Life Beyond Death: What Should We Expect?

With its' gentle blue colouring on the front cover, the first impression on sight is one of comfort and a gentle approach to this sometimes touchy subject of death, and what we can expect from the experience. The author, David Fontana, has many other titles (more than 40) including "Psychology, Religion and Spirituality", "Learn to Meditate" and "The New Secret Language of Dreams'. He is a Professor of Psychology, Past President of the Society of Psychical Research, and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and has been investigating the evidence for survival of death for more than forty years. I hadn't thought much about what happens after death as it isn't a huge concern to me: after reading this book I felt a bit more curious and thoughtful about the subject. The various chapters got me more and more interested in looking at what type of experiences I could expect from this once in a (or this) lifetime experience! The chapter titles are: 1. The Mystery of the Afterlife 2. Near Death and Actual Death 3. What Happens Next? 4. Sudden Death and States of Mind 5. Earthbound Spirits 6. The First Plane and Hades Conditions 7. The Plane of Illusion (Summerland) 8. The Formless Realms There is also a section for references and a good index (both are handy if you want to look into a particular topic in more detail, or want to find something quickly). Fontana is a relaxed and experienced writer. I found his writing style easy to read and understand, although due to the nature of the topic, some of the references were a bit `untechnical'. By this I mean that because it is impossible to produce hard evidence of life after death, we can all only go by what people have experienced death and returned, and by psychics: and I have to say that the author has done a great job in pulling together the common threads in the experiences of those who have temporarily experienced death. This book would suit anyone who is curious about what happens to us when we die... or for those who are just curious in general! "Life Beyond Death" may also be of comfort to those of you who have experienced death and would like to compare your own experiences with those of others. I personally found this book to be comforting in terms of seeing death in more positive terms (even though I was a bit blasé about it before).

Well written, almost clinical in nature with educational information regarding religion, after-life, etc. Seems unbiased and provides references from vast array of sources, recent and from the past. Very thought-provoking and insightful.