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From Amazon
If author Mary Roach was a college professor, she'd have a zero drop-out rate. That's because when Roach tackles a subject--like the posthumous human body in her previous bestseller, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, or the soul in the winning Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife--she charges forth with such zeal, humour, and ingenuity that her students (er, readers) feel like they're witnessing the most interesting thing on Earth. Who the heck would skip that? As Roach informs us in her introduction, "This is a book for people who would like very much to believe in a soul and in an afterlife for it to hang around in, but who have trouble accepting these things on faith. It's a giggly, random, utterly earthbound assault on our most ponderous unanswered question." Talk about truth in advertising. With that, Roach grabs us by the wrist and hauls butt to India, England, and various points in between in search of human spiritual ephemera, consulting an earnest bunch of scientists, mystics, psychics, and kooks along the way. It's a heck of a journey and Roach, with one eyebrow mischievously cocked, is a fantastically entertaining tour guide, at once respectful and hilarious, dubious yet probing. And brother, does she bring the facts. Indeed, Spook's myriad footnotes are nearly as riveting as the principal text. To wit: "In reality, an X-ray of the head could not show the brain, because the skull blocks the rays. What appeared to be an X-ray of the folds and convolutions of a human brain inside a skull--an image circulated widely in 1896--was in fact an X-ray of artfully arranged cat intestines." Or this: "Medical treatises were eminently more readable in Sanctorius's day. Medicina statica delved fearlessly into subjects of unprecedented medical eccentricity: 'Cucumbers, how prejudicial,' and the tantalizing 'Leaping, its consequences.' There's even a full-page, near-infomercial-quality plug for something called the Flesh-Brush." While rigid students of theology might take exception to Roach's conclusions (namely, we're just a bag of bones killing time before donning a soil blanket) it's hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this impressively researched and immensely readable book. And since, as Roach suggests, each of us has only one go-round, we might as well waste downtime with something thoroughly fun. --Kim Hughes
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
The deadpan humor and subtle wit that journalist Roach (Stiff) is known for is overshadowed by Quigley's exaggerated delivery in this disappointing audio adaptation. Like Roach's previous book, this exploration of the afterlife is loaded with unusual historical facts, oddball encounters and humorous observations. Unfortunately, Quigley performs rather than reads the material, and her snarky, knowing tone is as out of sync with Roach's earnest investigation as are her atrocious character voices. For reincarnation researcher Dr. Rawat, she adopts a heavily accented voice as subtle as The Simpsons' Hindu grocer, Apu. Professor Gerry Naham is lent a nasally, squeaky voice, apparently to convey his nerdiness (he aims to build a system that can detect the departure of a dying person's soul using electromagnetic energy). Then there's sheep rancher Lewis Hollander, whom Quigley gives the mellow voice of a stoned hippie despite Roach's description of him as "a kindly, soft-spoken guy"; one almost expects Hollander to preface his description of his homegrown soul-weighing experiment with "dude." Quigley transforms these intriguing, eccentric people into caricatures and makes this a grating listen.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Okay but no "Stiff".,
By
This review is from: Spook (Paperback)
I bought this concurrently with Stiff and read it immediately subsequent. As a result it was a bit of a disappointment. It touched on a number of interesting ideas and practices and as a stand alone was not bad. If you have never read Stiff and read the book jacket of this one and picked it up anyway you would not be disappointed. It couldn't meet the high expectations set by Stiff, however.
5.0 out of 5 stars
scientifically spiritual!,
By
This review is from: Spook (Paperback)
I have the book on CD version which I listen to with my husband again and again! For anyone who is interested in the paranormal, who things new age thought is interesting yet wierd and who would want to know more about gouls, ghosts and if they actually exist, this is totally the book for you.Mary discusses topics such as the historical hoaxes pulled off by psychics; the physics beind elecromagnetic frequencies (ie. how do we get elecricity anyway?) and the course she took in England (only one without the Level 1 Reiki training). It perfectly tells the tale of a skeptic trying to study the reality of the afterlife and the difficulties one endures trying to keep up with the scientific method structure while analyzing these results. It's hillarious and at the same time very informative.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable Read,
By Lisa Gordon (Calgary) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Spook (Hardcover)
If you are a very religious person, then I would stay away from this book. If you are a curious, open minded person then it is a great read. She describes herself as having a grade 4 sense of humour and that shines through in many passages through the questions she asks people. For me I was not trying to get any higher knowledge from the book, just a good enjoyable read and learned a bit along the way. If you have read Stiff and enjoyed it, then I would highly recommend this one to you as well.
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