Science and the Near Death Experience (Book Review)

SCIENCE AND THE NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE: HOW CONSCIOUSNESS SURVIVES DEATH
By Chris Carter

• Explains why near-death experiences (NDEs) offer evidence of an afterlife
and discredits the psychological and physiological explanations for them

• Challenges materialist arguments against consciousness surviving death

• Examines ancient and modern accounts of NDEs from around the world,
including China, India, and many from tribal societies such as the Native
American and the Maori

Predating all organized religion, the belief in an afterlife is fundamental
to the human experience and dates back at least to the Neanderthals. By the
mid-19th century, however, spurred by the progress of science, many people
began to question the existence of an afterlife, and the doctrine of
materialism — which believes that consciousness is a creation of the brain
— began to spread. Now, armed with scientific evidence, Chris Carter
challenges materialist arguments against consciousness surviving death and
shows how near-death experiences (NDEs) may truly provide a glimpse of an
awaiting afterlife.

Using evidence from scientific studies, quantum mechanics, and consciousness
research, Carter reveals how consciousness does not depend on the brain and
may, in fact, survive the death of our bodies. Examining ancient and modern
accounts of NDEs from around the world, including China, India, and tribal
societies such as the Native American and the Maori, he explains how NDEs
provide evidence of consciousness surviving the death of our bodies. He
looks at the many psychological and physiological explanations for NDEs
raised by skeptics — such as stress, birth memories, or oxygen starvation
— and clearly shows why each of them fails to truly explain the NDE.
Exploring the similarities between NDEs and visions experienced during
actual death and the intersection of physics and consciousness, Carter
uncovers the truth about mind, matter, and life after death.

………….

Editorial Reviews

“The belief that consciousness itself is somehow produced within the brain
will topple under the momentum of observations this theory simply cannot
explain. Chris Carter’s second book, as well organized and accessible as his
first, details the history, physics, and observed phenomena that will
forever change how we look at the brain. A readable, informative, and
devastating critique of materialism.”

— Robert Bobrow, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine at
Stony Brook University and author of The Witch in the Waiting Room

…

“Chris Carter’s tightly reasoned approach and his encyclopedic grasp of the
research make Science and the Near-Death Experience the best book on NDEs in
years. The clarity of Carter’s writing and the breadth of his scholarship
make this an ideal resource for both experts and those new to the field.
This book brings much-needed insight and common sense to our understanding
of NDEs.”

— Bruce Greyson, M.D., Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral
Sciences, University of Virginia

…

“As a physicist and neurosurgeon, I find Chris Carter’s Science and the
Near-Death Experience to be a comprehensive analysis of NDEs,and a book that
allows one to understand that consciousness persists beyond the death of the
physical body. It is beautifully written!”

— John L. Turner, M.D., author of Medicine, Miracles, and Manifestations

…

“In this important book, author Chris Carter does a masterful job at
demonstrating how the evidence does not support the mainstream scientific
view that consciousness and mind are produced by the brain. In addition,
Carter objectively reviews the empirical data on near-death experiences and
rightly concludes that these data fully support the notion that mind and
consciousness can continue to operate after the cessation of brain
activity.”

— Mario Beauregard, Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience, University of
Montreal, and coauthor of The Spiritual Brain

…

“There has been a spate of books on the afterlife and the immortality of
consciousness lately, indicating a resurgence of interest in what is surely
one of the most important — and I would argue THE most important —
question a conscious human being can pose in his or her life. Carter’s book
is not only an important contribution to this literature; it is its current
crowning achievement. For he masters both the theoretical and the evidential
approach, showing that belief to the contrary of the survival of
consciousness is mere, and now entirely obsolete, dogma, and that the
evidence for survival is clear and rationally convincing. A book to read and
to remember for the rest of one’s life — and perhaps beyond. . . .”

— Ervin Laszlo, author of Science and the Akashic Field and founder of the
Club of Budapest

…

About the Author

Chris Carter received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the
University of Oxford. The author of Parapsychology and the Skeptics, Carter
is originally from Canada and currently lives in Venezuela.