Science and the Near-Death Experience; How Consciousness Survives Death [Paperback]

After reading Carter's masterful Science and Psychic Phenomena: The Fall of the House of Skeptics, I eagerly awaited the second book in his three-book series. Science and the Near-Death Experience builds a powerful and compelling case that the mind is not dependent on the brain and can exist independently of the brain.

To build this case, Carter postpones discussion of near-death experiences (NDEs) and survival of death until after he has spent the first 100 pages discussing the fundamental question underlying these issues: Does consciousness exist independently of the brain? After an eye-opening, extremely lucid tour of neuroscience, quantum physics, memory storage, and theories of life (what animates and organizes living organisms), he concludes that empirical evidence and the known laws of science fully permit the filter theory. This says that the brain doesn't produce consciousness, but rather acts as a filter that allows through, as Aldous Huxley put it, only "a measly trickle" of consciousness.

He then moves on to Part II: The Near-Death Experience. In my view, the strongest part of the book consists of several chapters exploring and refuting the proposed psychological, physiological, and pharmacological explanations of NDEs. These chapters were a real tour de force. He examined each of a dozen proposed explanations in detail, finding in each case that the phenomenon that supposedly explains NDEs (e.g., dissociated states, oxygen starvation, ketamine) is simply not a good match for the actual characteristics of NDEs. By the time he is done, all of the proposed alternative explanations look so weak and flimsy that they appear to really rest on the underlying confidence that a materialist explanation simply must be true.

Then come chapters on NDEs that contain veridical perceptions from an out-of-body perspective and NDEs in which those born blind experience sight. These appear to be direct refutations of the mind's dependence on the brain (drawing on Karl Popper's idea that science advances by refutations). In the end, the common equation of science with materialism comes out looking like an ideology, like its own kind of dogmatic faith.

This deserves to become a landmark book in the survival debate. Carter has a real gift for presenting complex, technical issues in simple, layman's terms. And he has an even more impressive gift of total fearlessness in the face of prevailing dogma. He never flinches, yet he meets this dogma, which depends so heavily on ridicule, without ridicule of his own. His arguments have the feel of a Zen swordsman, dispassionate but deadly accurate.

I am simply glad that Carter is out there writing. His book shows that those who believe in survival do not have to apologize, be timid, or take refuge in the mystery of "faith." On strictly scientific grounds, they are in the stronger position. With more books like this one, our society may start slowly waking up to this fact, with all its immense implications.

This is a scholarly, yet readable book. Consciousness is still a great mystery to the scientific community, which presumes it's "in the brain" yet cannot find where. The author begins the book with a section on whether consciousness depends on the brain- which so far no one has been able to prove- or is somehow independent of this organ, and makes his case largely from near-death experience reports and research, and well as from deathbed visions. If you are convinced that consciousness is just another bodily function, this book may give you something to think about. If you've ever wondered why we have a sense of ourselves- who and where we are, why we're here- Carter's work will fascinate you.

Robert S. Bobrow, MD
Associate Professor of Clinical Family Medicine
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y.

There are many books out there that will tell you heartwarming anecdotes about the near death experience, and such books have their place. But to someone skeptical and critically minded, it won't be enough. One might wonder:

- How can consciousness possibly survive the death of the brain? By just having a beer we can experience how material our mind can be. Not to mention brain damage and diseases like Alzheimer's.
- What exactly does survive and how? Isn't all experience mediated by the brain? Do we not need a brain?
- What about our memories? Are they not stored in the brain?

On the surface the very idea of survival sounds ludicrous given the discoveries of modern neuroscience, right?

If you have wondered about how the survivalist position adresses questions such as these, this is the right book for you. It offers a rigorous analysis of all this (and much more) from a survivalist position, and offers plenty of evidence for survival and against the present day scientific orthodoxy that is materialism. The evidence presented is scientific and philosophical and represents the very best research in favor of survival. The book also criticizes all the major materialist theories, revealing their weaknesses by presenting data that is in conflict with them.

Despite the "hard core" treatment of the subject, the book uses clear and succinct language that is very readable and simple to understand even for a non-native english speaker like me.

In my opinion, this is by far the best book I have read on the subject. If I could give it ten stars, I would.