Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife Hardcover – March 7, 2017

The author gives too much credibility to the usual excuses preventing investigation of physical mediums: If you cannot have a seance in lighted conditions, cannot observe a seance using thermal imaging, and cannot touch ectoplasm, you can pretty much guarantee you are experiencing a clever fraud. Highly scientific people have been fooled by fraudulent mediums in the past. It's amazing what a clever bit of misdirection or escape artistry (especially, taking place in dark or dim lighting) can convince the mind of.Many of the mediums the author reviews have been exposed as frauds , frequently by persons in the parapsychology community. For example:Kai Muegge (confessed to fraud, although this may have been after the book's publication)Willi SchneiderEusapia PalladinoIt's hard to trust any evidence once the medium has been caught faking. It's hard to trust other cases in the book with the evidence of fraud in these cases. I expected more caution.

This is the best book I've read about the subject of life after physical death, and I have read scores of them. It is both scholarly and personal. I knew this would be a well-written and well-researched book but I never imagined the depth it would contain. This book covers it all from reincarnation to near-death experiences to physical mediumship in a very engaging and humanistic way. Uncovering solid evidence for survival is one thing but how we handle this information intellectually and emotionally is another important aspect that the author addresses throughout the book.

Having lost my wife almost a year ago to cancer after 46 years of shear joy was the most devastating experience I've ever encountered. We had both been in religious life as nun and monk (not at the same time) and had bonded so very perfectly as to be experienced as a tremendous gift from a loving God. The separation brought about by her death was tortuous and I've gone on looking for respite from the emptiness experienced at the ripe age of 79. I've been getting gradually better and then I came across this book at the local library.I found it extremely uplifting firming up my experience and being able to smile once again seeing how others have handled their losses. The deep feeling of my loved one's presence was felt fairly quickly and has carried me on to deeper acceptance and finally to actual joy that Bonnie's suffering was over. Even though I had felt that (like the end to Les Miserables) it seemed too soon to say goodby, it was the right thing.I only had one problem with the book and that was the inclusion of stories of mediums toward the end of the book. I think this section would have been better as a separate entity..

I loved this book and couldn't put it down (I finished it in days and ended up buying it in Kindle format as well as hardcover so I could read it in bed at night :)! I enjoyed the format, with Leslie Kean's writing and guest writers interspersed, and I really appreciated the personal experiences she shared, especially regarding physical mediumship. I honestly thought that physical mediumship was all faked in the late 1800s. I had no idea this was real, physically proven phenomena. I've read several books on survival after death, past lives, etc., but her book truly offered fresh insights and scientifically-based evidence for the survival of consciousness after physical death. I applaud Ms. Kean for adding serious and thoughtful insight and scientific research to this field of study.

The author seems to treat the material in an very even-handed manner. In the process, she raises some extremely provocative questions that I feel should not be disregarded.The book can be tedious at times, and the portions dealing with mediums and alleged after-death communications definitely stretch credibility. The latter part of the book where the author speaks about what she claims she experienced during seances (ectoplasm?) is the hardest segment for me to get my head around, and I could see where many readers would simply put the book down at that point. I was not there, so I cannot say what actually happened, but the descriptions of what took place sound at best hard to swallow, and I am reminded of the biblical admonition not to "call up the dead."Still, while allowing for other possibilities, the author makes a reasonably compelling case that our consciousness is unlikely to be strictly a product of the brain, and may well survive bodily death in some form or fashion. Some theorize that consciousness may be inherent in the universe itself, and that the essence of "you" (your spirit, soul, or however you choose to define it) may have always existed and always will. Science cannot precisely define what, exactly, consciousness is, or what could create and sustain it, and therefore cannot assert with any certainty that it is purely a biological function, or exclusively a product of the brain.While we cannot assume that the alleged evidence for life after death "must" be paranormal, or conclusive, neither can we assume that their must be a materialistic answer and we just have not found it yet. "Know-nothing skepticism" can be as bad as "believe-anything gullibility." We ought to be wary when the supposed "rational explanations" being offered are at the very least equally absurd, but people accept them as being true because they invoke an explainable cause. In other words, a ridiculous explanation by any other name is still ridiculous, even when it is couched in scientific jargon, or does not appeal to the supernatural.Yes, I concede that many people want to believe in life after death (I know I do), but wanting to believe it does not automatically mean it is not true, or render all the evidence irrelevant. Surely, there are also those folks who just as passionately do NOT want to believe (some of whom tend to pop up repeatedly whenever books like this are reviewed). It seems they simply cannot let the ignorant, fearful, unwashed masses think there may be any hope beyond this life and they are determined to shut down any notions that may suggest otherwise.How strong the evidence is and how to interpret it remain open questions. Yet, it appears clear there IS evidence. At a minimum, it seems reasonable to conclude that naturalistic science alone is inadequate to explain everything that happens in our human experience. In my estimation, "I don't know" may be the most sensible position here.

