Dying to Live: Near Death Experiences

by Susan J. Blackmore

Overview

Progress in medical science has increased our understanding of what happens when the brain begins to fail. Psychology delves ever more deeply into the nature of the self. In Dying to Live, Blackmore, a leading expert in near-death experiences, explores what psychology, biology, and medicine have to say about this extraordinary aspect of death and dying.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879758707
Publisher:	Globe Pequot
Publication date:	09/01/1993
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.89(d)
Lexile:	1150L (what's this?)

About the Author

Susan Blackmore is a psychologist and writer researching consciousness, memes, and anomalous experiences, and a visiting professor at the University of Plymouth. She blogs for the Guardian and Psychology Today, and often appears on radio and  television. She is the author of Dying to Live (on near-death experiences, 1993); In Search of the Light (autobiography, 1996); Test Your Psychic Powers (with Adam Hart-Davis, 1997); The Meme Machine (1999); Conversations on Consciousness (2005); Zen and the Art of Consciousness (2011); and Consciousness: An Introduction.

Editorial Reviews

Near-death experiences (NDEs) have remarkably similar characteristics the world over, leading many to cite them as proof of a hereafter. Blackmore, a British psychologist, carefully reviews the literature and her own research for something like an opposite claim. NDEs do indeed have universal aspects, but that's because they manifest the chemistry of dying brains; what's universal is the brain itself. Moreover, components of NDEs (such as "tunnels," down which the dying travel toward bright lights; sensations of well-being; and the appearance of comforting relatives from the beyond) can also be found in LSD trips and dreams. Tunnels are the most universal element of NDEs, but they, too, can be explained as chemical aberrations--brought on, in this instance, by the distress of optic nerves. Having said all this, Blackmore goes on to discuss the profound psychological--not to mention religious--impact NDEs can have on individuals, but clearly her account is valuable because it looks rationally and with as much scientific rigor as possible at this strange, almost unmeasurable phenomenon.

John Mort