Near Death Experiences Books

this book is a complete waste of time the only enjoyable part is the introduction, the rest seems like some inside joke between I don't know who. This book is not worth any money or time

Having read Ishmael, The Story of B, and After Dachau, I thought I knew what I was getting into with this book. I should have done my research. Perhaps if Daniel Quinn had provided a more accurate introduction (or not written one at all) I would have been able to take something from this book. As it is, I spent a too much time distracted by the thought that maybe, just maybe, he meant what he said and this was the result of a dream coupled with the extreme coincidence of his collaboration with Tom Whalen. My time would have been better served reading this book the way I know I would have had I not read his intro -- ignoring the vivid but useless description of the "physical" characteristics of this invented afterlife, and focusing on the message. Even with that in mind, I think Quinn has missed his mark here. There's certainly a good dose of creativity and some humor, and it paints a fascinating picture, but in the end I feel like I wasted my time. I can certainly think of better ways to impart dribbles of philosophy -- perhaps if he had spent less time describing the fantasy and more time actually trying to make a point, it would have been worthwhile. As it is, the "message" could easily be distilled into a single page, and we would all be much better for it.

If any of this book is true, you will do everything to prolong your life. What this book describes can only be one person's version of Hell.

I LOVED this book. The introduction is the best part. It makes the rest of the book so much more fascinating.

Reading the back cover of the book, text that is given in the editorial reviews section above, you are reading the most clever, the funniest part of the book. The next best is the Introduction - coincidences, human interaction, human fraility. No need to read beyond that. The book is clever, making marvelous connections to real historical people. Unfortunately, the cleverness is useless when the clever premise and/or connection degrades into drivel ... often close but never successful, funny or perceptive. There's too much good and excellent literature to waste your time on this. Even if you wish to mindlessly kill time, you can easily find better mindless reading.

The fact that this book has been published at all is bewildering. The author has created a theory that purports to explain the NDE phenomenon through debunking; the difficulty is that she does not provide any evidence at all! The entire book consists of her observations and comments, and this simpy does not suffice. She dismisses the evidence that DOES exist without addressing it.

For example: the most challenging and interesting book on the subject is Michael Sabom's "Recollections at Death". He presents numerous well-documented cases that suggest that the NDE is real - and he also provides a thoughtful, articulate and fair-minded discussion of the possible answers.

Blackmore does not actually deal with any of the evidence, with one exception: she refers to the ONE detailed case where he does not provide the original records. He includes it because of its uniqueness - in ALL other cases, he includes the original medical records. She makes a joke about it and disregards it; she never makes the point that his book is filled with evidence based on origical records and personnel. Any reader who is not familiar with Sabom might think that this one case is typical of the entire book!

Reading this book has made me much more aware and sceptical of authors who claim to be experts. If I was not familiar with the work done on this subject, I would not know how misleading and simply inaccurate Blackmore's book is. Why didn't the publishers check for accuracy? Why was a book about a theory published without evidence?

In addition, Blackmore claims to have had a NDE herself. This is not true. She describes a hallucination following the use of drugs - then goes on to describe the related experience and associates it with the NDEs of people on the verge of death! A disgraceful book.

This book fails on several levels. Mainly, however, because it is not objective. It starts from a particular premise and then endeavours to prove the validity of that premise despite the facts that the author encounters during her journey of 'honest' investigation.

The book must have been written before the now celebrated and quite astonishing case of Pam Reynolds who in Phoenix Arizona underwent 'shut-down' surgery. In this pioneering operative technique all the blood is drained from the patient's brain and it was during one of these shut-down procedures that Pam experienced a NDE. During the operation, Pam could not only recall in some detail what was said and but also describe the equipment that was being used by Dr Speztler, the surgeon in charge, and his team although she was clinically (and verifiably so) brain-dead at the time.

Dr Blackmore apparently is a Zen Practitioner and so it seems incredibly bizarre that she should imagine that 'all' we are and experience can be simply explained away by the somewhat limited model of reality as understood by science today. Surely one should, at the very least, have the modesty to entertain the remote possibility that the mysteries of life, mind and matter may not yet fully be understood by humanity?

Susan Blackmore once believed in Tarot, ESP, and all things wild and wonderful. Alas, for those who yearn to believe in the Wonders of the Invisible World, she is a meticulous thinker who carefully gathers and investigates the evidence. This is by far the best book on NDEs. But if what you want is some reassurance of life after death, this book will disappoint. Beautifully thought out and wonderfully written.

