Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences

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Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences

3.63 of 5 stars 3.63 · rating details · 292 ratings · 68 reviews

Evidence of the Afterlife shares the firsthand accounts of people who have died and lived to tell about it. Through their work at the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, radiation oncologist Jeffrey Long and his wife, Jody, have gathered thousands of accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) from all over the world. In addition to sharing the personal narrative of t...more

Hardcover, 224 pages

Published January 19th 2010 by HarperOne (first published January 1st 2010)

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Apr 02, 2011 Julie Reed rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: spiritual, scientific

I loved how this Dr. drilled the points in over and over that there is an afterlife based on his observations and studies. It's really hard to dispute that after reading this book based on the many similar experiences people have had all over the world. I am very spiritual and a Christian, but I really liked how this book was written from a non-Christian standpoint. It only reinforced my beliefs and gave me hope.

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May 18, 2013 Cristael Bengtson rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone interested in NDE's

In 1998 Dr. Jeffrey Long came up with the idea of using a carefully structured online questionnaire to form the basis of a serious scientific study of Near Death Experiences. Dr. Long founded the Near Death Experience Research Foundation along with its website, NDERF.org.

Over the succeeding twelve years, more than 1300 NDE'rs took hours of their time to fill out the questionnaire, and Dr. Long wound up with a gold mine of first-hand information on the Near Death Experience, all of it up on NDER...more In 1998 Dr. Jeffrey Long came up with the idea of using a carefully structured online questionnaire to form the basis of a serious scientific study of Near Death Experiences. Dr. Long founded the Near Death Experience Research Foundation along with its website, NDERF.org.

Over the succeeding twelve years, more than 1300 NDE'rs took hours of their time to fill out the questionnaire, and Dr. Long wound up with a gold mine of first-hand information on the Near Death Experience, all of it up on NDERF website.
Now Dr. Long has turned his years of research into a book that reaches the staggering conclusion that NDE's are medically inexplicable. It is absolutely impossible for people who are unconscious or clinically dead to have visionary Near Death Experiences at a time when their totally inactive brains have no capability for processing any kind of information.

I found it especially striking that those who experience near-death while under general anesthesia or during cardiac arrest experience a higher state of awareness and alertness than they ordinarily had in their everyday lives. I found this to be true in my own Near Death Experience in 1998. The memories I have of my NDE, which happened to me fourteen years ago, are still vivid and absolutely clear in my mind.

Dr. Long says that the elements of the Near Death Experience generally are consistent and logical in the way they unfold. This is something I experienced in my NDE. There was an orderly unfolding of events that gave it the weight of actual experience.

Something that I don't think the researchers have gotten is the three-dimensionality of the NDE. My experience was not like watching a movie playing up on a screen. Nor was it a fuzzy, ethereal, floaty state. The things, the places, and the people I saw in my life reviews (I had several) all had weight to them. The memories that came up all had a three-dimensional reality, and the colors were all incredibly brilliant.

That amazing Light had substance and intelligence and awareness to it. And size! As I said to myself at the time, "Everything up here is so bloody big!"
Dr. Long's nine lines of evidence were a revelation to me. I had read about all of these, but this was the first time I had ever seen them all put together like this. As Dr. Long says, "Any one of these nine lines of evidence individually is significant evidence for the reality of near-death experiences and the afterlife. " The combination of all nine lines form a convincing case for the existence of an afterlife.

I was somewhat disappointed to find that Dr. Long says very little about the intensive learning experiences many NDE'rs have. The most famous example of this is Tom Sawyer, a manual laborer who worked with heavy equipment. After Tom's NDE, he developed a serious interest in physics, which led him to enroll in college level physics courses.

This is only one of many reports from Experiencers who report that they have felt themselves to be literally immersed in information. I wonder how this relates to the idea that physicists have, that our universe is fundamentally made up of bits and bytes of information. Maybe it's not just our universe. Maybe the whole of creation, in all its many levels, is made up of infinite amounts of fascinating information. As one who has a background in education, this opens up whole new worlds of study. Are there ways in which we can begin to systematically tap into this information without having to nearly die to access it?

