The Big Book of Near Death Experiences

Commentary by the author, P.M.H. Atwater

The field of near-death studies has made a significant shift since last year. And this shift is detailed in my new book The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences: The Ultimate Guide to What Happens When We Die.

This 494-page romp through the very latest and the most surprising is literally the only book yet published that gives a thorough 360-degree look at the entire phenomenon:  the experience, the aftereffects, the implications. And it is written for busy people on the go, with lots of sidebars, drawings, and cartoons by Spirit Painter and Chuck Vadun.

Because of four major clinical, prospective studies done in three countries, and a host of papers published in peer-reviewed journals, the near-death experience today is the number one choice of scientists worldwide to study consciousness itself.

Gone are the days of the "Moody Miracle" and myths of "the light at the end of the tunnel" and "the religion of the resuscitated." Incidents like out-of-body-experiences, the dead come back, visitations from "the other side," otherworldly journeys, spiritual revelations - all of this - are now considered normal and typical to the experience, and not a sign of psychosis, mental illness, or of confusional hallucinations.

To quote Pim van Lommel, M.D. of Holland (van Lommel & Associates study published in "Lancet" medical journal, 12-15-01):  "How could clear, continuous consciousness - outside one's body - be experienced at the moment that the brain no longer functions during a period of clinical death with a flat EEG?"

Medical schools and medical personnel in country after country are now acknowledging this: that the near-death experience is real, valid, and verifiable - a condition they must deal with - that defies what is known medically about the human body and the brain/mind assembly.

Skeptical criticisms have mostly been put to rest by this flood of research (claims such as oxygen deprivation, temporal lobe excitation, drug-induced hallucinations, dying brain theory, autoscopy, and others). Words from the late Sigmund Freud best describes this reversal:  "If one regards oneself as a skeptic, it is a good plan to have occasional doubts about one's skepticism."  Chapter 14 in the book ("Debunking the Debunkers") details what is true and false.

Being one of the original researchers in the field of near-death studies, I tackled every subject imaginable - commonplace sleep pattern changes afterwards, electrical sensitivity (the "Pauli Effect"), ceiling corners and the importance of "left," hell's other side, cases in China, Africa, Thailand, the Pacific Islands, the question of "Is God Light," the healing power of dark light, hyperspace and DNA theories, the prospect of lasting neurological changes and intelligence enhancements afterward, the challenge to families and significant others, the blind who can see during their experience, incidents with infants and toddlers - even the fetus while still in the womb, suicides as seen from differing points of view, living greeters and what that might mean, physiological changes, the presence of soul, near-death-like experiences - the list is long.

Fifty percent of the royalties on this book for the first five years go to the International Association For Near-Death Studies (IANDS). At the end of five years, ownership will pass to IANDS entirely. I am very clear about this. Yes I did all the work, and I wrote it.

But the book belongs to its readership and those it helps. The best representative of these people, to my way of thinking, is IANDS, a non-profit clearinghouse for information about the near-death experience, worldwide.

To purchase a copy of The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences from Amazon.com, click here!