This is an excellent, well written, thought-provoking book. Susan Blackmore started her research career hunting for evidence of the supernatural. When most people would have given up, she persisted, tracking down other people's experiences and doing her own experiments. One track of that journey took her into "Near Death Experiences", which is partly what this book is about. While we can never really know what happens during death, no one has tried harder or with greater honesty to find out. Her account of that journey and where it took her makes fascinating reading, and while her conclusions may take some digestion, at least they are reassuringly rational.

People want to think that there is something better. But thinking and wanting of something better doesn not mean it be true. Take the afterlife for example. I've talked at least a dozen times with two renown neuroscientists at NYU. I was planning on writing a script that featured this phenomena - the afterlife. After reading some basic neuroscience and philosophy books I concluded, as the neuroscientists had previously, that there in all actuality probably is no afterlife. Current advances in neurology in death hint at this and will probably once and for all prove its non-existance. It's slowly becoming fact whether you want to believe it or not. Here's what the neuroscientists pointed out. During the first 5-15 mins of death the brain is being asphyxiated (choked) due to lack of oxygen. It is during this time that the mind hallucinates (tripping - like on drugs) and sifts through images of the past (memories; life flashing before your eyes) accompanied by past figures and white. The mind is desparately trying to grasp onto the "self" that's slowly drowning in its own memories. This is where people who experienced NDE's (near death experiences) erronously claim proof of an afterlife. However, they did not really endure the entire trip TO death. Once you reach complete death there is just nothing. Your existence is complete. Nothing- not even that. I can't even lingustically put it into words. But this is nothing at all to fear because the plane of fear is non-existent at this stage. Most NDE's are experienced at hospitals. Because of this simple fact many are saved before they reach the 15-20 min mark that marks complete mental and physical death. There have been stories of people who experienced NDE's for hours. Mind you these stories surfaced from the 60's- 80's when our medical technology was inferior to todays and the true line of death was not completely defined. So many NDE claims have to be taken with a grain of salt. Today you'll never ever hear of an NDE lasting for mor that 15-20 mins - and even with those times there is usually some sort of brain damage. Mind you - the brain is a very complex part. Your consciousness will do anything to keep you alive - anything. But because people have had these experiences and come out of them does not in any way, shape or form suggest that an afterlife is even plausable. These Near Death Experiences are purely psychological and should be treated as such - not spiritual endeavours.

This book completely logically defends what those neuroscientists pointed out to me earlier -that an afterlife is just wishful thinking.

If one has written a book entitled Reincarnation, even if only to discredit it, it would still be well to have a passing acquaintance with how it is supposed to work.
In chapter 16 of this book, author Edwards seeks to debunk Ian Stevenson. Here he informs us that most human lives are quite wretched, and that no one would want to incarnate into any such life. Since people are indeed born into such situations, he concludes that this refutes the notion of reincarnation, which Edwards declares straightaway to be "fantastic if not indeed pure nonsense".
Evidently, the author is assuming the act of reincarnation is voluntary.
Buddhists have been studying this "fantastic" idea of reincarnation for millennia, and their interest in this matter is well-known. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is essentially an instruction manual on how to avoid reincarnation. It describes death as something like the big sleep, and the bardo after death as a sort of dreamscape. According to this text, unless one has attained sufficient stability of mind through meditation and other practices, the process of reincarnation is INVOLUNTARY. And so, yes, people do get reincarnated into awful situations - because they have no more control over the process than most of us have over our dreams.
The idea that consciousness might exist independent of a physical body is also subject to Edwards' "fantastic if not indeed pure nonsense" dismissal. Apparently he belongs to the Alice in Wonderland school of investigation - first the verdict, then the evidence. Edwards is quite clear about this - he proudly parades his prejudice as a "presumption", and concludes, "EVEN IN THE ABSENCE OF SPECIFIC FLAWS, a rational person will conclude that Stevenson's reports are seriously defective" [emphasis added]. An odd notion of rationality.
According to some physicists, our reality may actually possess 12 dimensions (M-theory). This idea has been greeted with a bemused interest. However, woe unto anyone who dare propose that just one of those extra dimensions might be a home for the subtle energies of mind.
Well-reasoned skepticism is a good thing - it forces us to hone our thinking. However, as stated by Karl Popper, the eminent philosopher of science, if you set out to refute someone else's theory, you are obliged to first give that theory its best shot. This author doesn’t even come close.

When I read this book, I understood why it took about three years for CSICOP to publish a favourable review of it. A typical case of tacit disowning...

Edwards devotes to much space to irrelevant issues, or to irrelevant authors. For example, he talks a lot about Near-Death Experiences. But instead of performing a deep analysis of the works of highly respected authors in the field, like Kenneth Ring and Michael Sabom, he prefers to make lots of jokes and fun of the works of Kübler Ross and Moody Jr., who are considered very weak even by their own peers. Susan Blackmore, in "Dying to Live" (1993), did exactly the opposite, performing high quality skeptical analysis of the works of these authors. An update on that would be highly informative, but Mr. Edwards decided to give us only laughs instead.

In fact, it seems that Edwards' phobia of analyzing empirical evidence is a long lasting illness. He was criticised by philosopher Robert Almeder for this in 1997, and had already received this very same criticism by Almeder in 1990. Another lingering disease of his is his "reluctance to engage primary source material" (that is, he doesn't read and cite scientific papers, but popular books mostly), as anthropologist James Matlock put it in 1997 and again back in 1990. Both these 1990 comments refer to Edwards' four-chapter article published in the "Free Inquirer" magazine, in 1986-87, on the reincarnation hypothesis. That is where his book came from, apparently with very few additions, and possibly with no improvements... (easy money, huh?).

Edwards' analysis of the works of Ian Stevenson is a complete failure. Actually, his analysis "seems" to have some basis. The first time I read chapter 16 (on Stevenson), I thought: "Wow, that's devastating!". By the fourth time I read it, I would be saying: "This man (i.e. Edwards) is a fake!". If you read it really carefully, you will notice that he doesn't actually analyze the cases, or their empirical content, or the arguments for and against them. Strangely enough, he does make some deeper analysis of the weakest case reports, which led me to the conclusion that his problem is not incompetence, but unwillingness.

Some specific points are especially revealing. On page 140, he makes some unrespectful and uninformed comments about Stevenson's research on birthmarks. If Edwards were really a scholar (or even a decent popular writer), he would have made a review of the bibliography instead, and would have found an introductory article on this issue by Stevenson (Journal of Scientific Exploration, 1993). There, he would really have spotted a very serious statistical mistake that Stevenson commited, and that seems to have remained uncriticized by skeptics until 2002 !!! (by Leonard Angel). Again, looking for information about reincarnation "researcher" Banerjee, I could only find jokes, laughs, and gossip in Edwards' book. But when I read Matlock's (supposedly a "believer") bibliography review of Past Life Memory Case Studies (1990), I found the following comment about Banerjee: "Banerjee...was caught tampering with experimental data, (and) must be considered unreliable...(and) he has been written out of serious parapsychology.". Wow! So, who is the "skeptic" and who is the "believer" after all?

And what has Edwards to say about the so called "best cases" studied by Stevenson and colaborators? Are they really good? What are their weaknesses and strengths? Did he read them? The "answer" is on page 277. There, Edwards says: "Better perhaps; but not good enough.". So that is all our "Awesome Scholar" (as Martin Gardner labelled him) has to say? "Perhaps"!!?? The man simply didn't even read the cases! Again, on page 256, where he comments on Leonard Angel's critique of the Imad Elawar case, he only says that he "does not have the space to comment much on it". Of course he does not. He used up all his space with gossips and jokes about Kübler Ross and etc! Even the apparently stronger arguments that he seems to have (from "insiders who have dissented", Barker and Ransom) turned out to be very weak and even imprecise in light of my further readings on the subject.

Edwards' main theoretical and logical objection to reincarnation is the "modus operandi" problem. "How could reincarnation possibly happen?" The answer is given by Edwards himself, when he confortably decides to throw away any "modi operandi" concerns when talking about his own philosophical persuasion, that is, materialism: "How could the brain create counsciousness?" "Why not?" he answers!!! (page 294). Possible "modi operandi" constraints is an intellectually stimulating and most relevant issue. But it has to be approached in an informed, coherent manner, and not a là "Jimmy Swaggert on the Pulpit".

To me, the most revealing (and shocking) passage in this book is when, on page 134, Edwards brutally disrespects Scott Rogo, in a rude comment about his murder in 1991, still unsolved then, saying how Rogo might solve it by calling the police station himself! Rogo was almost an informant of Edwards. Many of the gossips Edwards used in his book he learned from Rogo. And Rogo still had relatives alive that might feel hurt by these crude comments from Edwards. That is basically the mistake many skeptics-materialists commit. They get so desperate to wipe out the very idea of life after death that they end up forgetting that there is indeed life "before" death. And also, there are feelings and hearts that deserve to be respected and cared for.