This is an exciting look at Near Death because it opens up so many avenues for more research and exploration regarding this most important phenomenon -- Life after death.(less)

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Apr 15, 2013 Roger rated it 2 of 5 stars

Jeffrey Long explores stories as data collected through a survey from his Near Death Experience Research Foundation and identifies 9 general similarities from over 1300 NDEs from around the world. He argues that the statistics in favor that NDEs are scientific evidence of an afterlife. A reader looking to believe in the reality of NDEs will no doubt find the similarities of the experiences compelling.

Long takes a scientific approach to studying the topic, but as to the claim of scientific evide...more Jeffrey Long explores stories as data collected through a survey from his Near Death Experience Research Foundation and identifies 9 general similarities from over 1300 NDEs from around the world. He argues that the statistics in favor that NDEs are scientific evidence of an afterlife. A reader looking to believe in the reality of NDEs will no doubt find the similarities of the experiences compelling.

Long takes a scientific approach to studying the topic, but as to the claim of scientific evidence - is basically asking that the reader accept some very broad inferences based on reports said to have occurred, and not something directly scientifically observable. Though, those that argue that everything that is true can be explained by scientific reductionism, also do so without proof.

In scientific tradition, you can read the first chapters for opening arguments - then skip all the middle for the reasoning and methodology - and go to conclusions at the end. But the latter is short because many points are made redundantly throughout. All the numbers, percentages and redundancies didn't always make for the most exciting reading. Among what I found particularly interesting and most compelling "evidence" though were the similarities of the NDE from those that had been blind or deaf from birth. There were as those that had those capabilities. The author arguing as other that there had not been any brain development for that ability, so there must be no other way to explain it other than "we are not out bodies." I also appreciated that I didn't have to wade through a lot of purposeless personal information surrounding the experience that is so common in books on NDEs, and that there was no overzealous shoehorning of those experiences to fit into some specific religious tradition.

However, the trouble is with this topic is that of interpretation. Statistics can be interpreted to mean very different things. It became quite clear that the author is largely looking to prove what he wants to find. Long notes the challenges of interpreting different languages, but suggests large dissimilarities at first translation with cultural differences and meanings of words, but when he said that upon using different retranslations he "about fell off his chair" with how there was "no statistical difference." This make me skeptical of his objectivity. Long even demonstrates a lack of understanding of what was being described in some NDEs.

I suggest readers reconsider the validity of what OTHER researchers have found before the broad conclusion it is accepted that "All near-death experiences elements appearing in Western NE's are present in non Western NDE's." The author only goes in dept in detail in similarities and consistencies, but isn't recognizing or acknowledging some significant differences even within what is presented even his own data. Let's consider the item of the nature of God. The author asked the question in the survey if there was a "supernatural being" present in the NDE. Some NDE stories state a voice, or even a separate being. But a "non Western" example was "there is no God outside of ourselves, but rather, God is in everything... and is life itself." And in his conclusion "Around the world, language translation issues may account for apparent, but not real differences in the content." The author overextends his arguments to cultural and in belief systems, but there is a MASSIVE content distinction here!! And, another example of questionable interpretation was that if a person having a NDE ends up "being more sensitive to others and shares their experience and it helps others," the author suggests this makes them "psychic." Oh please... Such "suggestions" detract from the points made in his studies that do have merit.

Just because someone says the experienced something (even a significant numbers) doesn't make it scientifically true. The author again opened the door to skeptics with the very broad inferences improperly, I believe, in the reporting of those that said they did not have a particular experience was 14.2%, and the author concludes "The percentage of NDEers selecting "No" in response to this survey question must be interpreted with caution." Really? Why? Because it doesn't match his theory 100%?? Giving great weight to what he wants to believe, and diminishes that which he does not - is NOT part of the scientific tradition.

