Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

In STIFF, Mary Roach examined what happens to the body when a person dies. Now she takes the next logical step, and undertakes a humorous, skeptical, but ultimately hopeful search for verifiable scientific evidence of the afterlife and the soul, studying historical accounts and investigating current research into reincarnation and near-death experiences, and weighing or measuring the soul (on a scale, with X-rays, with quantum physics). She also examines a piece of "alleged ectoplasm" (it's actually regurgitated cotton cloth) stored at the Cambridge University Library, enrolls in a seminar for mediums, and goes ghost-hunting.

"[A] smart, quirky, hilarious look at whether there is a soul that survives our physical demise. Roach perfectly balances her skepticism and her boundless curiosity with a sincere desire to know....She is an original who can enliven any subject with wit, keen reporting and a sly intelligence." (starred review) - (Publishers Weekly, 8/22/05)

"[D]ependably witty, especially when it ventures far into the ether....[P]opulated by vividly evoked oddballs....SPOOK has great appeal on the basis of Ms. Roach's droll research....Ms. Roach makes herself a wry, enjoyable character throughout the book's escapades....In SPOOK, she makes a clever investigator and a thoroughly entertaining, if skeptical, tour guide." - Morris H. Kramer (New York Times, 10/6/05)

"For all Roach's skeptical and often hilarious accounts, she is an eager volunteer and ready to accept evidence if evidence there be....Truly deft handling of the (mostly) daft." - (Kirkus, 8/1/05)

"Roach is a wonderfully vivid writer....And as a reporter, Roach has a keen eye for the perfect detail, an ear for the zinging quotation and a finely tuned sense of the preposterous." - Allison Chandler Smith (New York Times Book Review, 10/9/05)

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