This book, therefore, is very good if you want material for criticizing the pathological phenomenon of pseudo-skepticism. It is also of some value for giving a frame for criticism on reincarnation research, but then you will have to read much further if you really want to have a good idea of what are the strengths and weaknesses in the empirical evidence for reincarnation. I have done this. And I have concluded that the evidence seems to be weak. But it is certainly there!

It is a breath of fresh air to have at long last a systematic examination of these strange Eastern beliefs. No one could have done the job better than Paul Edwards. His arguments are devastating, his references voluminous, his scholarship awesome. Edwards brings his usual incisiveness, clarity, and wit to bear on ancient beliefs that underlie much of the fuzzy thinking of the New Age movement. He deftly exposes the philosophical and practical deficiencies of the concept of Karma and provides a trenchant critique of the evidence in favor of reincarnation.

I have a disdain for the notion of reincarnation, and to my mind, others who are similarly skeptical, such as Paul Edwards, the author of this book, never propound the best arguments against it.

If we were ordained to live many times over, the friendships and loving relationships that we experience in any given lifetime would be rendered worthless by an eschatological process that usually erases our memories clean of them and sends us back into the world to acquire new ones.

Moreover, if our parents, siblings and descendants in one lifetime might be related to us in a different manner in another lifetime, the whole process of rebirth becomes somewhat incestuous, notwithstanding the transposition of bodies and the absence of memories. If there is a Supreme Being, he's surely restored more divine order to universal chaos than would actually exist if we really were to live again.

So I actually picked up Edwards's book as a member of the anti-reincarnation choir waiting to be preached to, but this book was only somewhat satisfying in that regard. He spends a lot of time inveighing against the methodology used by New Age gurus and parapsychologists, exposing the frauds and charlatans among them. This includes a re-examination of the famous "Bridey Murphy" case.

Otherwise, it seems to be a book meant primarily for philosophy students and teachers. Many of its arguments allude to terms and concepts that leave this political science major scratching my head.

Others will sound more familiar such as the "absence of justice" argument (those of us who don't remember our past incarnations won't remember why we are being rewarded or punished in our present ones) and the "population" argument (the amount of people who have ever lived is many times greater than those alive now - so in what sort of halfway house are unreincarnated souls waiting to be reborn in? And if we have all lived before, why is it that new souls are no longer being created?).

If it is intended as a scholarly work, it's a somewhat slipshod one. There are a number of occasions where the author is developing a line of thought and then breaks it off, promising to pick it up again in a later chapter.

Edwards's argument is largely an atheistic one against any sort of post-death survival whatsoever, relying largely upon what he sees as the inseparability of the mind and the body. However, he does concede the theoretical possibility of an apocalyptic resurrection and reconstruction of original body parts and a reconstitution of each original mind within. The mind/body issue is apparently an age-old philosophical dispute, and Edwards comes down squarely on the side that the mind cannot exist separate and apart from the body that it directs.

But however persuasive his argument against ANY sort of survival might be from an empirical point of view, it seems to largely ignore stories of Near-Death-Experiences (NDE's) in which an unconscious patient was later able to give accurate descriptions of what was going on around him.

Maybe these stories would also lose their credibility upon being subjected to the same rigorous academic scrutiny that Edwards and others subject Ian Wilson's cases of spontaneous memories of past lives, but that has never been done to my satisfaction, in this book or in any other skeptical work.

Edwards has a sardonic wit that I can especially appreciate, and he often interrupts his empirical analysis to skewer a number of targets, including religious fundamentalism. His disparagement of the divine in general may yet prove to be correct, but it is an undercurrent that runs through this work and sometimes detracts from it. At one point, he borrows from Christian philosopher, C.S. Lewis, to inveigh against theocracy as "the worst of all governments".

Both Edwards and Lewis seem oblivious to the truism that atheism can be as much of a religion as theism, and the destruction wrought during the 20th century by atheistic governments in Germany and Soviet Russia suggest that it can be just as deadly.

Regardless of the state of evidence concerning survival in general and reincarnation in particular or of the existence of a divine being, a little less trenchant agnosticism and awe towards the Unknown might suit Edwards better as a human being and as an academic.

Only guillible believers in reincarnation who has shut their minds to the facts, their consciences, and different viewpoints could possibly review this book poorly. It is an excellent work, but only understood in its full implications by minds free of childish fantasies

After reading many other books on Near Death Experiences, I came to the conclusion that this book was very biassed in its presentation. 75% of other books on near death experiences tell about people who had met Jesus at the end of a tunnel. He was as an immense light of love. He introduced himself and talked to them before they had to return to their bodies. There were also experiences of people taken to hell and came back to life to tell about it. This book had an agenda to promote, the occult. It doesn't tell the whole story on near death experiences, only the views of her occult movement. Not worth wasting your time reading.