The author does a lot of speaking out of both sides of his mouth. He speaks appropriately when he concludes "I believe it is reasonable to accept the existence of an afterlife" based on the consistencies of said experiences. But oversteps when he uses terms like "virtually unanimous" way to generously. Unless I'm wrong, gravity is scientifically true 100% of the time. So, one could argue in the existence of an afterlife (and the belief in God) - but the devil is in the details.
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Mar 20, 2013 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: apologetics

I picked this up in preparation for an upcoming presentation Dr. Long will be giving in April which I plan to attend. This book is a summary of the author's findings after years of research in the field of near death experiences.

The book was really quite good for a number of reasons. First, the material is presented in a very accessible way which cannot always be said for books presenting research data. It had a good sampling of narrative accounts from people who had near death experiences. I al...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Michael Johnson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jeffrey Long is a very, very bright and amazing doctor. He goes into territory that few can and reports on a subject that our medical pros can't touch because its out of our understanding. Having had a NDE I will fully state that there is no doubt something more. I was dead for 24 minutes following a car accident on a secluded road with no one to help. I saw my body in the wreck and was fully aware of the events taking place. I even checked the time on the clock radio. I was taken through a tunn...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

If you're sceptical of the sceptics, this book is for you. Early in the first chapter, Long pulls out a profound quote from a 1980 article of the Journal of the American Medical Association. It's from an editorial on research data done on Near-Death Experiences. "Blacher points out that 'physicians must be especially wary of accepting religious belief as scientific data.' I might add that equal caution should be exercised in accepting scientfic belief as scientific data."

There are no logical ex...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Frank Tuttle rated it 5 of 5 stars

The author of this book, Jeffrey Long, is a doctor. He's seen quite a few people survive what we know as clinical death and come back with tales of what they experienced when they were, in fact, incapable of experiencing anything.

The author took a methodical approach to investigating the commonalities of the Near Death Experiences he documents. The book doesn't try to explain the experiences by pigeonholing them into any particular belief system (and if it had, I'd have stopped reading).

Bascial...more

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Apr 02, 2010 Greg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion-and-spirituality

Years ago, I read Dr. Raymond Moody’s books about near death experiences, Life After Life and Reflections on Life After Life. A few others followed, such as Return From Tomorrow and Embraced By The Light. Each of these accounts of near death experiences interested me because they seemed to include many elements that dovetailed with the doctrines of the gospel. However, I was always troubled that not all was consistent with the doctrine.

Recently, I came across another book about NDE’s, and in th...more Years ago, I read Dr. Raymond Moody’s books about near death experiences, Life After Life and Reflections on Life After Life. A few others followed, such as Return From Tomorrow and Embraced By The Light. Each of these accounts of near death experiences interested me because they seemed to include many elements that dovetailed with the doctrines of the gospel. However, I was always troubled that not all was consistent with the doctrine.

Recently, I came across another book about NDE’s, and in the course of reading it, have reached some tentative conclusions. This book is Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near Death Experiences. Written by an oncology radiologist with a career-long fascination with NDE’s, the book describes his conclusions following his study of NDE’s over more than two decades. He has collected well over a thousand such accounts, and analyzed them, loosely following scientific methods. Thus, he claims his data and analysis to be the most definitive to date. That may well be true, though I have some real problems with his methods. However, the biggest issue I have is with his assumption that NDE’s should only be examined through the lens of science, and his explicit rejection of religion as a valid lens.

In doing so, he artificially restricts his conclusions about the validity of NDE’s to only two…they are either real (thus indicating the existence of an afterlife) or they are false. However, if one accepts the truth of the gospel, and allows that lens, then two other possibilities emerge. One is that some NDE’s may not be real events, but rather God-given visions, to provide the experience with guidance, comfort, or for some other heavenly purpose. In that event, while they might be valid and important for that individual, such experiences are not necessarily to be considered revelatory for others.

The other possibility is that some NDE’s may be visionary, but inspired by Satan, the enemy of God and of mankind, he who is able to take on the appearance of an angel of light and thus deceive many. Such visionary experiences might be given for the purpose of confusing, distracting, or re-directing the experiencer (and others to whom the NDE might be told) from that which is truth. I see that as a strong likelihood, especially when one considers that Satan’s strongest work is done with falsehoods that are wrapped in truth.

