Reverse Engineering
the Afterlife
Every human faces one certainty. No one has mapped it this rigorously. Until now.
Reverse Engineering the Afterlife is a 250,000-word cross-tradition investigation into what happens to consciousness after physical death, written by consciousness researcher Brendan D. Murphy. It introduces the Consciousness Transition Model: the first structured, evidence-based framework mapping post-mortem states across NDE research, esoteric traditions, depth psychology, and systems thinking.
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“I stand behind the work of Brendan D. Murphy.”
“This young man is genius quality. No doubt about it. Skimming was impossible.”
“The extracts I've read show the depth and breadth of your contemplation and exploration, and how you synthesize all these pieces together… It's wonderful.”
“I always find that these interviews with you push the absolute limits of my intelligence trying to keep up. I enjoy the conversation and the challenge.”
A thousand competing beliefs. No unifying structure.
Brendan D. Murphy introduces Reverse Engineering the Afterlife.
What actually happens when the body dies?
Religious frameworks ask for faith. Materialist frameworks deny the data. New Age literature blurs everything together. None of them give you the mechanism.
I was twenty when a single book cracked the surface of reality open, and I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t seen what was underneath. At twenty-four I began writing with what I can only call a monastic intensity; six years later, Book One was published. The research didn’t stop—it intensified.
Fourteen years on, Reverse Engineering the Afterlife closes that gap: near-death experiences, deathbed visions, terminal lucidity, mediumship research, reincarnation cases, and out-of-body phenomena, synthesised across traditions and held to a single evidential standard. Every claim is footnoted, every source traceable. It introduces the Consciousness Transition Model — the first structured, evidence-based framework mapping post-mortem states without relying on religious doctrine or materialist dismissal.
Not as a comfort. Not as a conversion. As an architecture.
“Brendan has spent the last decade extensively researching, studying, and interviewing experts… This book takes all of this intense research, evidence, observations, and perspectives, and integrates them all into a high-level standpoint… an important, groundbreaking understanding that everyone will want to read.”
“[Reverse Engineering the Afterlife] is absolutely extraordinary. To my knowledge, there has never been a single work that systematically consolidates the full breadth of credible evidence synthesised across traditions.”
What the book answers
Is consciousness merely correlated with the brain?
…or does the totality of evidence point to a filter/interface model where the brain constrains rather than produces awareness?
Do near-death experiences simply suggest survival?
…or do their recurring structural features point to a staged transition process that current models fail to recognise?
Are deathbed visions, terminal lucidity, and shared death experiences anomalies?
…or do they form a coherent pre-transition pattern that maps the boundary between biological shutdown and continued awareness?
Does reincarnation research demonstrate isolated cases?
…or does a deeper analysis reveal lawful patterns of memory transfer, identity continuity, and informational persistence?
Is the hard problem of consciousness an unsolved puzzle?
…or evidence that the materialist framework is structurally incapable of explaining mind?
Why do post-mortem narratives converge across cultures?
…and do these consistencies point to a real underlying architecture of consciousness rather than belief-driven hallucination?
What readers say
“I just wanted to say a big thank you for your work, your writing, sharing your passions and opinions, your dedication and commitment to a better and healthier future for humanity. I first came across an excerpt of your writing about 3 years ago before your book was published…that fascinating excerpt changed my life…I was utterly awash with a sense of happiness and peace and joy and excitement. It was just one of the most amazing moments of my life—up there with giving birth to my children… You were definitely the beginning spark of a world I am so glad to be finally immersing myself into.”
“Stunningly good. One of the best synthesis books on this sort of material I have ever read. Actually, no—it WAS the best.”
“I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed your book. A hugely well researched piece of work.”
“A masterpiece. Murphy's fascinating, inspiring, and seminal work also opens the door to a world of new creative possibilities…mind-blowing.”
Who this book is for, and why it took fourteen years
Brendan D. Murphy is a consciousness researcher, systems thinker, and author working at the intersection of consciousness science, comparative metaphysics, and modern explanatory frameworks.
His research spans more than 23 years and draws from thousands of primary sources across traditions, disciplines, and paradigms. He has been described by readers as one of the most thorough and uncompromising researchers working in this space today.
Reverse Engineering the Afterlife is the work his earlier books were building toward: a direct, systematic confrontation with the question of post-mortem survival, using the full range of available evidence.
It’s also independently published, deliberately. Independent publication means the argument can go wherever the evidence leads. It means the footnotes can be complete. It means the book can be 250,000 words if 250,000 words is what the subject requires.
"I'm not interested in belief. I'm interested in what the evidence actually supports—and in following that wherever it leads."
“The world doesn’t need yet another book about the afterlife. It just needs the right one.”
A hardcover not sold anywhere else.
A limited edition jacketed case-laminate hardcover with a creme interior, identical whether it’s printed in the US, UK, EU, or Australia. The dust jacket carries the full cover design; underneath, the case itself is dark with gold lettering and the title on the spine.
It’s yours with any print bundle of Two Copies, Five Copies, or Ten Copies. It isn’t sold on Amazon or in stores. This page is the only place to get it.
The bonus is the reason to order now.
Inside the Consciousness Transition Model
A recorded 60-90 minute presentation in which Brendan walks you through the Consciousness Transition Model from top to bottom. Get the depth that you can’t receive when you hear it described on a podcast. Delivers October 12.
The Book Club
Six monthly live sessions with Brendan after the book is in your hands. An open discussion of the material, the research behind it, and wherever the conversation goes. Unscripted, group format via video. Sessions begin the month following book delivery.
Choose your bundle.
This is the pre-production price. It rises when the book goes to print.
Pay in instalments at no extra cost—Afterpay, Zip, Klarna, and Affirm available at checkout depending on your location.
Ebook + audiobook
Inside the CTM
Your jacketed hardcover + 1 paperback to give + ebook + audiobook
Inside the CTM
Your jacketed hardcover + 4 paperbacks + ebook + audiobook
Inside the CTM + The Book Club
Your jacketed hardcover + 9 paperbacks + ebook + audiobook
Inside the CTM + The Book Club
Groups, practitioners, hosts and organisations—email team@brendandmurphy.com for larger quantities.
For those who want to do
more than pre-order.
Some work deserves more than a transaction.
Reverse Engineering the Afterlife is the first rigorous, cross-tradition map of what happens to consciousness at death—built from 23 years of independent research. It will reach the people it needs to reach. But serious patronage accelerates that.
If you have the means and the interest—whether as an individual, a researcher, a foundation, or an institution—and you want to discuss a level of involvement beyond what the bundles above offer, Brendan would welcome that conversation.
Bulk copies for distribution, named association with the work, or something else entirely—reach out directly.
Questions & Answers
Reverse Engineering the Afterlife
The first in-depth conversation about the book—covering the Consciousness Transition Model, what the cross-tradition evidence reveals about post-mortem states, and what makes this work structurally different from anything else in the field.
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This is the pre-production price. It rises when the book goes to print.