I enjoyed this work tremendously and found it inspiring and honest. I can see how many would rather have a feel good - everything was wonderful approach to the NDE, but I would prefer the good and the bad. Everyone gets the experience they need or have earned - which is the bottom line message of this book. I can see how the author generated controversy with her experiences, but I found her writing tremendously interesting and useful.

I was very disappointed with this book. It cannot be considered a serious study of the NDE. A waste of time, unless you think NDE experiences are related to alien abductions.

I divide Atwater's book into two parts. The first half is an interesting overview of the near-death experience (NDE). The second half deals with New Age-like, occult-like issues that depart from NDE. The second section is so New Age-y and off-the-point (and so counter to my beliefs religious and otherwise), that I could only stand to thumb through it. This half of the book contains the silly remarks that draw many complaints in reviews. The purpose of the book really seems to promote interest in all sorts of occult practices (especially in light of her anti-Christian attitude, described below, and her occupation as a psychic advisor and as a writer in occult topics). My questioning of her motive for this "bait-and-switch" book is supported by her wanderings into non-NDE topics (such as the alien abduction) and her claims to have had every type of paranormal experience (including both types of "walk in" phenomena: now that she has a different soul, doens't that make her a different person?).

Secondly, I object to Atwater's contemporary politically correct way of joyfully respecting all belief systems and cultures except for Christianity. Christians come in all varieties and cannot be stereotyped. In every reference to Christians the tension begins and Ms. Atwater never misses an opportunity to stab them in the back and twist the knife. She can't be respectful to Christianity at all for one second. Not once. I think that this blind anger invalidates her overall judgment and might turn readers away from more NDE research. How can I trust someone whose writing is always biased and whose conclusions are partial? Real research must be objective, but Atwater redefines the word.

One of the most astonishing things about the book was the jealousy the author speaks of. If NDEs are short voyages to death and the experience generally develops one's personality and conscience, it is interesting to see experiencers who are still selfish and go after fame and success in a very negative manner.

I loved the book, because I believe the author is open and sincere with her subject. I am reading the Complete Idiot's Guide... right now and it is as good as this one.

This is the first book that deals extensively with life on the other side between reincarnations. I also admire the authors' writing skills: the stories told in this book are very touching. I am wondering why the authors did not write more on Whitton's valuable research.

This book is deeper than many other books on reincarnation. But the two recent books by Dr. Michael Newton "Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives" and "Destiny of Souls: New Case Studies of Life Between Lives" are much more comphrensive and unbelievably revealing. Another first-class book is Bryan Jameison's "The Search for Past Lives: exploring reincarnations's mysteries & the amazing healing power of past-life therapy". Even though it does not deal with life between lives, it is really fascinating and a must-read for anyone who is interested in reincarnation.

As someone who's spent the last 35 years uncovering and writing about my own past lives, and studying how the karma from each of them has played out in the events and relationships of my present life, I can say definitively that this book (Life Between Life) is of little relative value. If you really want the inside scoop on what happens between incarnations, please check out Dr Michael Newton's extraordinary trilogy, "Journey of Souls," "Destiny of Souls," and "Life Between Lives" (not to be confused with this work with a similar title).

After uncovering three of my own historically identifiable, though far from famous, past personas, I was, like many others, still frustrated that neither I, nor any of the writers I had consulted seem to be able to throw any light on the issue of what happens to us between lifetimes. And while this book promised to deliver the goods, it failed. It actually gives scant attention to the topic, its title notwithstanding.

But then, I discovered the works of Michael Newton, arguably the most important and most fascinating accounts of this entire genre. By directing the focus of his subjects away from their subconscious and toward their super-conscious, it seems Dr Newton succeeded in accessing a spiritual dimension previously untapped by the vast majority of researchers in this field. Once there, he was able to painstakingly document over many years what is undoubtedly one of the most comprehensive, detailed and believable models of what takes place in the afterlife anyone has ever put forward. Most importantly, it portrays in very convincing terms just how each of us goes about planning and designing our future lives. And once we absorb such a concept it becomes difficult for anyone to fail to take responsibility for their own lives, even with all its challenges and disappointments.

As fate would have it, I discovered Newton's works just after reading "Same Soul, Many Bodies" by the prolific Dr Brian Weiss. In it he discusses his experiences with "future life progression" as a technique for inspiring and motivating patients to change the directions of their lives by revealing the potentialities awaiting them in future incarnations, if they can just make the right choices in the here-and-now.

