Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon--Survival of Bodily Death

Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon--Survival of Bodily Death | Raymond Moody | A classic study of NDE (near death experience)

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Life After Life: T...

	Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon--Survival of Bodily Death Raymond Moody HarperOne, 2001 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 69 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Enlightening, Interesting, Fascinating Read

I had heard and read so many positive reviews of this book that I had to read it for myself. After reading it in one sitting (I couldn't put it down), I wholeheartedly agree with those readers who gave it five stars.

While I find the subject matter of near-death experiences extremely fascinating, I was drawn to this book primarily due to a good friend's recent and -unexpected- passing. I wanted to know, that being the wonderful and giving person that my friend was throughout life, he experienced the all-permeating joy and Light when he passed from this physical life. I am a Christian and thus, strongly believe in an afterlife in Heaven. So I didn't need this book to "prove" an afterlife to me. Nonetheless, reading it gave me much comfort.

I also appreciated Dr. Moody's clinical & unbiased approach to his research. I also found his writing style to be engaging and clear.

If you're at all remotely interested in learning more about NDE's, I highly recommend reading this book. You won't be disappointed.

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A classic study of NDE (near death experience)

To the best of my memory, there are only three books I have read three times in my life: The Bible, Death Be Not Proud and this book, the 1975 classic by Raymond A. Moody, M.D., that invigorated the modern investigation into NDE's (near-death experiences). I first read it in junior high when I ordered it as a Scholastic selection and I read it the third time after my father's death in 2004. It is the starting point in the scientific investigation into the question of consciousness (or spirit or soul) surviving the body's ultimate demise.

Better books available

If you want to know more about matters of life and death, there are far, far better books than this one. Copyright says it was first published in 1975. Maybe Mr. Moody has come a long way since then, but I don't know as this is the only book of his I've read, so far.

I've been studying this subject for about 8 years, now. This book has serious problems regarding the impressions it can leave you with. The only part of this book that I find useful are the cases of NDEs Moody's recorded. I applaud his efforts, and they are admirable. He's done a lot good in this area.

However, with respect to this book, his philosophical and religious speculations leave a great deal to be desired. On these subjects he didn't have the shoes for the territory. He's even inconsistent in his speculations with some of the accounts of NDEs he's relating in this book.

IF you want to read on a more seriuos level about what's beyond this life, then I suggest Michael Newton's two books on "life between lives." Look up his name here and get both books. There are others that have written on this subject too, but Newton is the only one that I know of who spent decades with hypnosis patients and compiling his data. It makes a difference. To have someone relate to you what they know from a near-death-experience is very limited. Deep hypnotic states reveal far more.

I also highly recommend Brian Weiss' book, Many Lives, Many Masters; also read William Buhlman (2 books) and Robert Monroe (3 books). Weiss has written other books, but read the one above first, if you're new to this topic.

If your're a serious minded seeker of after-life knowledge, you'll get nothing more than a few cases of NDEs in Moody's book, and some seriously flawed meanderings on philosophical matters. To some people that may make no difference; to others it will. This book is also written in an extremely casual style, rather on the level of news paper articles.

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Testimonials Interesting, Moody's analysis not

While the subject of life after death and what people experience after they die is extremely interesting to me, I found the majority of this book rather boring. The people's accounts of what happens were quite interesting (which Moody did not write), but I found Moody's introduction and analysis to be somewhat lacking and surface oriented. He seemed to be saying the things that any reader could gather from reading the testimonials on their own. The best analysis he gave was when he drew parallels from other religions, but even this section could have benefited from more research and more sources.

I also found his analysis of the testimonials to be too biased, he clearly wants to get across the idea that there IS life after life without saying it, but I think this bias makes me less likely to believe what he is writing about. When he poses questions regarding the reliability of these accounts or alternative explanations, he seems to go around the question so his explanation can support his view. While I do believe that there is life after death and your soul travels without your physical body, I would have liked to see Moody go a bit more in depth with his research and analysis.

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