The Stories and Science of Life After Death - Glimpsing Heaven

Very interesting and well written. I highly recommend reading this book. The author approaches the subject with skepticism as I did, however the evidence she presents is convincing and well researched.

Judy has done so much research to learn about Thousands of Experiences. My experience was when was 7 or 8 though it was only being with all my friends on the beach, as the tide came in and we were all laying on the sand, they all moved but I found I was in "a far away place" and their calling me brought me out of it. I found I could "space out" at times and experience peace and joy!

I got interested in this book because reviews of it talked about near death experiences (NDE) being similar to what Buddhists and vipassana meditators call enlightenment -- both experiences are described as infinite joy, love and oneness with the universe. And from that perspective, most NDE reports the author describes are consistent with this "definition" of enlightenment. This part was very interesting and that's why this book got this rating.

However, that was pretty much the only take-away from the book.

My main criticisms are:

1) Mostly poor choices of study cases.

The author claims to have interviewed hundreds of people who have experienced NDEs (or "death travel" as she prefers to use), but reports only a handful of them. That's all fine, except that only two or three of them were somewhat believable or witnessed NDEs. All others are reports of people who think they had died and come back, but there's zero evidence to corroborate their stories. I'm not even saying they're all making stuff up. But it's not possible to discern if they're lying, confused, misremembering or delusional/hallucinating at the time of the event.

One of them had a seizure, alone, and woke up in her bed. She claims to have died. I call BS. She had a dream. There was no one around. Seizures can cause all sorts of havoc on the brain and the fact that she "woke up" in bed is even more telling. She just forgot she walked to her bed when she was done having a seizure.

In other two cases people drowned and "died", but ultimately survived. In neither case there was a clear confirmation that they had died. No instruments, no clear account of how long they spent underwater, no one monitoring their cardiac signs or brain waves, etc.

Another case is of a lady who was having a baby and during labor she "died" but was resurrected by her doctor. She doesn't know what happened and never asked. All she knows is that the doctor said they "almost lost her". And that was 50 years prior to her telling this story.

There was only one really intriguing case, the first one she describes, where a lady was on the operating table with her heart and brain stopped, with her temperature controlled to 60 degrees where she saw herself being operated on. That one was more interesting and one I can believe there was some "proof" that she was in a "dead" state.

Everything else is too vague, poorly-remembered, anecdotal.

2) Not really a lot of real science, as claimed in the sub-title of the book ("The stories and *science* ...").

She talks about studies that doctors have done, but does not go in details about them other than say these doctors also interviewed patients who have had cardiac arrests at some point. She points to some articles, but does not really talk about real, deep science. I guess I'll have to read the articles, but I thought the book would explain more about the science part.

3) Too many "conclusions" and opinions by the author, who's not qualified to emit them nor do I care to know what she thinks.

Unless the author had died and come back, I think it's useless to add opinion to an already science-deficient text. At one point she's criticizing a doctor and trying to second-guess what he meant by a comment.

4) Poor or distracting writing style.

The book makes excessive use of elements of writing in a way that is very distracting to read. The author seems to have discovered these elements of writing like kids discover photoshop or powerpoint: by using every feature, widget and effect they possibly can. The writing style is such that it interferes with the actual flow of what she's trying to express. I mean, the author uses sentences truncated by double-hyphens -- and I mean a lot of them -- all the time, commas galore, even, when, not helpful or necessary -- nested parenthetical (yes, like this) -- and quotes "within quotes 'within nested (parenthetical)', yikes". You get the idea. Not very pleasant to read at times. She also mixes stories within stories. Sort of opening big parentheses, except that they tend to last for a whole paragraph or more. And they jump back and forth without making the text more interesting or better.

The "glimpsing heaven" in the title is a bit misleading; this book represents more of a summary of current research on near death experiences and of more interest, consciousness when the brain ceases to function. However, The author does a fair, though disjointed job of sharing interviews with a few subjects who "traveled " go the other side.

Too many assumptions. Many examples are given of those who were pronounced dead, but ignores a very important point, made by some physicians. People were assumed to be dead because there were no detections of vital signs; e.g., blood pressure, heart beat etc. But yet, some physicians make the point that because these vital signs cannot be detected does not preclude death, for very weak vital signs cannot be detected by current instrumentation.

Ergo, what these people who were pronounced dead "envisioned" could have been created by their minds, not completely dead, because current instrumentation is inadequate.

