Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Encyclopedia
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (2005), published by W. W. Norton & Company, a non-fiction work by Mary Roach
who also wrote Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
, 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.
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The book covers these topics:
Mary Roach
Mary Roach is a columnist and popular science writer. Raised in Etna, New Hampshire, she holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Wesleyan University and currently resides in Oakland, California...
who also wrote Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers is a 2003 non-fiction work by Mary Roach. Published by W. W. Norton & Company, it details the unique scientific contributions of the deceased...
, 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.
Book synopsis
Author Mary Roach investigates the possibility of an afterlife, and also various attempts to define and find the soulSoul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
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The book covers these topics:
- Investigations of reincarnationReincarnationReincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
- Attempts to find the soul (by dissectionDissectionDissection is usually the process of disassembling and observing something to determine its internal structure and as an aid to discerning the functions and relationships of its components....
, weighing, and other methods) - SpiritualismSpiritualismSpiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
, fraudulent mediums, and ectoplasmEctoplasmEctoplasm may refer to:* Ectoplasm , the outer part of the cytoplasm* Ectoplasm , supposed physical substance that manifests as a result of spiritual energy or psychic phenomenon... - 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 fieldsElectromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
, infrasoundInfrasoundInfrasound is sound that is lower in frequency than 20 Hz or cycles per second, the "normal" limit of human hearing. Hearing becomes gradually less sensitive as frequency decreases, so for humans to perceive infrasound, the sound pressure must be sufficiently high...
, etc - Court cases involving ghosts
- near-death experiences and out-of-body experiencesOut-of-body experienceAn out-of-body experience is an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one's body and, in some cases, perceiving one's physical body from a place outside one's body ....