In the end, I suspect that NDE’s found in all three categories: real events, God-given visions, or Satan-inspired deceptions. Thus, while they may be interesting to hear about, and potentially life-changing to experience, like anything else that purports to be about the eternities, their validity should be made a matter of sincere prayer, and accepted only with the validating testimony of the Holy Spirit. And that is not likely to happen for anyone other than the person who experienced it. (less)

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May 05, 2012 Gregg Wright rated it 2 of 5 stars

I read the book in preparation for an interview with the author.

The book raises some interesting questions about NDEs, but I think that Dr. Long is relying a bit too heavily on anecdotes as the basis of his findings. He does refer to other studies that apparently corroborate his findings, but most of the details relate to his own study, which is almost entirely based on the large collection of NDE stories that he's collected through his website. Given that this is the first book that I've ever r...more I read the book in preparation for an interview with the author.

The book raises some interesting questions about NDEs, but I think that Dr. Long is relying a bit too heavily on anecdotes as the basis of his findings. He does refer to other studies that apparently corroborate his findings, but most of the details relate to his own study, which is almost entirely based on the large collection of NDE stories that he's collected through his website. Given that this is the first book that I've ever read on the NDE subject, I have no way of knowing whether his rebuttals of skeptical arguments hold water or not, or whether he is factually wrong in any other regard. Regardless of whether or not Dr. Long's findings prove that there is a consciousness separate from the physical body, or that there is an afterlife, I think that he draws an unnecessary and excessive amount of religious/spiritual conclusions from these findings.

I disagreed with Dr. Long's conclusions and found his evidence to be underwhelming, but during the interview I did find myself liking Dr. Long as a person. His intelligence is without question, and I was impressed with his ability to recall information and present his arguments in a clear and concise manner. To be fair, his book did raise a number of issues about NDEs that, if truly based in fact, seem very, very curious (at least to a layman such as myself). But his reliance on anecdotes and inclusion of so much spirituality seems counter to his attempts to inject real science into the study of NDEs. It is a bit difficult, at this point, to judge the book, given that I have only a very basic knowledge of the subject. The book certainly has earned its share of criticism from me, but there's a lot in there that I will need to verify through further study of the subject.

Perhaps if I were more informed about the topic, I could more severely denounce the book as complete drivel. Or, I might find that the book is closer to the truth than I initially suspected, and I'd need to give the book a more positive rating. Only time will tell.(less)

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Mar 20, 2011 Diane Thorsen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I actually experienced a near death event. 2 years ago I suffered a brain annuerysm as I was driving my 2 golden retriever grand-dogs home from day care. I was able to see the emergency crew working on me from above. It is something I will never forget and will be forever grateful for. I also saw both my parents and my aunt, all 3 had been gone for some time. my mom actually spoke to me, as did God, telling me it was not my time yet and I needed to get back to my life and was reassured everythin...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Richard (Rick) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a really interesting book. A medical doctor provides scientific evidence for the afterlife, concluding we have more evidence for the afterlife then we do for some cancers.

I actually don't believe spiritual things like the afterlife can be fully proven scientifically. I do not believe that is God's intention, as it removes the need for faith. Given that, I don't think Dr. Long's methodology is the strongest study, but you can't really do randomized controlled experiments in this case. W...more

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Jul 05, 2010 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars

A bit beyond perception's reach
I sometimes believe I see
that Life is two locked boxes, each
containing the other's key.
--Piet Hein

This book sets about to convince the skeptic that there is indeed Life after this life. By studying Near Death Experiences (NDE's) the author's offer proof of the next life. I have a firm belief in the life following this life and needed no proof but I did find the book interesting. What I enjoy the most is reading about people's NDE's. So, while I wasn't totally inter...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Eric rated it 1 of 5 stars

I'm surprised there are so many good reviews of this book. I found this book to be the epitome of why this topic (NDE, reincarnation, etc) is not taken seriously by the scientific community.