N. C. Freitas

This is the most comforting book about death I've ever read. Oddly, it wasn't written by a Christian. Bachrach remains an atheist. It's about near-death experiences, but it has nothing to do with belief. Rather, it's a study of what "death travelers" report as having experienced.

The thing is, we are better able to study these experiences than ever before, because medicine has advanced so rapidly. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a frequent way of reviving the dead, has become commonplace. More and more people are brought back from the dead, their brains stuffed with memories of what they experienced. We now have tens of thousands of reported cases.

Some common claims include a lucidity of experience even among people with brain damage like Alzheimers, a feeling of deep bliss, and feeling of going home. Speechless communication with other beings is often reported. Traditional Christian teachings are usually contradicted; warnings of eternal damnation or promises of a blessed eternity to the faithful hold no water with those who have been there and back, and most return with no fear of death. A very common word on the lips of survivors when recounting what they experienced is "love," but this experience has no correlation with religious attendance. It just doesn't much matter what you believe. It happens to Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus. It happens whether you believe in an afterlife or not; whether you believe in God or not. Only two of the people Bachrach researched encountered Jesus in the afterlife, and none met up with the devil.

However, some death travelers do still report a deepening of faith. One person recounted that she discovered she was "perfect, endowed with love," and later realized that so is everyone else. She had never before understood the passage in the Bible about being created in God's image, and it finally made sense.

The one thing that I found not comforting about Bachrach's research is how commonly death experiences cause divorce. People who have experienced death often undergo a radical change in priorities. Selfish desires make way for universal concerns-they feel united and at one with rest of the world-and this new focus is hard for spouses to understand.

But are these experiences "real"? We still don't know, but the experiencers usually insist they are. Bachrach fairly examines the pros and cons and doesn't pretend to be an expert, but her bias shows. She believes.

National Geographic Society, © 2014, 249 pages

ISBN: 978-1-4246-1514-8

... But maybe we're passing through death to some other, perhaps better experience. Author and veteran journalist Judy Bachrach was a skeptic when she began researching life after death experiences, Death comes and then nothing was her attitude, but after interviewing people who died--not nearly died, almost died, but were clinically dead-- but returned to the living, Bachrach opens up the possibility--a scientific possibility -- that there is something after death, for many bliss and understanding. A riveting book wherever you are on the scale of lifer after death.

Researchers suggest that if you read about near death experiences (NDE’s) and/or hang out with people who have had NDE’s, you tend to pick up on their vibes. And in the same way that a near death experience tends to change time and time again those who have gone through them, so too, close proximity, and interest and curiosity about NDE’s tend to likewise change the folks who are thus interested.
I can testify to the veracity of what the researchers suggest. I’ve been personally interested in these things--- reading and talking with folks and researching the physics and metaphysics of these NDE’s, from a purely amateur, personal curiosity basis, for fifty years or so. Thus I can attest: it’s true: You start reading about this stuff, talking with others about this stuff, and before long, your view of the world, and your view of yourself, and your view of what’s happening here changes. For the better. The much better.
Thus, I love this book—Glimpsing Heaven, and the stories Ms. Bachrach shares about the people who have experienced dying and then coming back. They have great stories. And very believable stories. Especially if you can put it together with other research, and other experiences, and the Great Traditions of spiritual and metaphysical inquiry that are available. It all just makes sense. And, believe it or not, is quite logical. Explainable. Beautiful, even reasonable.
Although there are stunning similarities among near death experiencers, even and especially among children who have never heard of near death experiences, each is of course unique, personal, one of a kind, at least for that particular experiencer. And it does seem to have something to do with cultural background and one’s personal evolutionary “stage,” though not as much as some would suggest.
And in the same way, there are commonalities among all NDE researchers, though each is unique and expressing a particular personal “level” of consciousness. And it has something to do with cultural background.
Judy Bachrach clearly comes from what the quantum physicist Amit Goswami calls, “ a culture of Scientific Materialism” which basically states, “if science can’t measure it, explain it, duplicate it, it’s not real.”
Can’t blame her. This is how she was educated—how most of us were educated. This is her contemporary background. Thus, encountering Near Death Experiences, she tries ever so hard to explain from a “scientific materialist” point of view (by interviewing many scientists, as well as NDEers) what the heck is going on with these people. And she does an admirable job of it, given her perspective.
But it’s an impossible chore she has given herself. (And she recognizes, in places, the impossible chore.) She is obviously quite new to the field—at least from the perspective of this old guy who’s been reading about it since even before Raymond Moody, who coined the term “Near Death Experience,” in his classic book, Life After Life, in the 1979. ( For earlier examples, see “The Betty Book” (1939) and The Unobstructed Universe,(1940) by Stewart Edward White, for contemporary accounts, Or Rudolph Steiner, for pity’s sake. Edgar Cayce. Arthur Ford, etc. etc. )
But Ms. Bachrach is new to the field, and does an admirable job of researching, The book will be most useful for those who are likewise new to the field, and likewise come from a scientific materialist background. Although I would give this type of book a five star review just because I love books like this, when you compare this book to others in the field, she gets a c or c+. Maybe a B-. Again, through no fault of her own. She just shows her newbie-ness time and time again. We can love her for her newbie-ness, but simultaneously because of our own thirst for new insight, be just a little impatient with it.
An example of her newbie-ness: She wants to rename Near Death Experiencers “death voyagers,” or “death travelers,” because, by gum, she insists, they actually did experience death. She says there is nothing “near death” about these experiences. These voyagers did indeed experience death.
Which is true. And I admire Ms. Bachrach for being bold enough to try to convince the skeptics that these folks are in fact telling the truth. Trying to change the name from “NDE to “death voyagers, “ however, is in itself a sign of linguistic double speak, or mis-speak. After all, what the NDE folks discovered was that they DIDN’ T DIE! They discovered that life does go on. Consciousness does keep seeing and experiencing and growing and discovering, after the “meat body” is no longer functioning. In other words, THERE IS NO DEATH! That’s the story, time and time and time again.
So to rename NDE’s “death voyages” is itself a total misnomer. Again, I appreciate what she’s trying to do but her naive effort disparages, at least a bit, the wonderful work that so many people in the field have already done, not only with recording thousands and thousand of cases, but with articulating the various stages and phases of the NDE.
But again, we can forgive her for her brave naivete. If I did have a complaint—or a wish for something more in this book—it would be for more case studies, and perhaps a wider selection of researchers, and less argument with her presumed skeptics. (I sense that she was the skeptic to begin with, so she is, first and foremost, arguing with herself a lot of the time.)
Ms Bachrach has previously written several other books, not in this field. It will be interesting to watch where her own experience of NDE’rs takes her. I look forward to see how writing this book has changed her. She obviously has an open heart, and a good mind. We can honestly thank her for the work she has performed here, and await her own unfolding in this field.

Several years ago, if one asked Judy Bachrach what her greatest fear was, the answer would be swift and sure. Death, not being, the end of existence. Her mother had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and she knew her time was short. Bachrach volunteered in a hospice center, but it didn't give her the answers she sought. As an investigative reporter, she decided to research the subject of death and went to the prime source, those who had clinically died and returned.

These individuals don't use the term 'near-death experiences'. Instead, they call themselves Experiencers. They weren't near death, they had died. Some were in hospitals and declared clinically dead. Some drowned or were hit by lighting and stopped breathing. Some were old, some young. Some were religious, others were atheists. There was a common experience among them.

The overwhelming experience each experienced was bliss; the realization that everything in the universe is connected, that we continue as ourselves after this life, and that everything has a purpose. Some reported seeing a wonderful light; others reported meeting those they loved who had died before them or meeting someone wise and full of all knowledge. Some underwent a life review. All were glad to be in this new place, and hesitant when they were told they must return. When they returned to their bodies and life, many could recite details of things they could not have seen or heard but somehow had.

The Experiencers were changed by their journey. Many left jobs they had loved and strived in before, as what was important to them changed. Many divorced as their mates could not accept their new reality or the changes they underwent. A significant percentage returned with unexplained powers such as healing or the ability to see things or know things without being told. The one commonality was that none returned with any fear of death. They don't want to die before their time but are sure that they will be ready and that it will be a new experience when their time comes.

Judy Bachrach is an investigative reporter on international affairs, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. She spent several years interviewing the Experiencers and those in the medical field who are working on this field of study. There are respected doctors and tenured professors who study this common experience and the feeling is that humanity is about to peel back the layers of death to find what really occurs. For example, brain cells are alive for hours after death has been declared. Glimpsing Heaven is a fascinating overview of the subject, and those searching or grieving will find comfort in its page. This book is recommended for anyone interested in the human experience and what it means to be human.

This is a terrific book by a veteran journalist. It's on a subject that, not to put too fine a point on it, affects us all. It will intrigue both ardent secularists and religious believers. Bachrach interviews scientists, monks, doctors, and numerous people who have had the experience of physical death and returned to life. Novelistic anecdotes. What I really like is the writing style: the author doesn't tip her hand, has no axe to grind and is just a first-rate reporter exploring a fascinating phenomenon. I would recommend this book to almost any reader.

This is the most comforting book about death I've ever read. Oddly, it wasn't written by a Christian. Bachrach remains an atheist. It's about near-death experiences, but it has nothing to do with belief. Rather, it's a study of what "death travelers" report as having experienced.

The thing is, we are better able to study these experiences than ever before, because medicine has advanced so rapidly. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a frequent way of reviving the dead, has become commonplace. More and more people are brought back from the dead, their brains stuffed with memories of what they experienced. We now have tens of thousands of reported cases.

Some common claims include a lucidity of experience even among people with brain damage like Alzheimers, a feeling of deep bliss, and feeling of going home. Speechless communication with other beings is often reported. Traditional Christian teachings are usually contradicted; warnings of eternal damnation or promises of a blessed eternity to the faithful hold no water with those who have been there and back, and most return with no fear of death. A very common word on the lips of survivors when recounting what they experienced is "love," but this experience has no correlation with religious attendance. It just doesn't much matter what you believe. It happens to Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus. It happens whether you believe in an afterlife or not; whether you believe in God or not. Only two of the people Bachrach researched encountered Jesus in the afterlife, and none met up with the devil.

However, some death travelers do still report a deepening of faith. One person recounted that she discovered she was "perfect, endowed with love," and later realized that so is everyone else. She had never before understood the passage in the Bible about being created in God's image, and it finally made sense.

The one thing that I found not comforting about Bachrach's research is how commonly death experiences cause divorce. People who have experienced death often undergo a radical change in priorities. Selfish desires make way for universal concerns-they feel united and at one with rest of the world-and this new focus is hard for spouses to understand.

But are these experiences "real"? We still don't know, but the experiencers usually insist they are. Bachrach fairly examines the pros and cons and doesn't pretend to be an expert, but her bias shows. She believes.

National Geographic Society, © 2014, 249 pages

ISBN: 978-1-4246-1514-8

Researchers suggest that if you read about near death experiences (NDE’s) and/or hang out with people who have had NDE’s, you tend to pick up on their vibes. And in the same way that a near death experience tends to change time and time again those who have gone through them, so too, close proximity, and interest and curiosity about NDE’s tend to likewise change the folks who are thus interested.
I can testify to the veracity of what the researchers suggest. I’ve been personally interested in these things--- reading and talking with folks and researching the physics and metaphysics of these NDE’s, from a purely amateur, personal curiosity basis, for fifty years or so. Thus I can attest: it’s true: You start reading about this stuff, talking with others about this stuff, and before long, your view of the world, and your view of yourself, and your view of what’s happening here changes. For the better. The much better.
Thus, I love this book—Glimpsing Heaven, and the stories Ms. Bachrach shares about the people who have experienced dying and then coming back. They have great stories. And very believable stories. Especially if you can put it together with other research, and other experiences, and the Great Traditions of spiritual and metaphysical inquiry that are available. It all just makes sense. And, believe it or not, is quite logical. Explainable. Beautiful, even reasonable.
Although there are stunning similarities among near death experiencers, even and especially among children who have never heard of near death experiences, each is of course unique, personal, one of a kind, at least for that particular experiencer. And it does seem to have something to do with cultural background and one’s personal evolutionary “stage,” though not as much as some would suggest.
And in the same way, there are commonalities among all NDE researchers, though each is unique and expressing a particular personal “level” of consciousness. And it has something to do with cultural background.
Judy Bachrach clearly comes from what the quantum physicist Amit Goswami calls, “ a culture of Scientific Materialism” which basically states, “if science can’t measure it, explain it, duplicate it, it’s not real.”
Can’t blame her. This is how she was educated—how most of us were educated. This is her contemporary background. Thus, encountering Near Death Experiences, she tries ever so hard to explain from a “scientific materialist” point of view (by interviewing many scientists, as well as NDEers) what the heck is going on with these people. And she does an admirable job of it, given her perspective.
But it’s an impossible chore she has given herself. (And she recognizes, in places, the impossible chore.) She is obviously quite new to the field—at least from the perspective of this old guy who’s been reading about it since even before Raymond Moody, who coined the term “Near Death Experience,” in his classic book, Life After Life, in the 1979. ( For earlier examples, see “The Betty Book” (1939) and The Unobstructed Universe,(1940) by Stewart Edward White, for contemporary accounts, Or Rudolph Steiner, for pity’s sake. Edgar Cayce. Arthur Ford, etc. etc. )
But Ms. Bachrach is new to the field, and does an admirable job of researching, The book will be most useful for those who are likewise new to the field, and likewise come from a scientific materialist background. Although I would give this type of book a five star review just because I love books like this, when you compare this book to others in the field, she gets a c or c+. Maybe a B-. Again, through no fault of her own. She just shows her newbie-ness time and time again. We can love her for her newbie-ness, but simultaneously because of our own thirst for new insight, be just a little impatient with it.
An example of her newbie-ness: She wants to rename Near Death Experiencers “death voyagers,” or “death travelers,” because, by gum, she insists, they actually did experience death. She says there is nothing “near death” about these experiences. These voyagers did indeed experience death.
Which is true. And I admire Ms. Bachrach for being bold enough to try to convince the skeptics that these folks are in fact telling the truth. Trying to change the name from “NDE to “death voyagers, “ however, is in itself a sign of linguistic double speak, or mis-speak. After all, what the NDE folks discovered was that they DIDN’ T DIE! They discovered that life does go on. Consciousness does keep seeing and experiencing and growing and discovering, after the “meat body” is no longer functioning. In other words, THERE IS NO DEATH! That’s the story, time and time and time again.
So to rename NDE’s “death voyages” is itself a total misnomer. Again, I appreciate what she’s trying to do but her naive effort disparages, at least a bit, the wonderful work that so many people in the field have already done, not only with recording thousands and thousand of cases, but with articulating the various stages and phases of the NDE.
But again, we can forgive her for her brave naivete. If I did have a complaint—or a wish for something more in this book—it would be for more case studies, and perhaps a wider selection of researchers, and less argument with her presumed skeptics. (I sense that she was the skeptic to begin with, so she is, first and foremost, arguing with herself a lot of the time.)
Ms Bachrach has previously written several other books, not in this field. It will be interesting to watch where her own experience of NDE’rs takes her. I look forward to see how writing this book has changed her. She obviously has an open heart, and a good mind. We can honestly thank her for the work she has performed here, and await her own unfolding in this field.

Several years ago, if one asked Judy Bachrach what her greatest fear was, the answer would be swift and sure. Death, not being, the end of existence. Her mother had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and she knew her time was short. Bachrach volunteered in a hospice center, but it didn't give her the answers she sought. As an investigative reporter, she decided to research the subject of death and went to the prime source, those who had clinically died and returned.

These individuals don't use the term 'near-death experiences'. Instead, they call themselves Experiencers. They weren't near death, they had died. Some were in hospitals and declared clinically dead. Some drowned or were hit by lighting and stopped breathing. Some were old, some young. Some were religious, others were atheists. There was a common experience among them.

The overwhelming experience each experienced was bliss; the realization that everything in the universe is connected, that we continue as ourselves after this life, and that everything has a purpose. Some reported seeing a wonderful light; others reported meeting those they loved who had died before them or meeting someone wise and full of all knowledge. Some underwent a life review. All were glad to be in this new place, and hesitant when they were told they must return. When they returned to their bodies and life, many could recite details of things they could not have seen or heard but somehow had.

The Experiencers were changed by their journey. Many left jobs they had loved and strived in before, as what was important to them changed. Many divorced as their mates could not accept their new reality or the changes they underwent. A significant percentage returned with unexplained powers such as healing or the ability to see things or know things without being told. The one commonality was that none returned with any fear of death. They don't want to die before their time but are sure that they will be ready and that it will be a new experience when their time comes.

Judy Bachrach is an investigative reporter on international affairs, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. She spent several years interviewing the Experiencers and those in the medical field who are working on this field of study. There are respected doctors and tenured professors who study this common experience and the feeling is that humanity is about to peel back the layers of death to find what really occurs. For example, brain cells are alive for hours after death has been declared. Glimpsing Heaven is a fascinating overview of the subject, and those searching or grieving will find comfort in its page. This book is recommended for anyone interested in the human experience and what it means to be human.

This is a terrific book by a veteran journalist. It's on a subject that, not to put too fine a point on it, affects us all. It will intrigue both ardent secularists and religious believers. Bachrach interviews scientists, monks, doctors, and numerous people who have had the experience of physical death and returned to life. Novelistic anecdotes. What I really like is the writing style: the author doesn't tip her hand, has no axe to grind and is just a first-rate reporter exploring a fascinating phenomenon. I would recommend this book to almost any reader.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Kayt

Glimpsing Heaven brings information and insight from not only those who have experienced not “near-death”, but “post-death experiences”, but also those in a position of knowledge. Ms Bachrach brings the stories of “travelers” (those that had the experience), those that actually observed the person dead and then also those that research and try to find the answers of this experience. It is common that most people are afraid of death, they want to hang on as long as they can, stay here and live. Why then do those that have these post-death experiences want to stay “dead”?

It is fascinating to know that Ms Bachrach was one of those scared to death of death. She started this book with the belief that there was nothing more to us after we are gone than just that DEATH. Nothing more, nothing less and nothing for us once we are gone. The stories she relates are amazing and full of hope for all of us. The experts she speaks with are insightful and intelligent. The “travelers” are humble and articulate. The information is amazing. What does it mean? Well that is for each reader to decide for themselves.

I think it is amazing that Ms Bachrach came into writing this book with that belief that death is just death and she ended up having hope that it is more, belief that it is more. The one continuing idea that sticks with me is that the “travelers” speak of coming HOME! That when we die, we go back home. That is a comforting idea and one that I am happy to see is expressed by those that have gone and come back. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in what happens when we leave this world, anyone that is facing a terminal illness in their lives and anyone that is just curious.Glimpsing Heaven is well written and brings a dreaded subject to the forefront.

This is a book very similar to other books concerning the "Near Death Experience"; however, this book seems to be a more comprehensive study into this interesting phenomenon. The author conducted a study and comparison of numerous interviews of people who had a "Near Death Experience". The common similarity in all of these people was that they were drastically impacted in that they had a totally changed view of spirituality and the importance and purpose of their lives. In most cases these people were very reticent about sharing their experience with others in fear that they would be viewed as "loons". Also, due to this life changing event, many of their marriages ended up in divorce. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the nature Of the "Near Death Experience" seems to be connected to the life circumstances and personality of the individual. I believe it is difficult to make any objective assessment of the "Near Death Experience" due to the subjectivity involved and the fact that it is virtually impossible to make any scientific inquiry into this phenomenon. Although this book was very interesting and informative, I did not find it especially uplifting especially if you factor in the horrific "Near Death Experiences".

"Glimpsing Heaven: The Stories and Science of Life after Death" by Judy Bachrach is one of the worst books about the survival of consciousness after physical death that I've read. I've read books on this topic by authors like John Edward, George Anderson, Betty Jean Eadie, Don Piper, Todd Burpo, PMH Atwater, and Gary Schwartz. Bachrach's book stands out for the low quality of the writing. I was only a few pages into the book when I double-checked the publisher – yes, National Geographic. I had noticed that there is not a single cover blurb by a prominent author in the field endorsing this book. Now I know why.

I wondered about the author. Was she some fresh-from-prestigious-college cupcake with high-level contacts dashing something off in order to get a publication notch on her belt before she hits the job market?

No, Judy Bachrach is an editor at Vanity Fair and a journalism professor. Sheesh. The "journalism professor" title astounds. Journalism demands that a writer report who, what, when, where, why, and how. As I read this book, I felt adrift, lacking that basic information.

The writing in this book is hasty and shallow. On a sentence level, punctuation is used incorrectly. Colons are used: Randomly. After the colon, the next word sometimes does, and sometimes does not, begin with a capital Letter. Randomly tossing capital letters onto words in the middle of sentences is an error. Here's an example from page 165, "…because they bulged like large breasts: Inside they were old…"

It isn't just the sentence-level errors that made this book a disappointment for me. It was the book's shallowness. While reading this book, I kept feeling, over and over, that I wanted to close its covers and go watch youtube. Bachrach talks about Pam Reynolds Lowry, a singer-songwriter, who had a remarkable near death experience. Bachrach's description of Lowry's story was enough to intrigue me, but it was never enough to satisfy me. I wanted to stop reading Bachrach's description of Lowry's experience, and go watch a youtube video of Lowry herself.

