Near-death experiences hit the popular imagination in 1975, with Raymond Moody's book Life after Life. The appeal was immediate and the idea was born that people could leave their bodies, experience wonderful encounters with a being of light and then pass onto other worlds and still come back to tell the tale. Since then, research has flourished, but a split has developed between those who think that NDEs are evidence for life after death and those who argue that they are just the product of a dying brain. This book attempts to bridge the scientific (reductionist) and spiritual (holistic) viewpoints, arguing that there is no soul and no hope for life after death, but that nonetheless a very special spiritual transformation occurs.