Rating: 
Summary: Amazing Book
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read on mediumship. I have always been a skeptic about any and all paranormal claims. Schwartz has used sound scientific research methods to test the mediums which include the well-known John Edward of "Crossing Over" fame. There is so much garbage out there about mediumship but finally someone has approached it scientifically (using real science) and has written about it. I would recommend this book to those who believe, those who don't believe, and those who don't know what to believe about mediumship. This is definitely a worthwhile read.
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Summary: Dr. Schwartz makes it hard not to believe in the afterlife
Review: Life after death has been one if the many controversial topics of discussion. Inductive arguments exist such as is there life after death, are love and life eternal, and is there a survival of consciousness after physical death. In this book Dr. Gary Schwartz and his research partner Dr. Linda Russek set out to investigate this phenomenon. With the help of a handful of well-known mediums, they set out to prove, or disprove, the existence of an afterlife through a series of well-controlled experiments.
I had a hard time in the beginning of this book believing in it. Being one of I am sure many people these days that are questioning their faith, the thought of life after death was pretty much a doubt to me. It is hard not to become a believer however after reading this book. The circumstances of the experiments left me rereading the scientific results searching for my own explanations, however I could not find any. Dr. Schwartz and Dr. Russek were very careful to control their laboratory conditions in each experiment they conducted. In these controlled experiments the mediums attempted to contact those family and friends who had past on of "sitters" who at times were hidden from view and kept silent so as not to allow the mediums any opportunity to get any kind of hints from the sitters. The two Dr.'s first started testing the survival of consciousness hypothesis before moving through several other experiments each getting more and more controlled with the use of curtains, walls, and silence. Through several experiments including a single blind experiment, kept secret from everyone but the experimenter, they were able to scientifically rule out telepathy and remote viewing, amongst other things, while the mediums accurately conveyed several facts with no help from the sitter. Not only were the mediums accurate independently, but as a group collectively. Through out the entire book the Dr.'s remained their biggest skeptics. The thought of being deceived lead them to be more cautious about accepting "evidence" from their experiments and the people in them no matter what their credentials. They used arguments of elimination to rule out logically the various possibilities of deception, telepathy, and even remote viewing.
At one point Dr. Schwartz states that science is a systematic approach to obtaining knowledge. After several of the experiments Dr. Schwartz goes so far as to compare the results with control groups outside the experiments to see if they could come up with the same results as the mediums. Science must continue to address the issues of the fraud hypothesis. The only way to do this is by repeating the same conditions and examining the results over and over under these conditions if any one is to believe in mediums. The one thing that grabbed me the most about the book was surprisingly not the extraordinary accurate information that these mediums were able to obtain in these highly controlled experiments, but the fact that Dr. Schwartz welcomes any help in discovering any flaws in his experiments in order to develop better ones. It is as if he does not want to believe his own findings.
Was there a possibility of deception by the people involved in these experiments? With each experiment the chance of deception decreased as the control levels increased to disprove each deception. Each experiment is described clearly and the findings were for the most part consistent. I feel that Dr. Schwartz presents his findings of an afterlife with scientific evidence through his controlled experiments. I believe his findings to be valid and convincing. There were some attacks on the mediums which could fall under the fallacy of "arguments against a person" where people felt that the mediums were using nothing but magic and forer effects to get there information. But it is in my opinion that the highly controlled experiments and the measures that were taken disprove these attacks.
The claim of an afterlife is well presented in this book. The evidence collected in these experiments support the claim of an afterlife with 80% accuracy and disproves other hypothesis like telepathy, magic, fraud, deception, and remote viewing. The use of control groups double-checking the evidence support the accuracy of the evidence collected. I would have to agree with Dr. Russek when she states "Let the data speak, whatever the data says". The experiments conducted by Dr. Schwartz make it hard not to believe in an afterlife.
Rating: 
Summary: The afterlife experiments
Review: The afterlife experiments attempts to provide information that not only is there life after death, but that there is scientific evidence to back up his theory. Through a series of laboratory experiments, Gary Schwartz attempts to prove that there is documented proof of an afterlife. Skeptics beware. Schwartz did not write this book as a way to prove that there is life afterdeath. On the contrary, he set out on his journey trying to find out if there was even a scientific way to find out if this phenomenon could even be discovered.
