The Modern Book of the Dead: A Revolutionary Perspective on Death, the Soul and What Really Happens in the Life to Come
by Ptolemy Tompkins
What happens to us after we die? This is a question people have been asking since the dawn of time, and entire civilizations have been shaped by the ways in which they have answered it. All the world’s religions offer their own perspectives on what happens to us after death, and even in the modern world, where the existence of the soul is so often questioned, channeling and near-death experiences have kept those ancient questions alive.
In today’s largely secular society, thousands still continue to turn to ancient texts like the Tibetan and Egyptian books of the dead for consolation, inspiration, wisdom, hope and comfort. But because they are so old, the material they present needs to be seen within a modern context in order to be truly useful. This book does just that. Tompkins grew up in a family where questions about the shape and fate of the human soul were discussed on a daily basis, and he has explored those concepts in his critically acclaimed books. But it was only with his father’s death that he began to think about death in a genuinely concrete way — as something that really and truly will happen to each one of us.
Part memoir, part history of ideas of the afterlife and part road map to what might await each of us when we leave our bodies behind, this is a wise and courageous book that approaches the question of the afterlife in a refreshingly intimate manner. Weaving together philosophy, science, near-death experiences and theology, Tompkins comes to one amazing and uplifting truth — that somehow, human consciousness lives on after death.
$26 hardcover — Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 31, Number 2, April/May 2012.
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April 12, 2012
Book review