more reason to recognize Nov. 11.

In 2000,...I married again. I'd spent 14 years looking for that 'man-in-the-shadows' and I'd finally found him. But April '07,....the husband I'd lost so long ago,...Found, me. 100+ miles from where either of us now lived,...in the City we'd lived in as a married couple for 8 years,...just a couple of miles down the road from the small church we'd been married in. He had never been to that City before,...but he'd been guided there on the only day I would be there,...and he encountered me within 5 minutes of his arrival. That was roughly a year and a half ago.
It's been rough. I can't pretend, otherwise. He's never married. I have been re-married for 18 years now. My husband accepts him 100% as being the man I lost when I was 26. (and they are the best of friends) Amazingly,....the rest of our friends,....and even my earlier husband's Present friends and family,...have all been WONDERFULLY supportive. Of my sons,...the youngest is not ready to meet his returned Dad (who's younger than him)(but he says to give him more time to get used to the idea) and the oldest who always believed his Dad would return,...has been un-reachable to be told,...if he knew,...he would be on a plane to meet him as quickly as he could arrange it.

I know I'm not talking about the book. Others have already done so far better than I can try to speak of a book I read some 38 years ago. But if Bridey's story is questionable in Anyone else's mind,.....it is NOT so, in mine, or the two husbands who's rings I now wear. We're still working through the problems (and they're Vast) but a Christian lady friend of our's summed it up pretty good : "If God, can do 'Anything',....why not, This,...also,....as long as the 3 of you love each other,...it's no-one else's right to try and judge you, or try to tell you there's a lie to what the three of you KNOW to be Fact"

I've come here to order a copy of Bridey's book for the husband who's been by my side for the last 18 years,...we tried to find it at the library yesterday,...and there isn't a copy in the whole system. Love?
Isn't that what life is Supposed to be all about ? My present mate is happy that my earlier one loved me so much he was able to cross Heaven and Earth to find me again.....and now,...God is in His Heaven and all in right in the world,...at least,...in mine.

I read this book in 1957 and thought it was great. Bought a copy to reread. It is one of the best on simple hypnosis. Using his technique anybody can do it on right subject. NOT A PARLOR GAME. WARNING: It works!

That was a question that I often asked myself on numerous occasions when her name was mentioned in connection with various things "lost". I think it was the advent of the internet which finally made it easy for me to check out the answer to my mildly irritating query when it re-emerged one day.

This particular book, in fact, answered my question and then went much further. The entire story is conveyed by a man (the author) who became personally entangled in the story and who ultimately wrote this coherent non-fictional account.

It's not really a spoiler to tell you that Bridey Murphy MacCarthy died in 1864 -- the kicker here is that Ruth Mills Simmons, born in 1923, knew all about Bridey Murphy... because she WAS Bridey Murphy (reincarnated? for lack of a better term).

This book is for people who wonder, "What happens after you die?" There are actually a lot of good answers to that question in here as the author recounts, in addition to other facts, the so-called "Bridey Murphy hypnotic sessions".

While Bernstein was really just a guy who got himself involved in this fascinating offbeat incident, he does a great job of re-telling all of what was discovered to his readers. Highly recommended for folks interested in true mysteries and/or psychology.

No matter what you have read about this story and choose to believe, as the saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding." I would like to point out that Morey Bernstein never once in his life said that this story was proof of reincarnation. Not even close. He said that it definitely warrants further invesigation into the phenomenon. At the time the book came out, the western world was against any idea of reincarnation as it flew in the face of western thinking (Although, lets take a look: hundreds of millions of people take reincarnation as a fact of life as part of their religion). The discreditors of the story never once found any way to show the story was a fraud. In fact, the discreditor happened to be a Chicago TABLOID!!! The women allegedly named Bridey Murphy who lived across the street upon further investigation turned out to be the mother of the TABLOID's owner. The person below me mentioned occum's razor (the simplest solution tend to be correct) Think about that. In fact, when a more credible Chicago paper picked up the TABLOID's story, it had to cut out a whole bunch of arguments because they were just way too outrageous. ex: When Ruth Simmons was a girl she had a park accross the street which she played in many times. This explains why she would have said she lived in "the meadow."
Now that is just ridiculous, especially when a hand-drawn 1800's map of the city Cork, the area in which Bridey lived according to Ruth's sessions was called "The meadow." Now Ruth, living in America her whole life, and having never even heard of the town called Cork, recalls an area of only a couple square miles in the 1800's in Ireland. None of this was made up. Everything Ruth said under hypnosis has been verified to be real and not a hoax. am i saying that reincarnation exists? After reading the book, i believe. But please, read the book and don't read anything trying to close your mind to one of the most amazing cases of age-regression hypnosis ever told.

I read this story at the age of 16. That was 15 years ago and it still has an impact of my belief system today. It changed my beliefs in religion. I loved the way it unlocked the realization that the universe is so wonderfully complex and profound. Even if the story is just that it is wonderful and holds a special place in my heart.

I have bought many books off of amazon but have never felt fully compelled to write a review, this is the first case. This book sucked me in from the first chapter and I found it very hard to put down even though it was so late I could barely keep my eyes open. The story feels different to other stories, the attention to detail really makes you feel like you are there, or that the author was actually there witnessing everything that happened to this main character. I must admit that I am a believer myself in past lives and this is one of the most convincing cases that I have ever read! I didn't even need any convincing with the 3 year research that was done to validate all the tiny facts, I believed it just from reading it. With that said though whether you believe in past lives or not that should not deter you from reading this amazing adventure story that will keep you at the edge of your seat, and even having you holding your breath at some points. My only warning is that there is some parts in the story that are not for the faint-hearted and are explained in great detail. Overall, the best way I can summarize this book is that its an epic romantic/action/adventure/horror tale all rolled into one.

Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, it's a fantastic tale of what life might have been like during the Inquisition. Totally spell-bound by the tale.

Excellent book from all prespectives.
Although it appears readers either love the book or don't. I am reminded of the other truly great authors of our time that also evoke such extreme emotion! This book is in great company!

A terrific read! I could not put this book down. Wonderful character development and spectacular circumstance. The story is intriguing in its own right, but considering the historical background and the connection to past lives it is amazing. Highly recommeneded.

I sympathize with those who couldn't finish this. It's VERY unfortunate that the author chose the "historical novel" format because it effectively destroys what could have been a serious work by a serious researcher. "Antonia," our heroine, revealed under hypnosis back in the 1970s and 1980s a mass of details concerning a past life during the Spanish Inquisition. The author, who was the second hypnotherapist to work with Antonia, spent years (including trips to Spain) to verify the details. Some of these could be verified only in genuinely obscure, non-English sources and are quite amazing. The effort that the author put into this, and the seriousness of her research, are apparent in the Introduction and the End Notes -- which, unfortunately, are the only parts of the book that I found interesting. She says that she chose the "historical novel" format because the events as described in the hypnosis sessions were disjointed and she didn't want to bore us with a series of verbatim transcripts as in The Search for Bridey Murphy. Unfortunately (I seem to be over-using that word), verbatim transcripts can be RIVETING while this reads like an inane Harlequin Romance (which I'm familiar with only because my wife was hooked on them until I told her I'd set fire to the house if she brought home one more; drastic problems call for drastic solutions). Anyway, if you can force yourself to wade through this, you can be assured that it's based on serious research and could have been a lot better. It reminds me of Mark Twain's comment about composer Richard Wagner: "Wagner's music is really a lot better than it sounds." Unfortunately, ...