In setting out to prove that consciousness does survive death, Schwartz set up a series of experiments using a partner. In the experiments, a person would be instructed to sit and answer questions about a deceased person to the family member or friend of the deceased. These experiments were held using many different people including students and scientists. In one study, the person answering the questions, the medium, was sitting in a different room where they could not see or hear anything. The rate of accuracy was always very high. The family of the deceased, the sitters, were instructed to say either yes or no.
The thing I found amazing when reading this book was that no psychics were used. Most of the mediums were students or just regular people who had no links to scientific studies of any kind. The answers that they gave were not vague and could not have been created on their own. Although it is true that the mediums could have been coaxed into answering the correct responses to the questions this is not so because of the fact that many of the studies were done in separate rooms from the sitters and the medium didn't even know what questions were being asked of them. If you have any doubts about whether or not the human conscience exits after death, this book will put those doubts to rest.
What makes the studies even more compelling and believing is the unbiased nature that Schwartz goes about his studies. He has never had a near-death experience and has no ulterior motive in finding this information out. He is simply wanting to find the answers to questions that have plagued him for so long now. In fact, so many people found this interesting that there was actually an HBO show on it in which the sittings were videotaped and you can see it all for yourself.
This book is definately a rare find. I was blown away by the information Schwartz was able to discover. I urge all skeptics and believers alike to pick this book up and read it today.
Rating: 
Summary: Totally Debunked
Review: In the Jan/Feb 2003 issue of Skeptical Inquirer there is an article by Ray Hyman titled "How Not to Test Mediums". Mr. Hyman, who is a psychologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Oregone, totally demolishes Mr. Schwartz's methods and conclusions. The critique is devastating. Mr. Hyman shows how the research by Mr. Schwartz is flawed in many, many ways. Mr. Hyman points out many instances that Mr. Schwartz's 'research' deviated from established procedures and norms. Mr. Schwartz has ignored the accepted scientific methodology.
Rating:
Summary: Critical Thinking Review
Review: In Gary Schwartz' book, he takes on the position that there is in fact "life after death." Schwartz and his partner, Linda Russek, do numerous controlled experiments with mediums to see if there is existence of an afterlife. The results that they find are mind-boggling. Personally, I have always believed in the survival of the soul after someone passes from this world, but I have never had facts to back up that belief. After reading this book, my belief in the afterlife is much stronger and I look at the world in a different way now.
The main premise in this book is that since certain mediums can communicate with the dead it follows that life exists after death. Their experiments revolve around "superstar" mediums and the people whose families are contacted by these mediums. Schwartz and Russek conduct several different controlled experiments to see whether or not these mediums are really talking to the dead. After each experiment, they add more controls to make it virtually impossible for the mediums to be "cheating" in any way.
In their first set of experiments, HBO films a documentary about it. There are two "sitters," which are the people that the mediums get information from their deceased relatives and friends, and five mediums. The mediums and sitters are kept separate at all times. The mediums are under constant observation by Linda and another staff member to make sure no information is shared between them. The medium and sitter sit side by side, but they do not see each other because of a large white cloth screen that stands between them. The medium is allowed to offer a brief welcome, but the sitter cannot say anything except for "Hello." The medium is then instructed to conduct a normal reading and the sitter can only answer yes or no to the medium.
In the next experiment, there are 10 sitters. Schwartz and Russek believe that by using 10 sitters it is impossible for the medium to have any prior knowledge of a sitter. The mediums would not know which sitter they are working with at any given time. In part of the session, the sitter does not say anything. Some skeptics believe that the mediums are frauds and they are using lucky guesses and verbal clues to get their information. Russek points out that if the mediums are connecting with the dead, they should be able to receive information without the sitter saying a single word. In the second part of the session, the sitters are again allowed to answer yes or no to the mediums questions. In the third experiment, the medium never heard the sitters' voice. There is another silent period where the sitter does not speak at all and then in the second part the experimenter waits for the sitters' nod or shake of the head. At that point, the experimenter answers yes or no for the sitter. Each experiment adds new controls so that the mediums would have a very hard time finding a loophole.
