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After

A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond

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After

By: Bruce Greyson MD
Narrated by: Raymond Moody, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Eben Alexander
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

What happens when we die?

Ten per cent of people whose hearts stop, and then restart, report near-death experiences. Stories of lights, tunnels and reunion with late loved ones have been relayed - and dismissed - since ancient times. But when Dr Bruce Greyson's patients started describing events that he simply could not dismiss, he began to investigate.

In After, he shares the scientific revelations of four decades of research into the dying process. He has become increasingly convinced that dying is less an ending than a transition, the threshold between one form of consciousness and another. Dr Greyson challenges us to consider what these lessons can teach us about the relationship between our brain and our mind, expanding our understanding of consciousness and of what it means to be human.

This audiobook includes three bonus interviews with the author.

'This long-awaited and amazing book is a major contribution to the study of what happens when we die, and will quickly prove to be a classic in near-death studies.' - Raymond Moody, author of Life After Life

© Bruce Greyson, MD 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Death & Dying History & Philosophy Philosophy Religious Studies Science Sociology Spirituality Near-Death Experience Inspiring Heartfelt Parapsychology Human Brain Health

Critic reviews

BOOK OF THE MONTH: forces you to consider the unknown and try to come to terms with the unexplained.
From a less authoritative source, these stories could seem mawkish or flaky. Told here with calm precision, and with a conversational flair, they are both absorbing and convincing. With so much evidence available for further investigation, the most vexing question now is not whether life continues in some form after we die, but why mainstream science is so resistant to the idea. (Christopher Stevens)
After is that rare thing, a scientific book that is also a page-turner. Greyson's meticulous research leaves little doubt that the human mind somehow survives beyond the point of death.
This very captivating book by Dr. Bruce Greyson chronicles his personal, spiritual and professional quest to understand the meaning of near-death experiences. His long-awaited and amazing book is a major contribution to the study of what happens when we die, and will quickly prove to be a classic in near-death studies.
Bruce Greyson is the most influential medical doctor-investigator over the last 40 years of this world-changing analysis. His work has done much to organize the scientific investigation of these experiences, to take them from fascinating anecdotes to systematic and objective study that will truly enable the world to benefit from these deep lessons. His work has the potential to completely change our fractured and confused world, offering insights that may lead to an explanation of the nature of consciousness. It will also help to nudge the entire scientific community towards realizations that can alter human history — bringing far more peace, harmony, and comfort to uncountable millions of souls both now and in future generations.
What happens when we die? Dr Bruce Greyson takes on this age-old mystery as one of the world's leading and most qualified investigators. After is loaded with fresh, exciting, and enormously valuable new understandings. The most relevant and important research is masterfully presented in a remarkably easy to read format. For everyone interested in life after death, science and spirituality, and life's meaning, this book is a treasure trove of insights and inspiration.
In this very important book, Dr. Bruce Greyson helps elucidate the near-death experience with a scientific sensibility that makes what was exquisitely personal more accessible to a general audience. He bridges the gap between science and spirituality with elegance, and offers those who have not had such a transformative experience a glimpse of the changes possible in their own lives from reading his book. I believe all who read this book will be led to positive and permanent insights that will have profound and lasting effects in their own lives.
All stars
Most relevant
In this book, Dr Greyson has compiled and analysed a large collection of NDE's, gleaned over several decades. He also explicitly searches for a metaphysical system into which can best accommodate this phenomenon.
He is forced to reject reductionist materialism, which necessarily must exclude NDE's. One has to chose between the veracity of one or the other.
However, he seems to have reluctantly settled upon a form of dualism, ruing the lack of a better model. But dualism has always suffered from huge philosophical difficulties as to how so called physical and non physical realities interact.
I would suggest that he - along with readers interested in inbedding NDE's within a sympathetic metaphysical system - would do well to explore a form of Idealism ("Objective Idealism") that in recent years has been advanced by the likes of Barnardo Kastrup (e.g. "Why Materialism is Baloney" , "The Idea of the World"...), Donald D Hoffman ("The Case against Reality"...) and others.
The nascent metaphysical system being developed within such works is an elegant and parsimonious system into which phenomena such as NDE's make a perfect fit.

A suggested model to place NDE experiences

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Very well researched and positive /optimistic. I found this book energising and exciting. I think Dr Greyson combines humility with authority. Narrator was clear and read with conviction.

Excellent book

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Really interesting and absorbing. Makes you think about so many aspects of your own life and what matters to you. Highly recommended.

Everyone should listen to this

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I enjoyed the book a lot. It's an area I find fascinating but one that I'm also sceptical about. I've heard many compelling stories over the years but also many that would raise an eyebrow to put it nicely. Dr. Bruce Greyson's experiences and analysis are presented in an open minded yet logical manner. He doesn't strike me as a person who gets carried away with fanciful thinking or one that has a belief system he is trying to defend or justify. For those who have never had an NDE like myself, it's hard to merely just believe the accounts of others and that's why I find stories where the person involved reveals information that seems unlikely for them to know far more interesting. There's a lot we don't understand about death and the process of dying, and books like this, which approach the subject from logical and scientific perspective, are very refreshing and much needed.
I didn't enjoy the way the book was read but this is a minor gripe. I ended up finding the way he changed voices for people who weren't the author a little ridiculous and distracting.
Still, for the content overall, highly recommended.

Fascinating and thought provoking

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Engrossing, vivid and captivating. Not the first book I’ve read or heard on the subject, but likely the best. You can really feel Dr. Graysons passion and excitement come through. And a lot of the personal accounts are moving and poignant.

Absolutely riveting and fascinating accounts from real world people

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