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Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences

Prometheus Books

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Near death experiences are just experiences.

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.

Debunks The WHOLE Afterlife Mystery Logically!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

Refreshingly honest

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.

A Theory Without Any Evidence at All

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.

Dying to Live

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?