As I review the book, I feel that the argument Schwartz and Russek present make very valid points. In order for this phenomena to be proven, I think many more experiments need to be conducted. Life after death is a very controversial subject. I think that Schwartz went about conducting his experiments in a scientific fashion, but there is not enough evidence to convince the world that there is in fact existence after this life.
This argument is deductively valid because it is impossible for the premise to be true and the conclusion false. If the mediums are really communicating with the deceased relatives of the sitters, the conclusion that life exists after death must be true. Otherwise, how would the mediums be able to talk to the deceased? If life does not exist after death, they would not be able to tell the sitters intimate details about their family members that no one else would know except for the sitter. For example, Schwartz meets with the first medium, Laurie Campbell, through Dr.Donald Watson, a psychiatrist and friend of Schwartz. Laurie begins describing in good detail Schwartz' father and Russeks' father, both of which are deceased. She does not mix up details or try to make generalizations about these men. Schwartz is in awe, so he calls Russek to tell her the good news. He hands the phone to Laurie, who immediately says, "I'm receiving communication from your father. He wants me to tell you, 'Thank you for the music'" (35). This amazes Russek because she played tapes for her father while he was very sick and presumed unconscious of his surroundings. Only the friend who prepared the tape, Russek's mother and sisters, the doctors, and a few nurses were aware of Russek playing music for her dying father. How could Laurie Campbell, a complete stranger to Russek and her family, know about this very intimate detail? The truth of the premise guarantees the truth of the conclusion.
I think this argument is fair. Schwartz presents the book in a way that lets the reader decide on their own whether or not they believe in the afterlife phenomena. At the end of the book, he has a section that is reserved for questions asked by skeptics of the afterlife phenomena. Some of the questions include: Can mediums read skeptics? If mediums can really hear dead people, why don't they ever hear and speak in foreign languages or make medical diagnoses from a dead physician? He has in-dept answers to each of these questions with good evidence supporting his side. He answers the first question by saying "mediums tell us that in order to receive information, which is typically soft and subtle, they must get their own thoughts and emotions out of the way. Their own feelings deafen them, so to speak, to the subtle information they're trying to receive" (218). Skeptics are obviously opposed to what the mediums are doing and that will effect their concentration. Schwartz answers the second question by saying that "mediums claim that the stimuli are there for all to perceive, but they're low-level and subtle, and most of us are too distracted by the outside world as well as our own thoughts and feelings to sense them" (219). Mediums often fill in blanks. Mediums claim they often see symbols that they must interpret instead of hearing or seeing full sentences or complete ideas.
Overall, I think Schwartz' book presents good points. I feel this book is only the beginning of a growing phenomenon. Many more experiments and tests will need to be conducted in order for this phenomena to be proven and accepted by society. Schwartz and Russek have set the cornerstone for finding the truth of whether life exists after this one. "Death is only a horizon" (203).
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Summary: The Afterlife experiments by Gary E. Schwartz, PhD.
Review: The author describes his experiences as he conducts numerous experiments with mediums who believe that they can communicate with people who have left this life. He states that he is a skeptic and nonbeliever, who would like to become a believer, and is amazed at his discoveries as he evaluates his data. I consider myself a skeptic believer, meaning that I do believe in the 'afterlife,' but I don't necessarily believe in the mediums doing the connecting. I was very skeptic reading the book, wondering if the information is all the truth, or if it was in fact a fraud to make money for all the mediums. His basic argument, or hypothesis is that there is "survival of consciousness" after bodily death. His book gives accosts of his experiments as evidence of the existence.
