Paranormal: My Life in Pursuit of the Afterlife

- Great book overall. Detailed explanations with an honest viewpoint; he just doesn’t believe anything without some reasoning. Wonderful human being who has had hard times, but it didn’t deter him from his work. Bringing these topics to the forefront helps to give readers a new perspective and understanding, and plenty to think about. Will an atheist change their mind due to it? Unlikely if they already feel that way. But this book is for anyone, irrespective of religion and such. I’m so glad I bought it! I’ve already been delving into this topic, and this added new “food for thought” so to speak. Thank you, Dr. Moody!

Dr. Moody's seminal 1975 book, "Life After Life," which I read shortly after its release, was my introduction to any form of psychical research. I was completely divorced from orthodox religion at that time and needed something to believe in, and his research in the area of near-death experiences really got me to thinking that there is something more than a mechanistic world. Although I didn't begin to seriously seek spiritual enlightenment until 1988 or 1989, Dr. Moody's book remained with me as a starting point. After thoroughly studying the evidence for survival for five years or more, I became convinced that survival is a fact, but then I began to read things by Dr. Moody suggesting that he was a fence-sitter of sorts, playing the skeptic for the scientific fundamentalists and the believer for the believers. What really bothered me is that he didn't seem to understand that there is a difference between "proof" and "evidence." Instead of saying that the evidence strongly suggests survival or just points to survival, he would say that we still don't have proof, or words to that effect. I became somewhat disenchanted with Dr. Moody. However, I started to become a fan of his again after his reading this 2010 book, "Glimpses of Eternity." After reading his latest book, which is an autobiography, I am definitely a fan again.Although Dr. Moody still seems to struggle with the difference between evidence and proof in this book, I found it very interesting, informative, intriguing, and inspirational. There was even some humor in it, such as when his father, a physician, called an ambulance and had his son taken to a psychiatric hospital after he told his father about his experiments with a psychomanteum, an offshoot of crystal or mirror gazing, in which the individual sees and talks with spirits of the dead. "I was angry and puzzled," Moody writes. "My father was such a well respected physician in Georgia that he was able to have his son committed to an institution just because he didn't understand the research and work I had been doing and thought I was delusional."The early chapters tell how he became interested in the study of NDEs and the various barriers he encountered in making his research known to other scientists and the public. "I had already found that people insisted on bringing the same somber demeanor to this subject as they would have while sitting in a funeral parlor waiting for service to begin," he further writes. "I didn't know whether they thought I somehow required that the subject be treated this way or if they just saw death as a somber subject. Whatever the case, since I saw the results of my research as some of the best news ever for those concerned that death was the end of all consciousness, I tried to put some levity into our conversation."Moody tells of his attempted suicide, his own near-death experience, some past-life experiences and some very interesting shared-death experiences involving his own family. "It is through the study of shared-death experience that we may get a clearer answer to the question of what happens to our souls after death," he offers. He ends the book by addressing the question of what happens after we die with his feet planted firmly on the believer side of the fence.Thank you, Dr. Moody, for your dedication to helping others over the years with life's most important question.

This is undoubtedly one of the most important books I will ever read in my life, and I've read plenty already. The only thing that grates is Moody's sitting on the fence about the Afterlife on grounds of correct philosophical method and scientific enquiry. In his Conclusion, after giving a compelling description of how consciousness and personiry survive biological death and continue their spiritual evolution, he then says he can't subscribe to an Afterlife! Surely these are semantics. What else could an Afterlife without a biological body mean ? Scientists do not sit endlessly on the fence : if the data is compelling they propose a scientific hypothesis. If the hypothesis is adequately corroborated it can become a confirmed explanation. New data might change the interpretation or add to it such as quantum mechanics in relation to Newtonian mechanics or relativity as opposed to absolute time. Kubler-Ross, by taking a stand, has the courage of her convictions. Moody's Frank and admirable account does show that he fears rejection or belittlement and that's completely understandable. But timidity cannot be disguised by logical niceties. If the data is compelling, as he believes it is, a cautious hypothesis that the Afterlife is real is quite reasonable to take a stand on alongside a statement that further research will hopefully improve and give more definition to the hypothesis. Otherwise what is the point of a lifetime's concern that so marvellously turned up compelling data ?

I've read dozens of books in this genre, and have to say this one was a bit disappointing, as it goes back over a lot of covered ground. I expected something a little more polished from someone of Moody's stature and scholarly background. Much of the book is very repetitive, in a way that makes the reader feel they've lost their place in it somehow. For example, what Moody relates in pages 4 to 10 appears again on pages 169 to 174, almost verbatim. One of the main topics dealt with in the book is Moody's myxedema, a serious thyroid disorder that can lead to episodes of mental impairment. It shows in this book, which reads like the manuscript of someone who wrote while impaired and didn't bother to proofread before publishing. It even has the wrong state for East Carolina University, where Moody was a professor at one time.

As this was written by a sceptic this story of work is even more compelling. Venturing into an area I didn’t know was even conceived ‘shared death experience’ leads me on to read more...

... of the world's leading authority, the man who originally penned the phrase "Near Death Experience." Dr. Raymond Moody - The man, the scientist, the celebrity!A forthright, open, warts 'n' all account of the early life, experiences, and voyage of scientific discovery into the much debated study of the now widely acknowledged NDE.

One of the few books on the paranormal that are both intelligent and readable

Good condition

Second hand book arrived very clean looking practically new.Style: researches explained in clear English, very interesting and objective.