My biggest complaint was the fact that, although the book title touts this book as presenting "Evidence" of NDE, the author continuously calls these studies "proof" of NDEs. There is, nor can there ever really be, proof of an afterlife; just evidence to suggest it. To call it "proof" is to negate your claims...more

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Oct 18, 2010 Jane Baskin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Okay, the skeptics are thinning ranks as they get closer to that magic moment....personally I love the current plethora of books on death and dying, thanks, baby boomers! This one is particularly interesting. Written by a doctor (they're the ones usually closest to near dead people), it is about the Near Death Research Foundation's efforts at gathering thousands of anecdotal accounts of same. Some are quite amazing. Most amazing of all, is that people who are flatlining could have any recollecti...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have to admit that I began reading this book just days after my father's death. Though his death was expected, he was the first parent to go. His death came with many emotions and brought into more focus my own mortality.

Though I believe in a God, I am distrustful of much organized religion; I have seen--and felt--the pain my own religious tradition can cause.

I have often been intrigued by the stories of near death experiences I have heard through the years. This particular book did not real...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Amy Hardison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is not a pure compilation of NDEs. Rather, it is a argument against those who say NDEs are simply the product of the brain. In confuting the arguments, he cites a lot of NDEs. I found the fascinating, particularly since I have heard some people purport that NDEs aren't necessarily really happening. Jeffrey Long also gives you his website (nderf.org) if you want to mainline just the stories. I really enjoyed this book. As always happens when I read NDEs, it reminded of the preeminence of lov...more

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Oct 13, 2010 Christina rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a very fascinating look at the largest scientific study of Near-Death Experiences (over 1,600 accounts in their database). The author goes through nine proofs and gives very convincing evidence that these are real experiences and not made up or psychological tricks. It would have made more interesting reading if more of the experiences themselves were shared, but that wasn't really the point of the book. I found it fascinating both how much the experiences had in common with each other...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Becca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion-spirituality

I was impressed with a great answer to the usually conversation stopping- "well your experience was anecdotal & not scientific." To which Dr. Long said, "I will take your anecdote & raise you a cross cultural statistical analysis of multiple anecdotes." So for about the first half of the book I was impressed & it held my interest. But the dry & overly defensive tone got a little wearing after a while. I wanted to say, "Calm down dude, I've bought your book. I'm at least willing t...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Mantas rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's an interesting book and I think it gives a wider perspective on life and death. It's simply written even though it had been written by a science man. Stories of some people who had a near death experience was really astonishing but I also missed negative side of the NDE as if it was mentioned that some people have negative emotions and feelings during NDE and their comments weren't included in the book. At the end it became a bit boring due it's simplistic writing and statistical view to su...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Jen Lepp rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: spirituality

Before my son's surgery, I had to face my scientific, atheistic, "maybe there is something and maybe there isn't but hell if I know" secularism head on as I spent the vast majority of my life seeking in different spiritual paths, but finding that I always came back to the logical. If there are no atheists in foxholes, there probably aren't in children's hospital waiting rooms, either.

I had prepared myself to handle any eventuality (as best one can in a situation that may tear one's world asunder...more Before my son's surgery, I had to face my scientific, atheistic, "maybe there is something and maybe there isn't but hell if I know" secularism head on as I spent the vast majority of my life seeking in different spiritual paths, but finding that I always came back to the logical. If there are no atheists in foxholes, there probably aren't in children's hospital waiting rooms, either.

I had prepared myself to handle any eventuality (as best one can in a situation that may tear one's world asunder), but the thing I couldn't get past was the concept that we are just gone. The death of those close to me was an unfathomable, horrible concept - being snuffed out of existence became repugnant. The further concept was that if we were not snuffed out, if we were ensouled beings and we evolved onto a different plane, then where did we go? Going further into that concept also gripped me with fear - if my son passed, how would I be there for him? How could I know he was alright?

I'm not sure this book answered those questions for me. Not sure they didn't.

While this purports to be a scientific study of near death experiences, it is anecdotal only - there are no machines that measured electro-physical anomalies as evidence of angels in the room, no slight weight change to demonstrate the weight of a soul hovering in a corner - nothing but stories of those who have claimed to almost cross but who came back by choice or by force. The stories are stories with commonalities that in some cases seem striking, but still at the end are just stories.