This book is basically trying to prove or disprove the premises that the mediums are receiving messages from dead people, is true, in order to in turn prove that consciousness can and does survive. The author makes no definitive conclusions at the end. He leaves it up to the reader, but makes many statements that his evidence should convince a skeptic. I think his reasoning is pretty strong considering the evidence that seems unquestionable. Since there is no way for any of us to prove that our consciousness will survive until we die, we can only rely on evidences like what he presents in the book, and HBO special which I don't think I saw. We also don't know if Schwartz is being completely honest about his findings. He could be another cohort to the mediums' fraud, and covering it up.
I was unable to discover any logical fallacies that the scientist made, except maybe one he was trying to elicit from readers: the appeal to ignorance. It is easy for the reader to think that because his hypothesis wasn't disproved then it must be true, or that there is not a way to disprove it. We really don't know, and don't know how to definitively prove his hypothesis. His book was very clearly and precisely laid out. It was very easy to follow and understand what was going on. He gave his opinion constantly after recounting a reading or incident. Everything he wrote and said was consistent. He always threw the other view in there to back himself up. There was even a section where they refuted skeptic's opinions with their opinions and facts from the experiments.
I have to say that all the relevant information is taken into account because all that we are aware of is. This is somewhat a new field, and there isn't much that I or other people know concerning the subject. That would commit the availability error because we only have the evidence presented that is visible and don't know what we can't see. The opinion we have of life after death is based mainly on our own ideas and feelings. There hasn't been any other real scientific evidence used to try to prove it that has been known to the public. Unfortunately because we don't know, we are left to believe what the experts tell us, like when they found out that the earth revolved around the sun and other such things. If all of the evidence is honest and true, then I think he is justified in making the claim that consciousness does exist after death. They included magicians who knew how to make false readings to look for ways to disprove that the mediums were legit. That inclusion of the counter argument makes it more believable.
A conspiracy theorist would say that they are all in it together. He might be right. It could be another money- maker. People do a lot of crazy things for money these days. I can't remember who said that the fact that someone thought of it means that it must exist. That may or may not be true. The main thing here is that even if the experiments don't prove his idea, that doesn't mean that it will never be proven. Since 'science is always provisional' we don't know what information we will know in the future. There are so many things, like this, that people in the past thought were impossible and outrageous, that we today take for granted. Dr. Schwartz experiments are either a waste of time and money, or the being of something very extraordinary that will one day become common.
Rating:
Summary: Hard Science or Soft Hearted?
Review: The possibility of life after death is a question that has allured the human mind since the beginning of time. Does life exist on a continuum that exceeds the physical world, or to we exist merely to perish one day? Gary Schwartz, an Ivy League scholar and professor of psychology, medicine, psychiatry, and surgery at the University of Arizona, seeks to scientifically verify the existance of consciousness beyond the death of the physical body in his book The Afterlife experiments. He asserts that mediums can communicate with those who have crossed over. So, if all other sources of information sharing, such as nonverbal cues, telepathy, and "cold readings" can be ruled out, and if the probability of accuracy for the mediums exceeds that for chance alone, then the existance of life after death can be confirmed.
The information found in this book was very compelling; however, it was not very conclusive. Schwartz's first set of experiments, termed the HBO experiments, consisted of 5 well-known mediums performing readings on 2 undisclosed sitters. The sitters were instructed to answer only "yes" or "no" to the medium's statements. The correctness of the medium's reports was then to be scored on a scale of -3 (completely false) to +3 (completely true)by the sitters themselves. There are of course several errors in this study, some of which were noted by Schwartz himself. The first of which was identifying unconscious cues of the sitters in leading or directing the reading. The next flaw, was that the sitters were naturally bereaved, and thus, seeking comforting information that would confirm their beliefs in the afterlife. This confirmation bias is prevalent not only in the readings themselves, but also in the ratings of accuracy. The control group in this and subsequent studies was also limiting. The controls were given certain information and then asked to guess the truth of the information provided. A true control would seem to be a non-medium doing a "cold-reading" to account for nonverbal cues, leading, the Forer effect, and lucky guesses. The experimental group was non-randomized in that the sitters were all self-confirmed believers and often times friends of the experimenters.
