No One Really Dies

This well-informed book sets out 25 reasons to take the evidence for an afterlife seriously and come to one's own conclusion. Almost all those who have investigated the extensive evidence have concluded that it has to be taken seriously, but, as the author points out, the materialistic belief system excludes the possibility of life after death by definition instead of questioning its philosophy in the light of well-attested facts. Much of the best evidence emerged between 1850 and 1935, when the focus was switched to laboratory parapsychology. Many of the greatest scientists of the day were convinced by evidence and experience, even though sceptical colleagues derided their efforts. The author introduces the book with his own story that of his publisher before considering the full range of available phenomena and evidence, all based on wide reading.

Two of the most interesting cases concern the orientalist Neville Whymant and a chess game played by a deceased grandmaster. In the first case Whymant engages in a conversation about classical Chinese philosophy, in which he gives the first line of poem and the voice proceeds to recite the remaining 14 lines as well as explaining a puzzling error in another poem. During the 12 sittings, 14 foreign languages were used, a feat impossible to fabricate. In the second case, the deceased Geza Maroczy plays a game of chess against Viktor Korchnoi over a period of nearly 8 years at least at the Master level over 47 moves. To anyone with an open mind, this book provides an excellent overview with an appendix detailing 30 reasons why such evidence has been ignored, a situation likely to continue until there is a radical paradigm shift, which, ironically, this evidence could initiate if taken seriously.