Customer Reviews

The Last Laugh: A New Philosophy of Near-Death Experiences, Apparitions, and Theparanormal

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

A very odd book.

I do not take exception with Moody for "backtracking" on, or no longer appearing as a true believer in, NDE's reality. That would be his right if he chose to do so, but it isn't clear to me that he is in fact backtracking. In fact, that's the entire problem with this book - not that Moody is suddenly undermining the valdity of the NDE by calling it entertainment, but more that it simply isn't at all clear what he's doing here - if anything.

Moody is not being explicit enough about what is the exact target and logical scope of his claim that "It's all entertainment".

It is one thing to say: "I don't know if NDE is real or not, but the human discussions of NDE are a form of entertainment." But at times he gets slippery and seems to imply that not only are the human discussions of the NDE a form of cultural (human created and exploited) entertainment, but that in addition, the NDE experience itself is somehow being offered to us by some transcendent power or will in the universe in order to entertain us.

That last is a very different and rather interesting and radical claim, if he's really making it. The book is so badly written that it appears he never draws a clear distinction between the NDE (and other paranormal stuff) as a cultural topic within the normal human material and semantic space vs. the NDE as a (possible) "real" ultimate experience with its own transcendent validity (which again may also be 'entertainment' in a cosmic sense, but that concept is radically different from the claim that NDE accounts and speculations function as an entertaining topic in ordinary live human discourse.

It may seem like splitting hairs, but it is a real logical confusion. Suppose I bought a book on earthquakes. For me at least, the aspect of greatest interest would be the reality of earthquakes, their frequency and severity, research on early warnings, building reinforcement methods and so on - things deriving from an understanding that earthquakes are real.

But if the books author went on and on about the entertainment value of earthquake movies and stories and the shock value of dramatic photos and what not, saying that these materials function culturally to enteratain us, and then only hinting slyly that earthquakes might or might not be real (and if real, they might or might not be experienced as a kind of entertainment) - I guess I'd agree but who cares?

I want to know: Do earthquakes really happen? And if they do, let's just talk about them straighforwardly rather than get into this side discussion of the possible entertainment value of earthquake related derivative works. It isn't exactly false, it just doesn't matter much. Anyway Moody just doesn't make clear whether he's making the radical claim that the universe/God itself is providing a true death survival mechanism for us humans (in order to entertain us), or if it is merely the prosaic claim that we humans are entertaining (or scaring) ourselves with such stories.

At a high level though, Moody has a good concept with an ancient pedigree - the ancient Hindu's clearly labeled all of material creation as "lila" - the great play of the gods.

I admit to being extremely surprised by the basic premise ofRaymond Moody's new book, which is that near-death experiences and"paranormal" phenomena in general do not prove the existence of life after death, spirits, etc. His logic is sound; I just didn't expect him, at this late stage in the game, to pull back from what 100% of his readers have always believed was his viewpoint. Moody uses a satiric, bubbly tone, similar to the way philosopher Mary Daly writes: word play, puns, alliteration and rhymes; and his aim, like Daly's, is to skewer mainstream thought and convention like meat on a spit and then roast it over the coals of his acrid wit and insight. Moody also knows a lot about mythology, history, sociology and of course psychology, and ties these fields into the discussion in a very interesting inter-discliplinary fashion. His premise is that as a species we are permanently fascinated with the paranormal because it entertains us, because it's fun, and that this is reason enough to continue studying it, despite the fact that we can't prove its claims one way or the other. I give Moody credit for having the courage to express ideas which many of his fans will find offensive and shocking. My complaint is that the writing style is dense, full of asides and overblown with academic syntax. I had trouble following him at times (and I'm no dummy). And despite his claims to the contrary, his discussion of such notables as Dannion Brinkley and Betty Eadie does come off sounding as though he thinks they're fakes, which is going to be hard for many serious students of the paranormal to swallow. I appreciated Moody's assessment of the three main players in the paranormal game, which never resolves itself and never goes forward: the paranormalists themselves, striving for credibility; the professional skeptics whose religion is not objective investigation but "Scientism"; and what he calls the funda-Christians, who see Satan in every fun and pleasant thing the world has to offer, paranormal experiences included. If you're expecting another of Moody's treatises on NDE phenomena, skip this one. But if you're willing to put aside your assumptions and beliefs and consider a totally new way of thinking about the paranormal, this book is worth the effort.

