Product Description

The question whether or not we survive physical death has occupied the minds of men and women since the dawn of recorded history. The spiritual traditions of both West and East have taught that death is not the end, but modern science generally dismisses such teachings. The fruit of a lifetime's research and experience by a world expert in the field, Is There An Afterlife? presents the most complete survey to date of the evidence, both historical and contemporary, for survival of physical death. It includes mediumship and channelling, spontaneous cases, hauntings, apparitions, near death experiences, out of the body experiences, Electronic Voice Phenomenon, Instrumental Transcommunication and recent laboratory work. It accepts that evidence is often disputed but makes the claim that much of the phenomena is inexplicable without some form of survival. It looks at the question of what survives-personality, memory, emotions and body image-in particular exploring the question of consciousness as primary to and not dependent on matter in the light of recent brain research and quantum physics. It discusses the possible nature of the afterlife, the common threads in Western and Eastern traditions, the common features of "many levels," group souls and reincarnation. As well a providing the broadest overview of the question, giving due weight to the claims both of science and religion, Is There An Afterlife? brings it into personal perspective. It asks how we should live in this life as if death is not the end, and suggests how we should change our behaviour accordingly.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49158 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Review
'Scholarship, personal experience and high quality always show. This highly accessible, detailed and authoritative book will become a classic. After reading it and assessing the evidence, there can no longer be any doubt that there is life after death. David Fontana's book should be mandatory reading for all those involved in the care of the dying - and of course for the rest of us who know we will have to face it one day! Dr Peter Fenwick, Britain's leading clinical authority on Near-Death-Experience

About the Author
David Fontana is a psychologist with many years' interest in spirituality and psychical research. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS), Founder Chair of the BPS Transpersonal Psychology Section, Past President and current Vice President of the Society for Psychical Research, and Chair of the SPR Survival Research Committee. He is Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Cardiff University, and Professor of Transpersonal Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University. His many books on spiritual themes, which have been translated into 25 languages, include The Secret Language of Symbols, The Secret Language of Dreams, Learn to Meditate, Learn Zen Meditation (all Duncan Baird/Chronicle), The Meditators Handbook, Teaching Meditation to Children (Thorsons), and Psychology, Religion and Spirituality (Blackwells). He lives near Cardiff, Wales.

Customer Reviews

One of the best books written on the subject.
Excellent book, the author Professor David Fontana, a former President of the Society for Psychical Research, has carefully reviewed cases highly suggestive of survival beyond physical death. David Fontana is one of the few researchers around today truly qualified to write this book reviewing the evidence for an afterlife as he has also directly witnessed and investigated under controlled conditions some of the best cases of more recent times

Many other books apparently discussing the evidence for an afterlife are not presented in a fair, balanced manner with either an uncritical author selecting just the seeming wonders or the hardened sceptic author selecting cases of fraud or self-deception as somehow representative of all cases ... often only the preferred half of the story is being told.

Fontana presents the cases past and more recent in a balanced and fair manner, giving both the intriguing evidence that remains hard to explain away, nor avoiding the suspicions, problems or claims of fraud/self deception often made by sceptics, non present commentators or revisionists. The information is discussed in such a manner that the reader is left to make up his or her own mind, however this is not to suggest Fontana's opinion is neutral, nor should it be, after 30 years of psychical research and personal observation, his experience indicates that the best explanation is that some paranormal phenomena is real

Throughout the book Fontana convincingly casts doubt that 'Super-ESP' is a valid alternate explanation of such afterlife phenomena. Super-ESP is a popular theory amongst some parapsychologists that all psychic phenomena suggestive of survival is really just a human interpretation of unconscious ESP (extra sensory perception), a mind to mind transfer of information involving only earthly minds in our world. Yet Fontana shows that Super-ESP theory seldom fits the actual reports in psychical research that well, pointing out that parapsychology (looking for human ESP ability) has rarely if ever found evidence of strong enough ESP or PK (psychokinesis) under human conscious or unconscious control to satisfactorily explain much stronger if rarer psychic phenomena reported in this book and witnessed by Fontana and other psychical researchers under controlled conditions. Nor can these be easily dismissed as trickery, as often in past magicians were present who found none and other critics or magicians have often declined to try and replicate the claimed phenomena under the exactly the same conditions as serious researchers. .

This is surely one of the best books written on afterlife paranormal phenomena and very much needed as today opinions have often been slanted by cynical sceptics or the overly keen believers in almost any claim being made.

On the final pages the book closes with David Fontana's opinion based on many years of research... .... 'Psychic abilities are a matter of fact, not of belief. What they are and what they mean for our view of reality is another matter, but one cannot dismiss them as fiction and yet retain credibility as an unbiased observer'

Is There An Afterlife - it certainly looks that way!
This is a book of rare quality. It is intellectually stimulating and exhaustively researched but at the same time an unputdownable read. The subject is dealt with systematically with each chapter covering a different type of experience. The weight of evidence presented in each of them leads the reader to the all but inevitable conclusion that there is life after death and that personality survives. It is by any definition a truly excellent book. It is certainly an important one. If you only read one book this year, make it this one.

Essential reading for all `mortals'!
David Fontana has managed to produce a comprehensive, highly readable and balanced account of some of the best evidence for an afterlife. The book is well organised, easy to read and manages to tackle an enormous wealth of subject matter with apparent ease.

Fontana's professionalism, experience, knowledge and wisdom shine through.

The author's approach tends towards the conservative, always exploring alternative explanations where applicable. However, he doesn't shy away from drawing a firm conclusion in the book's final chapter.

This excellent overview will probably remain the benchmark work for many years to come.