Two books

Two book-related entries for your postprandial enjoyment: 

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First, some news about Chris Carter's excellent book Science and the Near-Death Experience, which I reviewed here. 

Chris did a radio interview about the book for a show called The X-Zone. Streaming audio here; iTunes download here. (X-Zone archives are here.)

Chris also was interviewed by Skeptiko, but that podcast isn't online yet. Keep watching this space.

On Amazon, Chris replied at length to some questions and comments in a reader review. You can read his detailed comments here. 

If you've read the book and liked it, why not leave a positive review at the Amazon.com or Amazon UK sales page? 

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Serious novels about NDEs are rare, but I read one recently which was well-researched, thoughtful, and intelligent. The book is A Benevolent Virus, by Frances O'Brien. It's sold by Amazon, and there's a website about it. 

Book description: 

What happens when we die? And what happens to those of us who are propelled into the strange reality of a near death experience? How do we re-integrate into the world when our understanding of reality has been turned upside-down? A Benevolent Virus follows the intertwining stories of two NDE survivors who struggle to make sense of their lives in the wake of an NDE. Ann Richards, a successful television reporter is faced with the breakdown of her marriage and her career as she struggles to get to the truth of her experience. Daniel Breton, an ex-Marine who was near-fatally injured in Fallujah, tries to find meaning in his NDE by recording the stories of others who have had similar experiences. Both Ann and Daniel are set on a spiritual adventure that forces them each to explore ideas of consciousness and the quantum universe that challenge their old worldview.

 

Comments

[Sandy]

Thanks for the link to Chris Carter's interview, Michael. I'm going to be spending a very long day stuck on a greyhound bus on Sunday, that will give me something to listen to. I suppose anything is better than travelling by plane these days.

[Michael Prescott]

According to the news stories I read, plane travel went pretty smoothly on Thanksgiving. Maybe the problems with the new security procedures have been overblown.

Personally I would much rather be body-scanned than spend a day on a Greyhound bus. Good luck!

[Sandy]

Thanks, Michael. I don't mind the bus all that much, other than I could drive the distance myself in about half the time. The only people you see on the early bus to Sudbury are seniors on their way to Elliot Lake. They'll tell you which stops have the best food and are a very social group. People on planes are never that laid-back. Last time the lady in the seat behind me helped me with a knitting project I was working on. It isn't like taking a bus into Toronto or some other major city. Northern communities are very friendly. It's a different world up north, cold but much more friendly.

[Felipe]

I personally would rather be scanned, slapped and head-butted by airport security before getting on a plane...rather than spending a day on a greyhound bus..:-)

(the train for 4 to 6 hours ain't much better......but being from the northeast, between DC/NJ/NYC and Boston, I've learned to live with it.)

[Sandy]

I didn't have too bad a trip. Everything looks pretty covered in snow.

[Forrest]

Two more books:

A couple of years ago, I asked in a brief comment to one of your postings if you had any thoughts on Ida Craddock, the early feminist and writer on sex who claimed to have had a long-term "marriage" to a spiritual husband. If memory serves, you said you would take a look at her, but I don't recall having seen any comments from you on her since then (not, of course, that you were ever under any obligation to write anything about her.)

But I see that two books, which might be of possible interest to you and/or your readers, have just come out on her.

One is entitled "Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic: The Essential Ida Craddock", by Vere Chappell, and the other is "Heaven's Bride: The Unprintable Life of Ida C. Craddock, American Mystic, Scholar, Sexologist, Martyr, and Madwoman", by Leigh Eric Schmidt. Both are available from Amazon.

I haven't yet seen either book, and don't know what they contain, but from the information available on the internet, she seems to have been a very interesting person, totally aside from the question of her "spirit marriage", and so I thought it might be worth mentioning these books for those who might be interested in her story. (I have no connection with the publishers or authors of the books, but have just always found her an intriguing figure.)

[Michael Prescott]

"If memory serves, you said you would take a look at her"

I think I forgot to look into it. She sounds like an intriguing character, though. There was a heavy feminist element to Spiritualism in the 19th century. Mediumship was a way for women to exercise power in a male-dominated society.