Reading list · 10 books

The best books on near-death experiences

Near-death experiences are among the best-documented and least-explained events in medicine. People who come close to death, or are resuscitated after their heart stops, often report an ordered experience: leaving the body, a tunnel or a light, meeting others, a review of their life.

This list starts with the founding book and the studies that tested it, then widens to the surveys, the lasting aftereffects and the traditions that describe the same territory. Every title is non-fiction and is cited in Brendan D. Murphy’s work.

Where to start
  1. 1
    Cover of Life After Life

    Life After Life

    Raymond Moody, 1975

    The book that named the experience and listed its common features. It is short, readable, and the place nearly every later study starts from.

    Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (Science Ain’t Always Scientific)

    Find it on Amazon →See it on the shelf
  2. 2
    Cover of Recollections of Death

    Recollections of Death

    Michael B. Sabom, 1982

    A cardiologist compares what resuscitated patients said they perceived with their medical records, which is the most direct test of whether the accounts match what happened.

    Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (The Mystical Experience; The Occult Aether; Psychokinesis And The Belief Effect)

    Find it on Amazon →See it on the shelf
  3. 3
    Cover of Heading Toward Omega

    Heading Toward Omega

    Kenneth Ring, 1985

    Kenneth Ring maps the stages of the experience and what it does to people afterwards. The aftereffects are some of the most consistent findings in the field.

    Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (The Mystical Experience)

    Find it on Amazon →See it on the shelf
  4. 4
    Cover of The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences

    The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences

    P.M.H Atwater, 2007

    The widest survey in the set: children’s experiences, distressing ones, and the cases that do not fit the tidy pattern. Best used as a reference once you have your bearings.

    Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (The Question of Consciousness; The Mystical Experience; Thought-Forms)

    Find it on Amazon →See it on the shelf
  5. 5
    Cover of Transformed by the Light

    Transformed by the Light

    Cherie Sutherland, 1995

    A sociologist interviews people who have been through a near-death experience about its lasting effects on belief, relationships and how they live.

    Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (The Mystical Experience)

    Find it on Amazon →See it on the shelf
  6. 6
    Cover of The Human Encounter With Death

    The Human Encounter With Death

    Stanislav Grof and Joan Halifax, 1977

    What people report when they are dying, and what patients and volunteers report in guided psychedelic sessions. It raises the question the research books mostly avoid: how far can an altered state tell us about death?

    Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (The Mystical Experience)

    Find it on Amazon →See it on the shelf
Brendan’s take

Most near-death experiences, Brendan argues, are accounts of the first layer of dying, not of the destination. His Consciousness Transition Model places them in a transitional interface and maps what follows. It is set out in Reverse Engineering the Afterlife.

Reverse Engineering the Afterlife →The Consciousness Transition Model →
Every book on the shelf

Brendan cites every book here. That does not mean he agrees with all of it.

All 10 books

Take one down to see why it is here and where to find it.

Questions

What is the best book on near-death experiences?

Start with Life After Life by Raymond Moody, which named the experience and its common features. Then read Recollections of Death by Michael Sabom to see how the accounts hold up against medical records.

Are near-death experiences real?

People do report them, and the reports follow a consistent pattern across many studies. What they mean is disputed. Some researchers argue a dying brain produces them; others argue they show consciousness continuing when the brain fails. The books here mostly argue the second view, so read them alongside the sceptical literature.

Do near-death experiences change people?

Many researchers report lasting changes in values, in fear of death and in how people relate to others. Kenneth Ring’s Heading Toward Omega and Cherie Sutherland’s Transformed by the Light both study these aftereffects.

Where do near-death experiences fit in Brendan’s model?

In the Consciousness Transition Model, most near-death experiences happen in an interface layer on the way out of the body, not in a final state. The model separates what happens from how it appears and from what traditions say about it.

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