Thursday, December 20, 2012

Review - Proof of Heaven

Title: Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife
Author: Eben Alexander, M.D.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster (October 23, 2012)
Format: Hardcover; Pgs 208
Genre: Spiritual
Source: Library

By the time I finished this book, I was convinced that two people had written it. For all his knowledge and expertise, Eben Alexander could not dummy down the neuroscience side of this book, but then at the same time, he could not come up with plausible names for the experiences that he encountered.

Using terms like Core and Gateway are acceptable, but when we get to Realm of the Earthworm’s - Eye View, Om (his name for God) and Spinning Melody, I was a bit convinced that I was reading something that was just being made up as he went.

Being in conflict between his educational background and the perceived reality of his near death experience (NDE), Dr. Eben Alexander takes the reader on an adventure from the first day that he did not feeling well, to waking from a coma seven days later.

There is no question that Dr. Alexander was admitted to the hospital with an e. Coli meningitis type of infection, but what happens during the seven day coma is what has me scratching my head. A man that has an extreme command of medical terms, conditions and science, who goes into medical school depth when trying to convince the reader that he does truly know what he is talking about, but when describing the ether world he comes across sounding more like a twelve year old watching Star Trek or Disney’s Fantasia.

Calling himself a C & E’er (Christmas and Easter Church attendance) when it comes to his religious experience, Eben Alexander had no preconceived concepts of near death experiences. Being in the neurological field, he has heard stories but had always discounted them. Now, he is apparently living one and as he tries to come to terms with his education and his personal experience - the reader is taken on a fantastical journey (that was an exaggeration) where he tries to explain cumbersome limitations of a body and earth.

What I think was most disappointment for me with this book was the very end, where this whole book was leading up to a giant advertisement for a non-profit publicly supported charity lead by Dr. Alexander. Really? This was solely a moneymaker for your “charity”. Dang – I have been duped! “No kidding”, some of you will say, but I guess I was holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, there was something here to be learned.

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