Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
 | |
| Author | Mary Roach |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company |
Publication date | 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 311 pp |
| ISBN | 0-393-32912-7 |
| OCLC | 76884889 |
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (2005), published by W. W. Norton & Company, a non-fiction work by Mary Roach, is a humorous scientific exploration as to whether there is a soul that survives death. In Britain, the title of the book is Six Feet Over: Adventures in the Afterlife.
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife was the recipient of the Elle Reader's Prize in October 2005. Spook was also listed as a New York Times Notable Books pick in 2005, as well as a New York Times Bestseller, and it was also an October Booksense pick.[1]
Book synopsis
Author Mary Roach investigates the possibility of an afterlife and also attempts to find and define the soul, all while using a scientific approach. Roach takes a close look at the research, both current and historical, on what may or may not happen after we die.
The book covers these topics:
- Investigations of reincarnation
- Attempts to find the soul (by dissection, weighing, and other methods)
- Spiritualism, fraudulent mediums, and ectoplasm
- Modern mediumship, and "medium schools"
- Attempts to use electronic devices to communicate with the dead, including electronic voice phenomena (EVP)
- Other forces that make people feel haunted electromagnetic fields, infrasound, etc.
- Court cases involving ghosts
- near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences