Rating: 
Summary: Skeptics or Hypocrites?
Review: Being a man of science myself, and knowing just how difficult it is to be published, especially given the nature of the subject matter, I have to give kudos to Dr. Schwartz for even attempting to conduct research in this area. What I find particularly distressing are the objections from the so-called "skeptical" community who demand "rational analysis" and the like. Having been a trained philosophical logician, computer scientist, and most recently, cognitive scientist, I can personally attest to the existence of the "church of scientism." Even neuropsychology, the "hardest" of the mind sciences, is heavily reliant on experimental methodology that doesn't prove much beyond a reasonable doubt, unless the scientist makes some serious assumptions. Functional MRI studies which characterize blood flow in certain localized brain areas can give us clues as to "something going on" in a brain area, without much insight as to what that something actually is! Evolutionary psychologists, sociologists, and cultural anthropologists have stunned us with extraordinary hypotheses concerning how our views of God and self are purely social constructions which enable us to cope with the notion of mortality. Funny, if these things are all evolutionary traits allowing the florishing of the human race, why is it that there have been several thriving religious doctrines which don't explicitly talk much about the survival of personality after death. How can neanderthal cave paintings of disembodied spirits be explained without a society or cultural underpinnings to motivate them? There are too many unanswered questions. Ultimately, most of empirical science is either a weak inductive argument or abductive inference to the best explanation anyhow. Take it for what it's worth. It's just a single way of explaining "reality" using a contrived methodology.
Rating: 
Summary: An instant classic
Review: Debunkers can nit-pick the methodology, but you can't argue with (1) the author's medical and academic credentials; (2) the fact that some very impressive results were achieved under reasonably controlled conditions ("highly controlled" to everyone but the nit-picking debunkers); and (3) the fact that this is a tightly written, fascinating book regardless of your inclinations toward the paranormal. You are, of course, pretty much reading a "highlight reel" of the results achieved by the mediums, but those results are incredible and will stand beside those achieved with Mrs. Piper, Eileen Garrett and the other great mediums who were subjected to scientific scrutiny (and they definitely were -- hopefully this book will launch you into a study of the serious work done by the Society for Psychical Research and its American counterpart). I had read some of the more scholarly accounts of Schwartz' work, but this book put it all in perspective in an easy-to-digest format. I didn't find it dry AT ALL. This is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the possibility of an afterlife -- much better and more convincing, in my opinion, than any of the books by the mediums who participated in Schwartz' study.
Rating:
Summary: THE AFTERLIFE EXPERIMENTS
Review: Emily Heibert
Book Review
The Afterlife Experiments
Gary E. Schwartz Ph.D.
The Afterlife Experiments; written by Gary Schwartz discusses an overwhelming exploratory view of the hypothesis that consciousness survives after physical death. It is an amazing collection of data and real life experiments. At the beginning of the book, Schwartz does not really tell the reader what he believes to be true about the living soul hypothesis. He leads to his conclusion with dumbfounding readings from mediums and very convincing data. It is full of remarkable events which lead to many new and intense thoughts for someone who has really never thought of the possibilities that might actually exists.
Gary Schwartz takes the reader through years of research and actual experiments to see if possibly the hypothesis of consciousness surviving after death can actually be proven. With his partner Linda Russek, Schwartz goes through repeated experiments with mediums who claim to connect to the loved ones of sitters. Early on the two scientists did an experiment in which HBO recorded the mediums and their readings; the accuracy of the mediums was overwhelming from the beginning but being scientists needed more data to prove the hypothesis. They also did what they called the Canyon Ranch experiments, which is the place where the readings were held. As the experiments and years go on they focus on about five mediums in particular. They also do more and more to make sure the readings are accurate and that the mediums can in no way be "cheating" ahead of time by getting information on the sitters. They address the idea of precognition and of mind reading but do not believe that is exactly what is going on in these readings. The sitters and mediums do not meet ahead of time and in some cases the sitter did not even speak. Over and over again I could tell that Schwartz still could not believe the overwhelming evidence and the things he saw and heard first hand. I found myself thrown aback several different times throughout reading the book. I felt like I actually was lost in the readings that the mediums were giving. By the end of the book and what seems to be somewhat of a close to Schwartz's research it seemed to be that the evidence was extremely creditable and very supporting of the hypothesis that perhaps our consciousness does live on after our actual physical death. Being a scientist, Schwartz seemed reluctant to say he had proven the living soul hypothesis through his many experiments and his collection of data because the evidence was not 100%. He also reveals that he was brought up to believe scientists do not believe in things if they are not proven 100% even though he realized he was being scientifically hypocritical. Despite all this Schwartz and Russek decide that they are going to live their lives as if the living soul hypothesis is true. If the hypothesis is false they would never know that the experiment failed but if it were true the lives they had lived up until death would be quite different and possibly very convincing evidence. The questions that arise from these experiments and this book I believe could be life changing.
