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Is There An Afterlife?: A Comprehensive Overview of the Evidence
This book presents the most complete survey to date of the evidence, both historical and contemporary, for survival of physical death.
496 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2005
About the author
David Fontana
151 books27 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
David G.J. Fontana FBPsS was a British psychologist, parapsychologist and author. He was Professor of Psychology at Cardiff University. He was also visiting professor at Liverpool John Moores University and the University of Algarve.
David G.J. Fontana FBPsS was a British psychologist, parapsychologist and author. He was Professor of Psychology at Cardiff University. He was also visiting professor at Liverpool John Moores University and the University of Algarve.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 15, 2011
“There is no doubt in my mind,” says Fontana, “that the question of whether or not we live after death is by far the most important that faces us.” Surely we are more than merely biological accidents with nothing more to motivate us beyond the struggle to remain alive. Luckily, the back cover promises, “After reading [this book] and assessing the evidence, there can no longer be any doubt that there is life after death.”
As far as I’m aware, this is the most exhaustive study ever on the afterlife. 496 large-size, small-print pages. The sheer volume of evidence would appear overwhelming, except that the majority of the book is about mediumship. I was a bit disappointed in this focus, but Fontana lists “Professor of Transpersonal Psychology,” “Vice President of the Society for Psychical Research,” and “Fellow of the British Psychological Society” among his credentials, so his primary focus should come as no surprise.
There are other topics, including apparitions, hauntings, near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and studies of reincarnation, but they receive comparatively little attention. One chapter summarizes the findings of what the afterlife must be like; whether we will sleep, enjoy sex, become wiser, retain our individuality, interests, memories … if you’re curious, Fontana concludes that in the afterlife you’re going to be pretty much the same person as you were in this life.
Overall, I found the book unconvincing, but I’ll try to include some reviews shortly of other books on the topic that I found more fascinating.
As far as I’m aware, this is the most exhaustive study ever on the afterlife. 496 large-size, small-print pages. The sheer volume of evidence would appear overwhelming, except that the majority of the book is about mediumship. I was a bit disappointed in this focus, but Fontana lists “Professor of Transpersonal Psychology,” “Vice President of the Society for Psychical Research,” and “Fellow of the British Psychological Society” among his credentials, so his primary focus should come as no surprise.
There are other topics, including apparitions, hauntings, near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and studies of reincarnation, but they receive comparatively little attention. One chapter summarizes the findings of what the afterlife must be like; whether we will sleep, enjoy sex, become wiser, retain our individuality, interests, memories … if you’re curious, Fontana concludes that in the afterlife you’re going to be pretty much the same person as you were in this life.
Overall, I found the book unconvincing, but I’ll try to include some reviews shortly of other books on the topic that I found more fascinating.
April 15, 2016
yeah...well I bet you all thought you had me figured out didn't ya?
Whooohahahahahahahahah!!!!! [mad scientist laugh]
Time for an enema!!!
Whooohahahahahahahahah!!!!! [mad scientist laugh]
Time for an enema!!!
June 20, 2018
It was a great book
July 30, 2022
This is a very good book. Even though a lot of things I first found out from Victor Zammit. I don't know as much about the technical subjects covered in the book (physics) but I do know that just as with other books the materialist can't disprove the evidence for the afterlife. The book also had so much material I still can't recall all of it. One of the most interesting topics was mental mediumship since I've experienced this (mental mediumship) and have confirmed facts about dead relatives even though the person didn't know I was mentally getting the information. In closing if I were to read this book I'd look at the most interesting books in the bibliography even though some of them I've already read such as Adventures Beyond the body.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 18, 2023
Quite dated but some chapters are worth reading, particularly on NDE, OBE, and Reincarnation - though there are better books out there on these subjects - JOURNEY OF SOULS and DESTINY OF SOULS by Michael Newton being amongst them. Also Delores Cannon.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews