This book should be entitled - "adventures in the apparent physical manifestations of the afterlife". In this book, Roach approaches the issue claims of experiences of the afterlife as a skeptic, looking at the evidence closely and with a healthy dose of salt. She comes away, unsurprisingly, as a....skeptic.
To understand why, you only need to look at the central topics upon which she focuses. These range from reincarnation (she goes to india, interviewing experts on the topic and sitting in on interrogations of supposed "reincarnated persons"), to investigating mediums (And the ectoplasm craze), before capping it off with an examination of near death experiences.
The only firm conclusion that she can come away with is - there really isn't any. This is due to a number of factors - mostly related to poor evidence, but also the nature of the object of study (ie: if an event is uniquely supernatural, occurring not at fixed pattern but at the whim of invisible beings, one cannot perform a quantitative study, and can only remain in the domain of qualitative science).
Peppered with hilarious remarks, many finding inspiration from the loose nuts she finds on her journey, this is a great read, for both believers and skeptics alike.
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