Schwartz added more controls to his later experiments. In his subsequent experiments, the mediums were not allowed to see the sitters. A silent period, wherein the sitter did not respond to the mediums reading, was also introduced. The subjects in this study scored the readings of all of the sitters, as well as their own, for accuracy. While the results yeilded lower scores for this study than the HBO experiment, the scores were still high; however, many of the same errors existed.
All of the participants in the study, including the sitters, the mediums, and the experimenters themselves, had a vested interest in the results of the studies; therefore the Forer effect and the confirmation bias were prevalent in all of the studies. The availability error further clouded reasoning because the participants based many judgements on vivid evidence rather than on trustworthy facts. The subjects latched on to the accurate statements and the faulty statements were always explained with an ad hoc hypothesis: one of my favorites being that the consciousness of Schwartz's over-bearing mother was blocking the medium from being able to perform a reading for another sitter.
Furthermore, the hypothesis, while testable, is limited in scope, it makes no novel predictions, it makes too many assumptions without explaing accurately the causes, and it attempts to refute in one study what the corpus of our knowledge has been forever - that there is no evidence that mediums can communicate with the dead.
Though the book itself is intriguing and compelling at times, the fundamental argument is flawed. The research did not demonstrate conclusively that life after death exists, or that mediums could communicate with the consciousness of those who have passed over. The book is a good read, not so much intended for those in search of hard science as much for those trying to assuage a soft heart.
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Summary: May the Schwartz Be With You........NOT!
Review: Because I cannot review this spiralling gobbledegook mess of pseudo-science, lazy methodology, and plain ol' wishful-thinking without wanting to smack Schwartz upside the noggin' with a critical thinking/scientific method stick, I will point you instead to Marc Berard's concise review of his so-called "breakthrough" in the "Theologians & Extraterrestrial Life" issue of Skeptic Magazine (Volume 9 - Number 3). Schwartz claims that skeptics suffer from "skeptomania," a neurosis caused by lack of love. Skeptomania, my bloomin' arse. Skeptics suffer from critical thinking, demanding rational inquiry, strict methodology, several test passes, controlled experimental conditions, an extensive review of the data by one's peers, etc. As such, Schwartz is an embarassment either because he's an out-in-out snake-oil salesman looking to fleece the ignorant and superstitious out of a few bucks, or because he's a turncoat to his own scientific background. Schwartz's methods are definitely NOT science. I'd rate this a negative star if it was at all possible, perhaps give it a black hole (sucking all light of reason out whatever room the back happens to be opened). Schwartz should be ashamed of himself. Sigh....
Rating:
Summary: The Afterlife Experiments
Review: It may sound ironic, but death is a major part of life. Some people may live in fear of one day dying and others may live everyday to the fullest because one day they know they will no longer have the chance to. This fact that we all must deal with in the end provokes questions that want to know what happens after the last breath of air is taken. Is there an afterlife? Does the human soul survive and move to another unearthly plane? In the book that I read these questions and more were tackled in the way of using science. Science however is usually used to disprove such statements by concluding that there is no scientific evidence to support the hypotheses that are made. But Gary E. Shwartz, the author of the book, and his colleague, Linda Russek broach the issue of the survival of consciousness after death by using science as a backbone.
To establish that the specific premises of the book were true is a hard task. Since the premises were mainly hypotheses, it is hard to determine that they were undoubtedly and undisputedly righteous. Throughout the book the hypotheses, or premises, that were mostly focused on were: 1. That love and life are eternal
2. That consciousness exists
3. That consciousness remains after death
4. That there are people who can communicate with the deceased Based on the evidence that was provided throughout the book and through the results of the experiments conducted it would seem that the hypotheses or premises above were and in fact are still true.
In the matter of whether or not the reasoning of Gary and Linda was good or even deductively valid, there is no question that it wasn't. Their theory was that if a well conducted and thoroughly combed over for mistakes experiment or series of experiments concluded that it was possible for a human here on Earth to receive specific, personal, and correct information from others who have passed on then that would validate the premises of the existence of the consciousness in life and death. With this in mind, that actually did happen in not one but all of the experiments that Gary and Linda performed starting on February 20th, 1999 along with the help of two sitters, Ronnie Nathanson (a Sears saleswoman) and Patricia Price (A schoolteacher) and a few talented and well-known mediums such as; George Anderson, John Edward, Suzanne Northrop, and the Rev. Anne Gehman.