I am an NDE-er. I have NOT read this book, I stopped reading books on the subject several years ago when I also decided the IANDS - international association of near death studies - was of no use to ME. Having died I am here to tell you YES we CAN die and come back to "life" aaaaaaaaaaaand once that's REALLY happened you KNOW there is no such thing as what people think of as DEATH. And that's all, it's simply not an issue anymore. I, like most actual NDE-ers, had difficulty re-entering a world full of people living in fear of each other, the future, the past, life, death, God, evil, the stars and just about anything else you can think of. Once I realized that LACK OF "NORMAL" FEAR was the problem I was fine. SO read this and anything else you can get your hands on so you can calm down and LIVE, that's all there is - LIFE! And life is GOOD!

Although Raymond Moody coins "playful paranormalist" as the new paranormal buzz term, nothing about "The Last Laugh" is even remotely playful. Weighted down with overly intellectual terms Moody seems to make up as he types, the book plods along at a stodgy pace only a Ph.D. candidate would feel compelled to endure. While he seemed conscious of who his audience was in all his other books, Moody seems to have either forgotten how to write for the masses or ceased to care whether they'll hang in with him or not. If you're a fan of his other works, beware of this latest offering. It bears no resemblance in style or content to previous work.

According to Moody, "The Last Laugh" is actually the conclusion his publisher refused to insert in his first book, "Life After Life." He dismisses all paranormal occurrences as pure entertainment and in the process trashes any and all believers and practioners of it. Placing himself on an omnipotent pedestal, Moody looks down and proceeds to enjoy his last laugh at the expense of the rest of the paranormal crowd.

The biggest question I have is why it took him 26 years to finally enlighten all of us about the "real truth." Since its first publication in 1975, "Life After Life" catapulted Moody to international fame as the near-death experience expert. He seemed to enjoy the recognition, making the rounds of the talk shows and spirituality seminars along with cranking out other volumes as follow-up work to his first. I met Moody at a seminar several years ago and never picked up a whimper of his current claim that the paranormal is largely just entertainment. Nor did I get that impression from the literature designed to recruit people to his mirror gazing institute.

As a reader of his former books, I feel somewhat betrayed with his apparent change of tune. I can't help but wonder if it's being done to draw new attention to himself or perhaps to discredit other researchers and practioners in the paranormal world whom he feels may have slighted him in some way. In any event, I'm not laughing at "The Last Laugh."

I think that the previous reviewer misses the point a bit. Moody isn't "pulling back." At least if you accept what he says, this is material that he intended to include as a postscript to "Life After Life" way back when, but that was omitted by the publisher in the interests of commercial success. He now insists that this material be considered a permanent addendum to "Life After Life." My only problem with it is, IT'S A NEARLY UNREADABLE BOOK with a message that is legitimate but could have been condensed to five pages. Moody takes on three groups -- the Christian fundamentalists, the NDE true believers and the closed-minded debunkers -- as exemplifying the most misguided approach to paranormal phenonmena, which they surely do. Moody insists on a "playful," non-dogmatic approach that recognizes the whimsical, elusive nature of paranormal phenomena. This is the legitimate message that could have been condensed to five pages. The problem being, the rest of the book, in which Moody seems to think that he is being playful and humorous, comes across a mean-spirited and utimately tedious rant at the expense of the aforementioned three groups. The writing is simply not worthy of someone with an M.D., a Ph.D in philosophy and many years of experience in this field. The objection is not, however, that "Raymond Moody doesn't believe in life after death anymore!!!!" This is the knee-jerk reaction of the NDE true believers, who Moody intends to upset and obviously enjoys upsetting. The objection is, "Raymond, you are so dogmatic in your playfulness that you sound like an irascible old crank." Despite all this, I would certainly encourage anyone who has Moody's other books to buy this one, because you won't have a complete understanding of him or his message unless you do.

One cannot escape a sense of wonder when reading the various descriptions of NDEs by those who have had them. These experiences are invariably fascinating, often life changing for those who have them, and reading about them nudges us toward cautious optimism, for exactly what, we do not know. An undirected, unspecific and limited optimism is the most we can take from these experiences without overreaching.

Moody tells us that the trouble comes when we embrace these NDEs as proof of life after death, to legitimize our work or opinion about them or when we use their subjective quality and lack of scientific access to dismiss them altogether. And of course, science (scientific method) has been unable to explain either what they are or to explain them away.