Comparing the claims of Dr Weiss with those of Dr Newton seemed to leave me with something of a paradox, which was namely this: If Dr Newton was correct that when we die we return to the spiritual realm to take on the work of planning and designing our next life, how would it be possible for Dr Weiss to explore our future lives while we are still alive, since the planning process had not taken place yet?

To resolve this conundrum I decided to have a chat with my spirit guide, Prakash. He first reminded me that linear time is only an operable construct in the physical dimension, and that from the perspective of the spiritual realm all physical incarnations co-exist simultaneously in a moment of eternity. Therefore, it follows that all those between life episodes that Dr Newton describes likewise exist in that same simultaneous eternity. The only reason is seems confusing is because Dr Newton is exploring and reporting what appears to be a linear sequence of lives and their related planning episodes, which necessarily skews his perspective due to his viewing the information from his location here in this dimension of linear time.

This gave me an idea. From all of my past lives that I have explored over the last three decades, two have stood out as closely related, even though they were separated by 700 years. The first was my life as Genghis Khan's nephew Yegu, and the second was my life as Field Marshall Count Helmuth von Moltke (the younger), nephew of von Moltke (the elder), his uncle and namesake, the military genius and hero of the Franco-Prussian War who helped Bismarck unite the German Empire. In the first life the plan for me to succeed my uncle Genghis failed, but in the second I did succeed my uncle as Chief of the German General Staff prior to and during the initial phases of WW I. As you might suspect, von Moltke (the elder) was a reincarnation of Genghis Khan.

What occurred to me is that exploring the planning stages of these two incarnations in tandem would provide a rare opportunity to see this whole planning process at its most complex. Fortunately, Dr Newton's third book, "Life Between Lives" was designed as something of a do-it-yourself training manual for just such explorations. So I guess that will be my next project.

Maxwell Austin van Lack, Author of The Vortex: A True Story of Passion and Karma

As someone who deals in life, death, and quality of life issues on a daily basis... I have always been fascinated by what lies beyond. This book took me deeper than I have been before and led me to think about issues in a different light.

I have always wondered why some people are born into luxury, and others famine- some into health, others in bodies that can't even last through childhood.

In seeing that these circumstances could be the result of our own choice, for a spiritual goal, It helped me to deal with my everyday frustrations about the inequalities we see around us.

This book was fasinating, and thought provoking.

I got this because I was curious what co-author Joe Fisher had to say after I read that he went on to commit suicide by hurling himself from a cliff, and also to see what may happen after death, if there should happen to be some kind of afterlife. However, I was disappointed as this book consists of 100 pages of pro-reincarnation propaganda followed by 6 "Karmic Case Studies" and a guide to visiting the "Akashic Records". With regard to the "between life" state, all that would appear to happen is boring stuff like some nice music and nice lights followed by an interview with a panel of 3 characters who review your life before telling you to go back for another incarnation with fresh Karmic lessons to learn.

Anyway, this book convinced me that the theory of reincarnation is an absolute joke. For starters, all the "past lives" experienced by those mentioned in this book were lived on Earth. A simple glance into the night sky might hint as to the vast number of stars there are. I would expect, just occasionally, that someone would have had a past-life on a different planet, but no. I've now started to read Joe Fisher's Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts and he mentions a past-life regression there in which an English seamstress who gave birth to 13 children before dying in 1796 was reborn in India where he/she died before the age of one in 1802. Now, according to "Dr" Joel Whitton, "PhD", "MD" before someone's reborn they are given some kind of challenge to balance their Karma. If someone dies before the age of 1, what chance have they got of doing that?! After dying as a baby, this person was later reborn in Czechoslovakia before World War 2 and was executed by the Germans as a teenager after serving in a Nazi labor camp. So, if people like "Dr" Whitton are to be believed, then presumably this unfortunate person didn't balance his/her karma before dying as a baby in India?!

"Dr" Whitton's "past-life regression therapy" techniques sound quite traumatic. For example, during one session mentioned the "doctor" became concerned that his patient's contortions during the process might have caused a heart attack. Other symptoms include feelings of nausea and of being "severely shaken". One subject is mentioned as emerging from the trance state overcome with feelings of guilt for having murdered someone in a "previous life". In one case study, "Dr" Whitton dabbles in the controversial area of recovering "memories" of abuse suffered by someone from earlier in their present lifetime.