In the major series of experiments that were conducted mediums are placed beside the sitter (someone who was randomly chosen and whom the mediums had never met), separated by a screen that prevented them seeing each other. After some technicalities were then worked out, the medium would start off by basically blurting out info that he/she was receiving from loved ones and friends of the sitter that were deceased. This information would include who the deceased that were present were, family history background that would be meaningful to the sitter, and information that the deceased wanted the sitter to know. In order not to give away any answers or to help the medium, the sitter would respond in only yes or no answers. Each sitter went through several different mediums, with different approaches and tactics and got a lot of the same information but also different specific information as well. During these experiments the mediums' rate of accuracy was very high and the information given to the sitter was not generic nor did it fit anybody else there during the experiment like it did the sitter herself. Thus making the argument complete.
During the book Gary expresses his views on the afterlife from a Scientist's point of view. He does not concede in the beginning of having a strong belief that there is an afterlife nor does he state anything against it. He believes that "data can be stronger than fiction," and that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Throughout the experiment, Gary, by analyzing what he had written on what his thoughts at the time were, kept a seriously open mind and optimistic attitude. He and Linda were able to be fair in how they approached their experiments and along with being enthusiastic about their possible conclusion that confirmed the existence of the consciousness after death they were also skeptic. This really omitted any fallacies that they could have made during their research. During the experiments Gary was constantly trying to find ways to disprove and find little things wrong that could support the opposite side of his argument. So in the end in both cases the data that was recorded in the experiments did speak louder than fiction and the extraordinary claims that Gary and Linda had set out to prove did require that extraordinary evidence that was shown in the results.
Is there life after death? Is love and life eternal? Does consciousness exist and does it exist after death? Based on the results of the experiments conducted by Gary and Linda involving the sitters and mediums; yes there is life after death where the consciousness does exist and in life where there was once love, that love carries on to whatever plane the after-life consciousness exists on. The book that Gary E. Schwartz wrote shows scientific evidence of this such consciousness after death, and the way he and Linda Russek went about it was brilliantly fair, accurate, and astonishing.
Rating:
Summary: The Afterlife Experiments~a must read!!
Review: "The Afterlife Experiments" is a very compelling book that keeps you intrigued from cover to cover. The thought of our souls surviving beyond death and that certain people can communicate with the descesed is a remarkable thought that Gary Schwartz is trying to prove with innovative scientific research. Schwartz states at the beginning of this book that if you are going into this book a disbeliever of the afterlife, we are about to change your mind. That is exactly what it did for me, before reading this book I always had the thought that "mediums" or any kind of communication with the dead, or with ones that have crossed over was false. I thought that it was all based trickery and played on people's emotions. As Schwartz proves in this book, there are people out there who are doing just this, "cold readings" as they are called are magicians who are using reactions and very general information to convince people that they are actually communicating with their loved one. As you will see when you read this book, Schwartz conducts experiments under very controlled settings. In these experiments there is no way for the medium to have any prior knowledge of the sitter he is doing the reading on; yet the medium will get an average of 50% or more of accurate information of this stranger from his or her deceased loved ones. The experiments keep getting more and more remarkable; as does the amount of information the mediums are receiving as you follow Schwartz through three years of unbelievable research.
There is an analogy stated in the book that's good at explaining the works and accuracy of the mediums. It talks about how good Michael Jordan is at playing basketball, and how he is very well known for his abilities. However his shooting average was less than 45%, less than half of the games. He was just better than anyone else on the team. The mediums have a 45% accuracy rate or better in all of their readings through out this book. Some of the times they were 100% correct with their information. This is not only very impressive, but also astonishing to think that this might actually be happening.
I recommend this book to anyone who is intrigued by the after life and the discoveries that this book has made. This book explains all the scientific knowledge and terms used very well. Overall a great book, and a must read!!
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