It is a much more persuasive argument for life after death than I have ever heard before. One could take comfort in many of the findings - most people felt safe, loved, unconcerned about their death. Some felt happier than they ever had felt before. The arguments against these experiences being simply the product of a brain in panic mode on the verge of death firing off any electrical and hormonal soothing and numbing help it can think of can be compelling. There were a few facts that definitely gave me pause.

What no one seems to be able to articulate, however, is why the barrier between the seen and the unseen, and why it cam only be breached at near death. It seems few can breach it unless they have faith and what, then, is the purpose of faith? Each religion has an explanation. They all conflict in large and small ways.

Many of the NDEers came back with a newly found purpose. With psychic abilities. With a new compassion and connection. Can we who have not been near death not all have that? Is there some explanation as to why there are just a chosen few, and they must go through trauma and near death to deserve that gift of peace?

I think the book presents pieces of information that are interesting but still, at the end, requires a leap of faith even if it is just the faith in the doctor's zeal and the NDEers stories. It did purport to be evidence, and not answers - and there is quite a bit of compelling evidence. Not clear cut, but compelling - it still, for me, requires a leap of faith to believe.

Perhaps it's a much smaller leap of faith than the one that would have been required before the study and the evidence presented, but for a skeptic its still a leap nonetheless.(less)

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Oct 21, 2010 Lia rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was fascinated by this book. I genuinely enjoyed reading it each time I picked it up. The author comes from the point of view of trying to give scientific support for the reality of afterlife experiences of people who die and then come back. He makes many good points as far as the science is concerned.

For instance, some skeptics may say that people who claim to have near-death experiences are hallucinating -- but if that is the case, then why are there so many documented near-death experience...more

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Jul 04, 2011 Deborah Edwards rated it 3 of 5 stars

The subject matter of this book is undoubtedly fascinating. A radiation oncologist with a scientific background comes across some textbook cases of near death experiences in medical journals early in his career and makes it his life-long mission to collect as many near-death experiences as possible from around the world and study their similarities and statistical consistencies, as well as their apparent occurrence in the face of medical improbability, to conclude that his body of work proves th...more The subject matter of this book is undoubtedly fascinating. A radiation oncologist with a scientific background comes across some textbook cases of near death experiences in medical journals early in his career and makes it his life-long mission to collect as many near-death experiences as possible from around the world and study their similarities and statistical consistencies, as well as their apparent occurrence in the face of medical improbability, to conclude that his body of work proves the existence of an afterlife. There are only two problems with the book that I can find: 1) Dr. Long is passionate about his mission and arduous about his methods, but cannot write an interesting sentence to save his life, and 2) Dr. Long points out nine lines of evidence to prove the existence of an afterlife, none of which actually proves the existence of an afterlife.

So, why read this book? Because mortality sucks and despite himself Dr. Long has compiled the most extensive data in the field, some of it so amazingly similar in style and content that it defies being coincidental in nature or even culturally ingrained. When people make things up, they tend to embellish in ways that are inconsistent, adding details that do not maintain certain repetitive elements and constant stylistic devices. Reading a selection of the hundreds of thousands of entries Dr. Long has gathered makes it challenging to remain completely skeptical about the process. Dr. Long also brings up some interesting medical facts that make even science geeks and nonbelievers like myself think long and hard about our views on the nature of death and dying. Could it all be neurological, physiological, remnants of electrical currents in the brain? I've always assumed so. Dr. Long, however, offers some clear medical reasoning as to why that type of dismissive thinking is medically unsound.

I have some major issues with many of Dr. Long's research methods, statistical values, and conclusions (the man is not afraid of big leaps), but the near death experiences themselves are the draw of this book, and wedged between Long's dry, clinical sentences and clipped conclusions, the voices of those who have briefly died, and yet lived to tell about it, make the pages briefly come alive. The amazing similarities in these hundreds of stories truly affected my perceptions of the event itself. Even if you don't come away from this book with a belief in any type of afterlife (guilty as charged), it is still difficult to walk away from this book without the strangely comforting feeling that the moment of death may not be a cause for terror but rather the experience of a pleasant journey to a place where love and peacefulness reign supreme. Beyond that, one must come to his or her own conclusions about eternity.

