Science and the Afterlife Experience: Evidence for the Immortality of Consciousness

May be it is because when you are young you think you have all the answers to the mysteries of life. In my senior years I have become more curious and somewhat less of a skeptic than in my youth. Whether this is good or bad I cannot say; however, after reading this third volume (Science and the afterlife experience: Evidence for immortality of consciousness by Chris Carter, 369 pages) in this trilogy I still question the idea of our soul or consciousness lives beyond our death.The author is clearly a true believer and his disdain for traditional science is obvious in his books. His attempt to criticize scientists and the scientific method, which he calls materialists, does not convenience me he has more real evidence than the scientists when it comes to life after death. This is not to say I would not welcome such heavenly thoughts about a beautiful other world when we die; nevertheless, reality is constantly punching me in the face keeping me on the reason and logical path toward the scientific method of thinking. In spite of the author’s insistence that the material scientists are wrong, he, in my opinion, fails to present actual, real and true facts for his esoteric and mystical positions.This book is organized into four parts. Part one deals with reincarnation evidence. Part two covers apparitions’ theories. Part three focuses on messages from the dead. The last part explains the author’s conclusions about presented in his three volumes.I found this book to be an interesting and thought provoking read. If you are interested in views and opinions based upon the author’s own research in life after death you may want to check out this volume.Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Never Trust a Politician: A critical essay on politics and politicians).

One of the go-to talking points of materialists -- those who believe that consciousness is produced by the brain, like the liver makes bile, and will cease to exist with physical death -- has been that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." This argument is routinely used to dismiss any claim of the survival of consciousness without a hearing. Unless someone who has died re-appears and holds a press conference on the lawn of the White House, any evidence pointing to survival is summarily disregarded. But with the publication of Chris Carter's Science and the Afterlife Experience: Evidence for the Immortality of Consciousness, this bolthole of skeptics has been considerably closed.Carter has emerged as one of the most careful analysts of a body of data that has gradually accumulated for most of the twentieth century. His previous books Parapsychology and the Skeptics and Science and the Near-Death Experience are nightmares for those who believe that the Great Questions -- the origin, nature, and fate of consciousness -- have long been answered. Carter has an intellectual embouchure that is elegant and precise. He has something else as well: a confidence based on an encyclopedic knowledge of the field, filtered through trenchant logic. Carter commands the philosophico-analytical high ground, with undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Oxford.Carter's book is divided into four parts: Reincarnation, Apparitions, Messages from the Dead, and Conclusions. After providing provocative observational material, including the key characteristics of reincarnation and apparition-type experiences and messages from the dead, he provides alternative explanations for these ostensible phenomena. He meets head-on the criticisms of skeptics. His summary sections, "How the Case for Survival Stands Today" and "Is Survival a Fact," is not a winner-take-all conclusion. He proposes three categories for possible conclusions: (1) proof beyond all doubt, (2) proof beyond all reasonable doubt, and (3) preponderance of evidence. His final chapter, "What the Dead Say," offers the conclusion to those who, if survival is a fact, are most qualified to weigh in with an opinion. They've been there. We haven't. These sections are a tutorial on how the evidence in a controversial domain should be handled.Anyone who has followed the debates about the origin and fate of consciousness in recent decades realizes our appalling ignorance about these great issues. The nature of consciousness remains a mystery -- not just its origin, but also its fate. As cognitive scientist Donald D. Hoffman of the University of California-Irvine, says, "The scientific study of consciousness is in the embarrassing position of having no scientific theory of consciousness" ["Consciousness and the Mind-body Problem." Mind & Matter. 2008; 6(1): 87-121]. As to how consciousness might arise from a physical system such as the brain, if indeed it does and for which there is no convincing evidence, Harvard University experimental psychologist Steven Pinker confesses, "Beats the heck out of me. I have some prejudices, but no idea of how to begin to look for a defensible answer. And neither does anyone else" [How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton; 1997: 146].Recognizing our ignorance about the origin of consciousness, we might muster a bit of humility about its fate. This is the gap Chris Carter is attempting to fill with Science and the Afterlife Experience. Those who think they already know the answers don't need to waste their time with this book. For the rest of us, it is a gem. We should drop the pretense that the question of survival is not worthy of the attention of really smart people. It is and always has been the key question of humans throughout history. Thank you, Chris Carter, for shedding light on this, the Greatest Question.Larry Dossey, MDAuthor: THE POWER OF PREMONITIONS and REINVENTING MEDICINE