It is easy to agree with Dr. Moody's sense that those fundamentalists who dismiss these experiences as the work of the Devil are the most deplorable of the lot of interested parties. Still, all of these groups holding claims as to what NDEs really are, or are not, share more with one another than they would have you believe. They all make emotional investments in their positions regarding NDEs which is not justified by what is known about them. Even with regard to science, as long as there is the unknown, which there undoubtedly always will be, it, too, is ultimately an "ism" or "belief".

Just as mystical union, enlightenment, the spontaneous mystical experience and Deity itself, are beyond the domain of proof or dismissal, so should we deem the mysterious, even if tantalizing, NDE. Moody encourages us to take comfort from NDEs, laugh at them or be skeptical, but not to take ourselves any more seriously than is merited by what we really know about them. Clearly, the interested parties, whether parapsychologists, fundamentalists or skeptics, feel obliged by the strength of their emotional investments regarding NDEs to say more about them than is justified by any real understanding.

One can feel the disappointment, even anger, in the reviews of those whose prejudices have been challenged by Moody's plea to consider NDEs in a more honest, realistic and humorous context. It is one thing to be inclined toward one or the other of the major positions regarding NDEs but is another to claim definitive knowledge of what they are and what they are not.

I would have given 5 stars for this book if Moody's awkward, certainly odd, writing style and attempts at humor (faults mentioned by other reviewers) weren't so distracting, not to mention tedious. It's one thing to talk about humor, another to be humorous. Nonetheless, this work earned a solid four stars for its integrity, a quality that is too often missing in this genre.

I found Dr. Moody's Title "The Last Laugh", a New Philosophy of Near Death, Apparitions, and the Paranormal, extremely deceptive. I say this because the book is not about the paranormal in general, it is mainly about the doctors anger at the philosophical institutions who have apparently distored his original position regarding the paranormal. It becomes evident that Dr. Moody's critics of the last 30 years have gotten the best of him, so in this book he relentlessly beats up the opposition, "the big 3", philosophical groups...The Skeptics, The Para-Psychologists and Fundamentalist-Christians, and their media representatives.

In the book he creates a longwinded attempt to set the record straight on what he really thinks regarding the afterlife,(which never really comes to fruition), and the techniques "the enemies of truth", are using to keep the dialog at a stalemate regarding NDE's, and other paranormal experience. Each camp of the "big 3" has its own agenda which feeds off the others "expertise" of canned retoric like a well oiled machine, thus keeping the dialog regarding "new information" on the paranormal at a standstill or at the very least,... going in circles over the last 150 years.

His argument does hold some merit, but to write a book as if his anger was a "new philosophy" on the subject of paranormal experiences was not the good doctors agenda. His agenda was to draw those of us who are interested in these experiences by branding his book a "new philosophy" and letting us subsidise his temper tantrum towards his critics.

This book is not a new philosophy, it is an old con, "Bait and Switch", and never presents any new information on such an important subject as life and death,(which encompasses apparitions,nde's, etc). In the end, Dr. Moody foolishly tries to streamline the reader into thinking that the paranormal is God's attempt at entertainment,or at the very least that entertainment is the best way man has to express paranormal experiences and hold the interest of those who honestly inquire on the subject. Somehow this technique, (his new philosophy), will legitimize the truth, or help us find the truth. Perhaps make the truth more palatable.

This is not a philosophy, it is a sentence, a silly statement, a single thought of an angry man drunk on self doubt and frustrated by his own previous lack of clarity. Dr. Moody's only saving grace in this book is his occassional position that there are groups that use the study of near death experiences to ease the grieving process, but for the most part the book is a history lesson with amusing antidotes, clever clips on various philosophies found in other literature or his venomous outbursts in which he intellectually disassembles his critics. God Doc, you sure are smart!

There truely is NOTHING NEW about the titles subject matter unless you are in need of new material at your next high school debate club.

Shame on you Dr. Moody for pretending to tell a "NEW PHILOSOPHY", with such a deceptive title! Well, your critics are now one person stronger and judging by a couple of other interviews, growing! The "Last Laugh", is on the reader who spent their hard earned money on a book that draws the right demographics to the wrong subject!

This book was not at all what I had expected or hoped. I thought it was a scientific look at paranormal phenomena, but this was not that at all. It's not that the book is badly written, or that it's uninteresting and without merit, but it's nearly 200 pages of Mr. Moody's thoughts and research on the history and definitions of the paranormal and the groups of people who are interested in the paranormal and why they are interested. I wasn't interested in reading a thesis of the Paranormal and the Men and Women who love it. If you are the kind of person who loves to tear things apart and study them piece by piece you will enjoy this book very much.