Bachrach speaks to and speaks about many who have had near death experiences. Her accounts are sketchy and limited. Who are these people, really? What do they look like, what do they smell like, what motivates them, how do they get through their day? The man who drowned in the above-quoted account divorced his wife. Why? Bachrach doesn't say.

It's as if, as a writer, Bachrach is handling her subject with tongs. She writes from a distance. She never really plunges into the topic; she never gets so wrapped up in it that she must communicate to us the living, messy, pulsing details that would bring it alive for us, the readers.

I've mentioned several authors, above, who write about near death experiences. I would recommend that a curious reader read any of them before considering this book.

The accounts are interesting, but the author goes out of her way to omit God, our Heavenly Father, from serious discussion in her book. How can you consider this topic without any questions about God to those she interviews?

Bachrach has done a phenomenal job addressing the mysteries of the afterlife in this incredible book. She interviews doctors and scientists, as well as individuals who have experience what is commonly referred to as Near Death Experiences. But these people have in fact physically died, and are given a glimpse of what awaits them after they depart their bodies. There are so many common experiences that the similarities can’t just be coincidence. It’s reassuring that the prominent sensation people feel upon dying is love. Though it’s difficult for people to articulate the abstract, the general consensus is a feeling of well-being and universal understanding. Many don’t want to return to the land of the living once they have seen what death has to offer. And now, with more people being revived because of medical advances, these Death Experiences are becoming more common.

This book is so engrossing, surprisingly approachable, and not preachy or spiritual. It is a reassuring and comforting idea that “Death is not the end.”

I received a complimentary copy of this book via TLC Book Tours.

It is said the first thing a publisher considers is if an author has enough material for a magazine article or a book. And I think that Judy Bachrach really has only enough material for a magazine article in Glimpsing Heaven. Bachrach reminds me of the student who really doesn't have very much to say -- but who can pad an essay paper to the max. Well, it isn't a terrible book, just not a good one -- at 249 pages long with the real story telling comprising only about 30 pages.

... But maybe we're passing through death to some other, perhaps better experience. Author and veteran journalist Judy Bachrach was a skeptic when she began researching life after death experiences, Death comes and then nothing was her attitude, but after interviewing people who died--not nearly died, almost died, but were clinically dead-- but returned to the living, Bachrach opens up the possibility--a scientific possibility -- that there is something after death, for many bliss and understanding. A riveting book wherever you are on the scale of lifer after death.

This was really good. It didn't inject any religion or anything, strictly a scientific study of people who have died. For me, it was comforting. I'm left with the opinion that life continues after physical death (for at least 20 minutes or so, and after that, we don't know). The only open question is what happens after that, because almost no one gets revived after being dead that long, so we can only go by the evidence we have, but I'm very hopeful now.

Glimpsing Heaven by Judy Bachrach is a nice book, but still didn’t answer a lot of my questions and also I thought there would have been more talk of Heaven and God, but that is sadly lacking.
I did like some of the interviews of the people who had NDE, but a lot of them seemed so troubled. Others really enjoyed there experiences and didn’t want to come back. I really like how they talked about flowers and the colors that have never seen before. Also the overwhelming love they felt.
One thing that troubles me is why do so many of them report pleasant experiences when they doubted and didn’t believe in God. I just can’t understand that. I thought when we die we either go to Heaven or Hell. Maybe all experiences will be happy until judgment day, but that’s not my feelings on the subject.
I would have liked to hear more of the bad experiences and how they cope with things. In Glimpsing Heaven she does interview one person who had a bad experience, but she wasn’t going to start believing and kept on with her life. That’s hard to believe.
I did like to read this book to just see what the author had to say, but I don’t believe most of it.
It is interesting to read and would recommend you read it to just find out what is said in the book.

Thank you to the Author/Publicist for providing this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

Beautifully written book on a subject I had always been curious about! This is the first book I've read on the subject that goes into this kind of depth and is this accessible. It's fascinating and challenges all my previous notions on what happens after you die. The stories in here will leave you speechless.

In Glimpsing Heaven, author Judy Bachrach confirms what I have heard from end of life patients and caregivers alike: That there is SO much more to this life and life after death…and that death is nothing to fear. I love this book and couldn't put it down. What an adventure!

This book is a well-written account of many people's experiences during a time when they were declared dead. It is a factual retelling of people's experiences which does not attempt to sway anyone for or against any particular belief. The book leaves a person with more questions than answers and, at least for me, a desire to see more research in this area.