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Jan 15, 2010 Katy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I was skeptical going into this book. I think my main bias lies in the conservative Christian upbringing where phenomena such as Near-Death Experiences and Out-of-Body Experiences are looked on as occult-like. The author does not look at NDE's from a religious lens but a scientific lens, looking at 9 different proofs for why he believes that not only are NDE's real experiences, but that they all point to evidence that there is a life after death. This is huge news for the religious community! He...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Suzette rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: someone interested in the topic of afterlife in general

Shelves: non-fiction, religion

Somewhere between liked and really liked this book. I like the topic (afterlife experiences) and really liked the scientific examination of the topic. This is a nice change from the books out in the last few years (too many of them!) that only go into detail about ONE person's experience. This author is a doctor and collects many different stories and tries to look at the subject with a scientific questioning mind. Of course he will approach with his own bias, but I enjoyed and appreciated his a...more

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Feb 26, 2010 Kathryn Britton rated it 3 of 5 stars

So ... this was written by a researcher and Radiation Oncologist, which speaking frankly, gave the book more validity in my mind (sad but true). Steve gave me this book as a gift and I was a bit skeptical, but was influenced by the sheer number of similarities between the described near death experiences. Pretty compelling evidence that NDEs are not a fluke, but some actual event that occurs during a near death episode. If you liked Flatliners, this is the non-fiction version. :-)

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Apr 12, 2011 Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty decent scientific attempt at tackling the afterlife. The author does a lot of statistics to try to prove his point the NDErs really experience the afterlife. I'm still interested and curious because I felt like there were not enough satisfying accounts of NDEs. Some of the accounts that are there are fascinating though! I found the chapter about blind people experiencing visual NDEs and the cross-cultural similarity chapters as the most satisfying and convincing of this neat phenomenon.

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Oct 22, 2010 Mary Alice Sexton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Those who experienced Near Death Experiences say that they "understood that everything good and bad happened for a purpose"; that karma is a real thing; "love" is the most common feeling; "If you have given out love and goodness and been kind and caring, you'd be up there feeling sheer bliss and good"; you experience the pain and sadness you give to others, however, it is not judgement; interesting book

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Jun 17, 2011 Bonnie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this book to be far more intriguing than anticipated. Here is a researcher, who himself believes nothing without statistical data to support it yet finds compelling evidence of similar reports internationally from those who claim to have experience near death experiences. He quotes numerous self reports provided by volunteers. Definitely worth a curious read.

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Mar 22, 2011 Nancy rated it 2 of 5 stars

You would think that a book purporting to have evidence of afterlife would be engrossing. However, the author's wish is to convince of the afterlife...so he gives his statistics and his analyses and I was bored. Sorry. Maybe I was bored because I already believe there is more to life than what we experience via the body. He didn't need to convince me. I picked up this book to see if it would offer someone else I'm close to the possibility that there could be something more. Perhaps it would, but...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Bold Bookworm rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is an easy read. The author meticulously reiterates certain points for clarity and emphasis. For anyone seeking answers on the afterlife, this book will not disappoint. Interestingly, though, it raises almost as many questions as it answers.

Read the entire review here: http://boldbookworm.com/NDE042012.html

~ BB

http://boldbookworm.com

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About Jeffrey Long

Jeffrey Long, M.D., is a physician practicing the specialty of radiation oncology (use of radiation to treat cancer) in Houma, Louisiana. Dr. Long has served on the Board of Directors of IANDS (International Association for Near-Death Studies), and is actively involved in NDE research.

In August of 1998, the nonprofit Near Death Experience Research Foundation and coinciding website (nderf.org) was...more

More about Jeffrey Long...

Books by Jeffrey Long

Remembered Childhoods: A Guide to Autobiography and Memoirs of Childhood and Youth

Near-Death Experiences as Evidence for the Existence of God and Heaven

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