I bought a book about NDE's, apparitions, and the paranormal and I got a thesis on the history of the paranormal and why people are interested. Regardless of how well thought out Mr. Moody's ideas are, and regardless of how accurate these ideas may be, this book is not at all what I expected. It's my own fault, the back cover clearly states what this book is about. But I saw the words "paranormal," and "NDE's" and figure the book was about those things. The back cover is somewhat misleading, however, about this new NDE phenomena that he calls an "empathic near death experience." Moody hardly does more than mention it really. I was terribly disappointed. Moody is not the first author to bring this phenomena up, either. Oriah Mountain Dreamer talks about her experience with this in her book "The Invitation." Hers is a first person account of an empathic near death experience, although she doesn't give it a name. I learned as much or more about it from her in her book than from what Moody talks about in his.

The Last Laugh is prefaced by Neale Donald Walsch, which is why I bought this book in the first place. How wrong I was! I won't be trusting Walsch's judgment on books anymore.

Another problem I had with this book was the way the author seems to delight in bashing Christian Fundamentalists. While I understand the sentiment, I thought it was in rather bad taste. Neale Donald Walsch is a huge proponent of religious tolerance, I'm surprised he added his seal of approval to this book. Perhaps he felt that as Christian Fundamentalists are religiously intolerant by definition that the CF bashing in this book was fair play. To be fair, Moody does take the time to warn Christian Fundamentalists not to read past a very specific point because they aren't going to like what follows. And he's right, they won't.

In summation, don't buy this book if you are hoping for a scientific look at NDE's, apparitions, and the paranormal. Do buy this book if you would like to read a thesis on who is interested in the paranormal and why.

'The Last Laugh' by Raymond Moody, MD.

Yesterday, I did a speed read of this book in Barnes & Noble over a cup of black coffee and a pizza-sized oatmeal raisin cookie while waiting for Aikido class to start. I was looking forward to reading some new and interesting insights from this near-death pioneer.

Unfortunately, there was none of that in the book. The book was a dry, long-winded, twisted discussion of the intractable points of view between skeptics, religious fundamentalists, and psi believers. I came away with the feeling that while Dr. Moody believes in psi, he wants to distance himself from the New Agers and people that blindly believe any psi claim that comes along. At the same time, he raps the knuckles of the skeptics and the fundamentalists. It seems to me he could have said all of that in four pages. But in the early chapters, he admonishes the reader to 'hang in there and take the journey with me.' Don't fall for it. There's no payoff. If distancing himself was his goal, Dr. Moody seems to have achieved a successful reader-ectomy.

If near-death anecdotes are what you want to read, read Dr. Moody's previous books. 'The Last Laugh' ain' t it. I think I got the last laugh because I didn't shell out the $12.75 to be disappointed.

Describing himself as a "playful paranormalist," Dr. Raymond Moody sets forth "a new philosophy of near-death experiences, apparitions, and the paranormal" in The Last Laugh, his latest book. Dr. Moody is an internationally recognized expert on near death experiences. He has written seven previous books, and presents lectures, as well as appearing on national television.

Dr. Moody believes that meaningful discussion of paranormal phenomena has been obscured by three groups of people: the parapsychologists, who rely on science to provide proof; the skeptics, who believe paranormal experiences are either delusions or fraud; and the fundamentalists, who hold that all things paranormal are the work of the devil. Dr. Moody says that near-death experiences aren't death experiences, and therefore none of us know what really happens after death.

He says that "what I am suggesting throughout this whole book is that, if we are to discover any real truths about the paranormal, about near-death experiences, and about life after death, we will only do so if we stop taking everything so seriously." He expands that by saying we take what knowledge we have literally, and that "taking things literally [impedes] learning." He says that rather than study paranormal experiences "from a place of literalness," he begins "from a place of childlike willingness to explore everything playfully, but with intention to look closely and with respect at what my explorations revealed."

One of his discoveries is the "empathic near death experience," where the experience is shared by the dying person with someone who is not dying. Dr. Moody's research also reveals that the paranormal has entertainment value for humans. He says that he has "become increasingly aware of how entertainment, humor, play, and the paranormal are, in a curious way, intimately enmeshed." We enjoy trying to solve the puzzle and paradoxes presented by paranormal phenomena.

Dr. Moody says "The Last Laugh seeks to pry open the dam holding back the stream of information about. . .near-death experiences." Readers will find their beliefs about the paranormal, whatever those beliefs may be, challenged by his comments. They'll also find themselves intrigued and entertained.