This is both a complementary review of the book “Science and the Afterlife Experience” and a critical one. My criticism is quite significant but given the quality and uniqueness of the book I gave it 4 stars.First on the complementary side Chis Carter does a very nice job of laying out his material. The material in the latter half of the book is very interesting and was largely new to me. It also worth noting that the huge - and academically-dense “Irredicible Mind” - is also in no small part an ode to the work of F. W. H. Myers, but it doesn’t go into the mediums’ connections with the deceased Myers (which is a big story here). Anyway the topics and coverage here are quite impressive.So what do I find wrong or deficient? First, no need to push the early reincarnation examples. They speak for themselves. Also the hyper-philosophical efforts towards the end were too much. Do we really need to consider all the possible (and extremely unlikely) super-ESP explanations?But the big deficiency here is something shared with the larger paranormal field. Why not directly challenge the scientific understanding of who we are? Much of paranormal field seems focused on finding some small angle - an asterisk if you will - to disprove materialism. In many cases a meaningful skeptical reply might be ‘And so what - at least with regards to our lives here and now?’The alternative is to critically look at the Nature (DNA) plus Nurture (environment) model. A number of unusual behaviors (beginning with prodigal phenomena) are highly unlikely from a materialist perspective. Additionally, the general difficulties with the Nature plus Nurture model have always been evident with monozygotic twins. Beyond their appearances they are far too different and environmental traction is too limited. Thus Steven Pinker acknowledged that “something is happening here and we don’t know what it is”.But the big punchline is that we are a small species with vary little genetic variability and that variability has been scoured now for about a decade to find “almost nothing” (and the initial big failure was in 2008 well before this book had been written). The basis for the scientific fields which are supposed to explain who-we-are and what-happens-to-us - behavioral genetics and personal genomics, respectively - are simply getting crushed. So I would suggest that the “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” point has been officially turned around. It is science that now needs to back up their extraordinary claims.Finally, instead of looking at relatively rare significant NDE’s you might as well look at our default initial understanding of life (see “Born Believers”). If you take the life-after-life or reincarnation explanation seriously then you have to look for real life consequences or effects. That leads you to the above DNA impasse et al. I have a book that introduces some of these points. The first third of that overdue book is available as a download at the corresponding Kirkus Reviews’s review. Finally, I am officially "Paul E." but otherwise "Ted".

This is the third book in a trilogy exploring the evidence for the Immortality of Consciousness and it provides an overwhelming and compelling argument for the survival of the mind after death. It gives the reader conclusive evidence, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the survival of the mind after death is a proven fact that should be accepted by science and explored further.What lifts this above all other books is the rigour in which evidence for both believers and sceptics is presented. The cases are examined, reviewed and concluded in lay mans terms leaving no room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation. The evidence is there and is so compelling that the reader is left with very little doubt that the mind does indeed survive death and continues in the afterlife.The world needs people like Chris Carter to push the boundaries of convention and question what we currently accept as scientific fact. What will be uncovered in the future may bewilder and astonish many but this should not deter us from investigating further and seeking answers even though the consequences may be detrimental to many learned bodies. And I think that is where the crux of difficulties with this type of research lies - changing current convention and beliefs.But even so, studies and evidence as provided in this book must continue if we are to enhance and enlighten our current understanding of what consciousness is and what awaits us in the next chapter of its existence. This has whetted my appetite to research and discover more and I can only congratulate Chris Carter for producing this wonderful read and thoroughly recommend this and his other two books in the trilogy to anyone who seeks an answer to these most intriguing and ancient questions: "why are we here and what is next?"

A superb book, part of a trilogy making an extremely compelling case for psychic phenomena, the validity of the near death experience and genuine personal survival of consciousness after death. Highly evidential, focused on a science based approach with due diligence to religious tradition where deemed necessary. Refreshingly dogma free and written in an engaging style. The author, Chris Carter, has clearly done his research and I look forward to further books from him.

Well-reasoned arguments, some excellent case studies, and an altogether cracking read. Most of the case studies are old/dated but I consider that to be a big plus, as the detailed explanations of the meticulous and rigorous steps taken to prevent fraud and cheating would be difficult to replicate in today's world as there's just too many ways to falsify stuff.

I have been reading a lot of books about the afterlife recently, because I have noticed that there is much evidence accumulating which suggests there is a life after physical death. These books, many of them written by highly respected scientists, are not to be dismissed lightly, and I highly recommend them to anyone who is afraid of death, or has lost a loved one.

I can only endorse that what has already been written within the numerous excellent reviews of this worthy book, and am tempted to purchase the other earlier two parts which I understand complete this work by esteemed author.