Following-up on her 2011 book ‘UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials go on the Record’, the independent NYC-based investigative journalist Leslie Kean here examines the evidence for our survival of physical death. As with her previous work, the primary target audience is less those already committed to any religious doctrine/faith or the new-ager steeped in the lore of this subject, but rather those who inhabit the everyday, ‘level-headed’ scientific mainstream and may be unacquainted with the evidence of the survival-after-death of human consciousness – which, as we discover in this book, is substantial.In the Introduction, the author writes: “An investigation of such evidence has rarely been systematically consolidated and subjected to in-depth, rigorous scrutiny by a journalist…my intention is to present some of the most interesting evidence from diverse sources and show how it interconnects, making it accessible for the intelligent and curious reader encountering the material for the first time. Strict journalistic protocols can be applied to any topic for which there is data, no matter how unusual or even indeterminate”.The book is very well planned and organized, and divides into four sections which each examine this subject from a different side of the prism:1. Is there ‘Life’ before Birth? – examining some compelling cases of apparent reincarnation, where small children persistently report complex and precise details of a previous life later verified; two American cases form the bedrock of this section, chosen because the cultural and religious landscape in the US does not offer a natural framework for the parents of the children concerned to accept their children’s reports of their previous lives2. To Death and Back Again – examining the best-documented stories of NDEs/OBEs3. Communications from Nonlocal Minds – examining evidence for nonlocal consciousness and ‘mental mediumship’; this section contains some of the author’s most personal experiences of communications from departed family members and loved ones4. The Impossible Made Real – examining instances of physical mediumship where the author takes part in experiments where full-form materialisations manifest in séance sessions; especially important here is the work of the British medium Stewart Alexander to whom the author made several research visitsAs with Ms Kean’s ‘UFOs…’ book, several chapters are penned by other contributors like Jim Tucker MD, Pim van Lommel MD, Peter Fenwick MD, Julie Beischel PhD and others which endows the work with a more collegiate scientific dynamic and elevates the book beyond the purely personal – though for my money, the author’s reported personal experiences with different mediums are the most compelling and moving sections (those who know the work of the author’s close friend the late Budd Hopkins, and especially those who knew him personally, may be amused and delighted by the communications reported on pp156-167).‘Surviving Death’ is a very high-quality piece of work with a logical structure founded on intelligent, evidence-based arguments. The writing from not only Ms Kean but from all subsidiary contributors is literate and straightforward with exemplary proofreading completely free of typos; there are two 8-page sections of (mainly colour) photographs of the people written about in the text and an accurate and comprehensive index. The white-themed hardcover and dust-jacket are also very striking and appropriate to the subject.In summary, Ms Kean’s new book is an absorbing read containing nothing extraneous and concerned only with factual evidence which will likely become the definitive ‘serious’ work on this most important subject. Five stars.

With a lifetime of involvement and author of many articles on the subject of survival evidence, I can thoroughly recommend this book. Leslie has spoken to the right experts in each field of inquiry, which is not always the case by any means in journalism. Amongst those she has interviewed are: specialist academics; the conveyors of evidence (usually mediums); those who have witnessed evidence; those who have directly received personal evidence. Plus, she has reported on her own remarkable personal evidence. Given the vastness of data available, Leslie has condensed into one book a very fair overall assessment of evidence for and against consciousness survival beyond the grave.Often journalists present, through ignorance or desire, very biased accounts of survival evidence rendering such accounts as worthless to the rational mind. Either far too sceptical giving little emphasis to, or worst still, ignoring the best evidence. Or, on the other hand, enthusiastically presenting woolly evidence that fails to impress on close examination. In the case of blatant bias in presenting survival evidence, it is not just the prerogative of the written word. So called ‘impartial’ or ‘scientifically based’ TV programmes excel in this sphere. Oh, how transparent are their clandestine agendas to those knowledgeable of the subject matter.Although for the last three decades I have written on scientific research into all aspects of survival evidence, I have considerable personally experience of the phenomena described in Chapter 25 of Stewart Alexander’s mediumship, which Leslie Keen described as “life changing”. My detailed examination of his seances appeared in Issue 51 of Paranormal Review published July 2009 by the SPR (see below). My report also appears in Stewart Alexander’s autobiography: An Extraordinary Journey: The Memoirs of a Physical Medium, published 2010.Given the vastness of the data that has been collected over the last two centuries, Leslie Keen’s book can only give a taster to wet the appetite of readers who wish to investigate further. For the serious researcher, there is the USA based American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR), or the original Society for Psychical Research (SPR) based in the UK – but only two years older than the ASPR!

I have a fairly extensive library on this all important subject. Not all my books are that good but this one is without doubt absolutely brilliant. Ms Kean is a first class investigative journalist and she takes nothing for granted but probes the data for more 'down to earth' possibilities but after all the alternatives are explored and rejected she comes down heavily on the side of we all survive death irrespective of any religious beliefs. Written in an easy to read yet intelligent style I recommend this book 100%.

I haven’t finished yet, but wow! I’ve always believed there’s far more to each and every one of us so maybe I have too biased a view. The imbalances of this bodily/earthly existence must level somehow. We all get dealt a particular hand at birth and by God or whoever you do or don’t believe in some of us get a hand of junk. I’ve read the UFO book by this author and the amount of research plus quotes and examples from many doctors, scientists, military and academic people she gets to go on the record is truly exceptional. A great lady in my humble opinion. Really it has to be worth a read. I promise it won’t waste your time. Unless truly there is nothing else. But I’m sure after reading this at least some will change their viewpoint. Thanks for reading my review.

I really enjoyed reading this although most of the stories were already familiar to me. It's a real pity physicists ignore these anecdotes and dismiss them as fraud or cold reading. Reincarnation and life after death is a part of physics just as electrons are - and since the problem of consciousness is showing no signs of being solved, they need to start peering out of their little boxes.