To back up their claims for the veracity of "past life regression therapy", the authors state that during "regression" the subject started talking in another language and that because they didn't know that particular language then it can't have been their imagination. Maybe not. The possibility exists then that what people like Whitton are doing is a some kind of voodoo work, in which the subject goes into a trance state and becomes possessed by a "hungry ghost". So perhaps a more appropriate term for the kind of activity in which people like Whitton engage would be spirit channeling or demonology.

I think what I found especially odious about this book was the way that it sent the message that if anything bad happens in a person's life then it's because of "karma" and that people should follow the advice of "Jesus" and "love one another". Brief mention is made of a woman who saw a "past-life" "therapist" after being raped and was told that this had happened because of a "karmic decision" made during her "inter-life state". Still, I suppose this is one way of keeping a population docile. If anyone complains about his of her lot in life then the advice is that it was their karmic destiny to be in this situation and that they should be like "Jesus" and "love one another".

This book is fine for people new to the topic. It details how events in past lives affect what's happening in the current one. Has only a smattering of info about life BETWEEN lives. Also tells of famous cases historically. But if you've already read very much on the subject, read Journey of Souls by Michael Newton (and see the reviews), which tells ALL about life between lives.

I wouldn't read this book ,as one person who has read all Bettys' books and also have had a nde ,how can someone condemn some one just for the fact they didn't experience any of what Betty did ,in truth we are all one Thanks S

I sincerely have pity for anyone who can use religious doctrine to condemn Betty Jean Edie's life/death experience. We need to have an open mind. I, like most others who have read her book, experienced a profound awakening and new hope. I was raised in the Christian religion, which BJE has not forsaken, but I never "connected" with what I was being taught. It took a diagnosis of a major tumor (sarcoma) and the prognosis of 2-4 months to live that made me start seeking the answers I had never gotten. My brother just passed away. Where did I turn? Back to BJE's book so I could again remember and know what he experienced. To those who so blindly follow those of The Cloth, I would say, "Open your mind. Trust your heart." BJE's "Embraced By The Light" is prophetic. Christians, do you not believe there are new prophets today, as in days of old? How narrowminded you must be if you do not. I, too, found comfort and logical explanations from BJE's books and have embraced a peaceful co-existence with my religious upbringing. I do not trust anyone who believes he/she can put-down something someone else experienced based upon what they were *taught* by gawd-only-knows-who-in-some-church-somewhere. BJE's book is based upon Scripture, and that's all there is to that.

Hello, did either of the people who posted a review here even read the title of the book they were posting for? This book is one of several books written arguing that Ms Eadie could not have experienced something that agreed with traditional Judeo/Christian beliefs. Betty J. Eadie's book, Embraced by the Light, is quite a popular book with Mormon's (my mother, who is LDS gave it to me). As an ex-mormon I found it rather distasteful... I could almost hear one of my childhood Sunday school teacher's voice telling the story while I read. I was horrified by how it presented her religious views (she is LDS and joined the church several years before her account was published although the event was said to have taken place prior to her joining the church). This book, Embraced by the Light and the Bible by Richard Abanes compares Ms Eadie's book with the truth as found in the Bible. I recommend it.

When I was 13 (I am 19) my mother read this book and said that she wasn't afraid to die after reading it. Since then I have read this book 3 times and have found it wonderful after each time I read it. My mother died whe I was 14 and this book has helped me to understand the reasons why we live and die and has helped me to have a relationship with God and our Saviour in my everyday life. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered the big "Why" of life and struggle. Betty speaks of the truth that we have all forgotten.

This book has shaped the way I live my life even today 5 years later. It took away my fear of dying and gave me hope,and it continues to guide me and make me aware of how I treat other people. and for anyone who has lost a loved one it will surely bring a since of peace.unforgetable!!

I found this book to be bizarre. The stories that Brubacker relates are frankly very difficult to believe. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the story is the change that occurs in this man's life due to his heart attack. His life goes from being relatively normal to totally NDE and spiritially oriented, but spiritualality with a bizarre twist, including the so-called "red eye", which sounds more like a character from a poorly written episode of the "X-Files". But I did find myself thinking about this book a lot after I had read it. I think this was primarily because I believe that "something" happened to this man, it is just hard to believe that the "something" is what is related in this book.

What if it is all true? What if there is more to life than what we can see? What if there really is a hell? This book really answers those questions. I can say personally that I knew this man, and his experiences were true, and life changing not only for him, but his family, and everyone who came in contact with him. There is a real message from God to humanity. There is more to life than what we can see. Do not wait until death to find out. It will be to late. Not everyone gets a Lazarus experience.

Funny the reviewer before did not like this book as it was never even published. Too hard hitting and Word was afraid of a law suit so they pulled it a week before it was actually printed.

If you're seeking the truth about the NDE, do NOT read this book! It has so many lies in it. Even the title is a lie: "Exposing the Truth". He means, "Exposing the Lies About Near Death Experiences." The author says so many things in it that are not true. Don't waste your time reading this book. It never should have been written.

This book is NOT about the daughter's experience, but her dad's. On pg 119, he is reading a book on South American Shamans! According to the dad (with 6 children), Christ told his daughter he should NOT WORK! If you read this with spiritual discernment, you can PLAINLY see there is something evil here, and it's not the little girl. She wants only to please her dad. He is repulsed at going into a cigarette store but encourages her to give him lottery numbers and even wants to take her to Las Vegas to gamble. They live with his mom for years until she tires of it. The daughter flies at night (sound like Shamanism?). This book gave me a feeling of uncleaness when I read it, and I hope no one else will even read it! It's all about the dad, and I pray that he and his family (especially) his little girl will seek Jesus Christ through His Word and not rely on outside experiences.

Mr. Lake, the author, is a friend of the book's true-story subjects, Doug (the father) and Denise (the daughter) Mendenhall. The book is about the NDE of a little girl and its post effects on her and her family.

Although the proofreading was a little poor, the content is pure gold.

It mainly follows Doug's thoughts and experiences as he struggles to deal with the changes around him and to him after Denise's NDE and the special spiritual gifts she exhibits afterwards. The primary message of the book is that we are all brothers and sisters, part of something much greater than we can fathom, and that to reject or negatively judge someone is to reject part of ourselves.

The book had a profound impact on my life that is too sacred to me to share here. There is very little written by mankind that has affected me this way, including most scripture. I highly recommend this book.

For years, Doug and Denise, on nothing but a wing and a prayer, traveled the country from unpaid speaking engagement to another, giving away this book for free and trying to turn people to Christ. Now the book is for sale, but the message is still just as precious.

I've since met both of them and am absolutely convinced as to the veracity of their story and Denise's gifts.

Another one of Parabhupada's propaganda pamphlets, this book gives the story of Ajaamila's "near-death experience" as reported in the Srimad Bhagavatam, one of the Puraanas. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust tries to pass this off as a record of a genuine NDE, but nothing in Ajaamila's experience corresponds to anything whatsoever in any record of any known NDE report. Ajaamila near death, calls upon his son (named Narayana, after god) and thus when the Yamadutas (demons) come to drag him a way to hell, Krishna, through his kindness, send his servants to stop the demons from carting him away to the infernal regions. Even though Ajjamila had lived a sinful life, he is saved by the chanting of god's name, even though he was not referring to god, but his son. According to Prabhupada, if one remembers Krishna at death, even if one does not remember him in anything other than hatred or indifference, one attains liberation through Krishna's grace. Prabhupada, as usual, shows himself to be a representative of all that is worst in Hinduism, defending the caste system and malighning any sort of sexual activity (even in marriage) other than for procreation. All mahavadis (the Brahmanical "imperesonalists") he uses as his whipping boys, stating that they merely corrupted the teachings of the Gita and Upanishads (which -- of course -- only Prabhupada is qualified to interpret, as he is free from any taint of personal opinion!). He refers to the attributeless nirvana of Brahman which the Upanishads hold as the ultimate reality as merely the effulgence of the Supreme Personality of Krishna, which will ultimately lead one to rebirth. And he maligns the asthanga yoga of Patanjali in favour of mindless chanting of the maha-matra in the tradition of Caitanya (whom he condsiders to be an incarnation of Krishna). One cannot read any spiritual text wothout the aid of a "self-realised" guru (i.e. Prabhupapda himself) whom one must submit to completely and obey without question. For a guy who has supposedly conquered his ego, Parabhupada is as arrogant as one can get. You are either his disciple or you are a fool and a rascal (his words, not mine). He is as dualistic as one can get and still remain a Hindoo. As an example of Hindu fanaticism and superstition, this book is excellent -- as a genuine religious text of any depth whatsoever, it is useless. Look elsewhere unless you are a blind follower without a mind.

The book is about Ajamila's story from the Srimad Bhagavatam; how he found his way back to Godhead. It also speaks about reincarnation, religion, yoga, Krishna and all the other things one has to consider regarding this near death experience. Not all people who had a near death experience saw bliss and heaven, light and peace. There are people who saw hell - like Ajamila. Only a few speak about such an experience and that is no wonder. To read this book is a most rewarding experience and it will change your life to become a better life. Especially people who had a hellish near death experience should read this book for it will help them more than anything else.