"Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife" by Mary Roach

Actually I had something completely different in my mind as my next reading subject (one more addition to my "classic of the month" ) but you know, dear reader, sometimes these self-given tasks are simply not so appealing as something that sweetly and naturally comes our way - as I am forever prone to casual library browsing, this little book seemed unassuming and entertaining and it actually turned out really easy read (far easier than what I forced upon myself out of childish guilt). Classic of the month will just have to wait the right moment, while this book took me exactly two days to finish.

Mary Roach is something like female Bill Bryson - with difference that where Bryson is actually scientist, Roach is a curious (and very witty) journalist brave or crazy enough to explore odd subjects and poke her nose amongst serious scientists, asking questions and keeping a healthy dose of doubt about everything that can't be proved. In this book she tackles the subject of afterlife and in charmingly idiosyncratic, self-deprecatory way writes about something as serious as death. Come to think of it, why can't we talk about death with humour? After all, it is part of life and sad as it is, if death itself is nothing to laugh about, the way we react and perceive it can be ridiculously bizarre and irrational. From villages of India (where she witness accepted stories about reincarnation) to medical labs around USA and serious archives full of ancient news articles, Roach digs trough stories about ghosts, afterlife, white noise and such - she even discusses possibility of near death experiences, just to admit that there is nothing in medical science to actually prove these theories. The bittersweet conclusion is - we still don't know for sure is there an afterlife, is there anything at all after death and does our spirit our unconscious mind floats elsewhere or does the computer just switch off and that's it. One thing that Roach is right about it on the subject of ghosts and why would anybody stay the eternity fixed to one place, scaring living people when astral body would give them possibility to float anywhere else. Myself, I am surely sceptical about the whole issue and even if there is such a thing as other side, I understand its another dimension (kind of underwater of the lake) and two different realities unfortunately don't have contact. We might feel deep and profound sadness when our friends and relatives depart this earth, but aftermath is all about ourselves and how we cope with it - just like mythical Orpheus who could feel but not see his beloved Eurydice, I once had a clear and strong feeling that my late mother (who at that time had just recently passed away) was standing near me while I was grieving alone in my room and memory of that particular moment is still very vivid, decades later - though rationally I am aware that two worlds don't collide and it might just have been my own imagination that comforted me at the time.