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The Modern Book of the Dead

A Revolutionary Perspective on Death, the Soul, and What Really Happens in the Life to Come

About The Book

A modern exploration of what happens after death, uniting spirituality with philosophy, biology, neuroscience, and rich examples of afterlife experiences.

What happens to us after we die?

It remains perhaps the single most important question we can ask, one that still inspires thousands to turn to the Tibetan and Egyptian Books of the Dead for hope and comfort. But we can no longer rely solely on ancient wisdom for truly useful answers about our own mortality. We must find explanations for the afterlife in the fruits of modern experience.

Critically acclaimed author Ptolemy Tompkins grew up in a family where questions about the shape and fate of the human soul were discussed on a daily basis, but it was only after his father’s passing that he began to consider death in a genuinely concrete way. In this boldly unconventional book—part memoir, part history of ideas, part road map to what might truly await us—Tompkins approaches the question of the afterlife with refreshing intimacy. Weaving together philosophy, science, stories of near-death experiences, and theology, he offers readers a new perspective on death and comes to an amazing and uplifting conclusion: that, somehow, human consciousness lives on.

About The Author

© Marsha Sims

Ptolemy Tompkins is a former editor at Guideposts Magazine and the author of seven books. His writing has been featured in Beliefnet, Harper’s, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Best Spiritual Writing, and The Best American Spiritual Writing.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atria Books (February 14, 2012)
  • Length: 304 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781451616545

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Raves and Reviews

"Don't miss this book."

– Eben Alexander, MD, author of Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey through the Afterlife (2012)

“A fascinating, impassioned hybrid of memoir and divine supposition.”

– Kirkus Reviews

"A brilliant and absorbing exploration of our ideas about death and the afterlife, that brings much thought, insight, and personal reflection to an area of experience we too often avoid examining. Some might consider this morbid - mistakenly, I'd say - but it prepares the reader for the one spiritual adventure none of us will miss, and can even make us look forward to it."

– Gary Lachman

"The Modern Book of the Dead is a treasure trove of insight into the Afterlife, and its consistency over millennia. Ptolemy Tompkins has delivered a remarkable synthesis of this crucially important reality that is fundamental to comprehending our existence."

– Eben Alexander, MD, author of Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey through the Afterlife (2012)

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