Customer Reviews

At the Hour of Death: A New Look at Evidence for Life After Death (Volume 3)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
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Anyone interest in near death experiences or life after death should strongly consider reading this book. The research involved here is some of the most extensive, albeit exhausing I have ever read on any subject.

The authors, all MD's, have exercised the utmost diligence and honesty in researching, compiling, and analyzing data from both India and the U.S. on this very vital, but often abused subject.

The reading can be tedious at times and very much text book in nature. Also, don't expect any profound conclusions or revelations about the research from the authors either. They have opted for a very conservative and non-commital conclusion to their vast research. The reader must draw his or her own conclusions.

For those who desire a well-researched and documented book where the author expresses an opinion in no uncertain terms, read Tom Harpur's outstanding "Life After Death" ... .

I must say that I was a bit disappointed with this book. Perhaps I was looking for more real life experiences vs. statistical data comparison. Nonetheless it is a good book, giving you an idea what happens to people in their last moments on earth. But it doesn't really tell you what they see as in "how does the other world (if it exists) look", or can they hear the loved ones as they're "floating" away. I guess realistically, it's probably not possible to know those things but I guess that's what I was looking for in this book.

This book was originally released over 30 years ago now, and the time tells. Researchers in parapsychology were still falling over themselves trying to stick as rigidly as possible to all aspects of academic procedure, one of which is to write dry, unemotive English. This book is a long way from the true dryness of academic literature, but readers of modern non-fiction may stumble in some parts, particularly the statistical ones. Having said all that, I think the authors made the right decision, as their thorough research and data analysis is pretty solid, and brings out some unexpected results. Not all experience death-bed visions. And if you're on medication, have any brain disorder or have previously experienced hallucinations, amongst other factors, then their analysis shows you probably won't. If you do though, you can be sure it won't be of someone living. That only happens to people having genuine, fantasy hallucinations under the influence of medication or a breakdown in brain functioning. The authors don't directly state their conclusions at the end as these are obvious, the results of their analysis speaking for themselves. And if they'd added any speculations beyond what patients actually reported, the book would've lapsed into fantasy. It sticks to facts, so if you're looking for science fiction, you should look elsewhere.

All in all, a fantastic work and a milestone in human research, but it may be centuries before its true significance is realised.

Having lost my only child, this subject is impossibly important. I do believe in 'life after death' and it is the moment of death, the process of dying, I am desparate to research.

I bought this book after reading Carla Willis-Brandon's One Last Hug Before I Go in which she quoted numerous accounts of deathbed visions from this author's 2 books entitled: Deathbed Obsrvations By Physicians & Nurses & At The Hour of Death which were so interesting. While this book is a classic, it is very difficult for the lay person to read because of the pages upon pages of statistics which I found to be confusing. The author will give the statistics in one sentence; re-phrase it in percentages & then will give a summary of what he said. My head was literally spinning. I have had college psychology & sociology books which were more interesting & easier to digest than this book was. It was indeed very dry reading. I did learn a few interesting facts, but I had to plow through mounds of statistics to get to the very few deathbed visions & other interesting tidbits. Comparison of the cultures of India & America was very interesting. The author was trying to prove whether there is life after death. After accumulating all the data, the author believes that there is an afterlife, but cannot say what happens after the first few minutes of death as to be expected. Each one will have to find out what lies beyond the veil for himself.