In my opinion this is an amazingly accurate and valid book of research into a very unknown but much thought about subject. I think that we all as humans at one time or another think of life after death. We think about it existing and what it might be like. What I think we all fail to realize is that we do not have to know 100% that something is true to believe in it. We wait for proof of something that we may never have proof of. I think in life whatever you believe in is a huge part of what makes you who you are. I think the experiments Schwartz and Russek do are extremely thorough and maybe even somewhat unexplainable. So if they are unexplainable I guess many people won't ever be able to say that they believe in life after death. Before reading this book I probably would have said I did not believe in life after death and while I can't really say I believe in it now, the book has opened my eyes. It has made me think more deeply, which is very liberating. I think that while some things such as these afterlife experiments cannot be 100% proved or explained that does not necessarily mean that it is not true for me. I think that maybe Schwartz and Russek had it right, why wait for the evidence to become a better person or parent or friend. What would it hurt to live like some part of you may live on after your actual death? If we would examine our lives in this way maybe we could live happier more fulfilled lives. I think that this is an amazing collection of scientific data and an eye opening examination of the human life and afterlife. I am very glad that I read this book and I think that I will try to live my life as if I am in some way conducting my own afterlife experiment.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read For Skeptic And Believer Alike
Review: Ever since I picked up this book and read it I have been recommending it to everyone I know to buy a copy and read it! I myself am an extremely spiritual person, but I reserve the right to some healthy skepticism as there are many deceivers.
I was impressed with the lengths Schwartz went to to challenge the validity of his own results. Double blind experiments, long distance with no communication finding out facts not apparent until after corroboration with other family members...these do not indicate Schwartz was anything but scientific and thorough. As a science major in university I would love to see his statistics and detailed findings, and I hope one day to read of them. However his passion was not for proving the psychics right. It was to find out the truth, whatever way the wind blew, for or against.
In this book we find out Einstein was right - energy cannot just disappear, it simply converts to a different type. One that cannot be picked up by any man made object, as YET - only mankind himself.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for the Truly Objective
Review: Gary Schwartz' After Life Experiments may not be the best book I've ever read, but it certainly may be one of the most important. Schwartz' willingness to stake his professional career and academic credentials in pursuit of the question of whether human consciousness survives death is nothing if not courageous, and his book echoes that daring approach to a subject "real" science has chosen to consistently ignore. This book, I believe, will be remembered as the forerunner of a host of similar works in the future, and may be looked upon by future generations as a watershed work in the field of parapsychology.That being said, I will not do another chapter by chapter critique of the book, for the contents have been well covered by other reviewers. What I do want to discuss is how it is being reviewed. I find it most curious that it either consistently receives five stars and high praise (often by apparently cogent, intelligent reviewers) or one star and some turgid two sentence review to the effect "this is all nonsense." There's almost nothing in between these two extremes. Obviously, it has hit a few raw nerves and is being set up as the biggest challenge for the skeptical community to date. It's fascinating to observe to what extent debunkers will go in their efforts to silence an author's work, and wonder if that's a sign of their intellectual superiority or evidence of some deep seated fear. I really don't know, but I find it an interesting phenomenon in any case. As for the book, I strongly advise anyone with even a modicum of objectivity to read it. It may not change your life, but it's certain to change a few minds or, at very least, get you thinking. A nice read.
Rating:
Summary: BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT
Review: In offering evidence that consciousness survives bodily death, the author goes well beyond the "preponderance of evidence" standard required to prove civil law suits and, in this reviewer's opinion, easily exceeds the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard required for criminal cases.
Certainly, Dr. Schwartz has the credentials of a true scientist. He received his doctorate from Harvard and taught at Yale before moving on to the University of Arizona, where he is professor of psychology, medicine, neurology, psychiatry, and surgery as well as the director of its Human Energy Systems Laboratory. But Schwartz is not your mainstream scientist. Even though very much a skeptic himself, he had the courage to take on a research project in a scientifically taboo area after being introduced to a medium who immediately began communicating very evidential material from his mother. Schwartz arranged for five mediums, including the well-known John Edward and George Anderson, to undergo testing at his laboratory. All possible scientific controls and precautions were taken. The conclusion by Schwartz and Dr. Linda Russek, who collaborated with him in the research, was that the mediums were indeed gifted and able to communicate with spirit entities. In in the initial stages of the research, Schwartz found it difficult to believe what he was seeing and hearing. "My degree of doubt in the presence of all data was frankly irrational," he writes. "I was experiencing skeptimania." But as the research continued, Schwartz was forced to face the truth. "I can no longer ignore the data and dismiss the words," he continues. "They are as real as the sun, the trees, and our television sets, which seem to pull pictures out of the air." While the appendix to the book reads like a scientific journal, the book itself is well written in layman's language. To the "believer" in survival of consciousness, this book should signifantly bolster his or her faith. To the "true" skeptic, the book will open some eyes and the light might be allowed to penetrate an open mind. To the pseudo-skeptic, however, it will, unfortunately, do nothing more than raise eyebrows. These pseudo skeptics are the intellectually arrogant with closed minds who don't really examine the data. If Schwartz's research can't convince them, nothing can.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Most Important Books of our Time!
Review: It's time human beings start listening, "The Afterlife Experiments confirms what we already know to be true in our hearts"
Rating: 
Summary: No Science in These Experiments
Review: The book is not evidence of an afterlife nor of telepathy. Those two phenomena may well exist, but this book does nothing to evince it. For detailed reviews, I suggest the Skeptical Inquirer (sorry, I don't know which volume off the top of my head), skepticreport.com, or the Forum at randi.org. For a quick list of flaws, though, I'll give it a shot: -There is no hypothesis put forth which the experiment attempts to demonstrate or falsify. -The protocols are ludicrously porous; Schwartz claims that cheating is not possible but a reading of the book reveals myriad opportunities for cheating by the medium and for cold reading (for instance, and this is not the worst of it: Schwartz says the sitters give no feedback, but they consistently do -Schwartz's statistical analysis contains sophomoric errors, particularly where he averages "accuracy" -The "control" survey done is not a control at all and is instituted after and differently than the actual experiments -Schwartz refuses to say how he turns a subjective sitter determination of accuracy (on a scale of -3 to +3) into a percentage accuracy; he just does it -Only one complete transcript is shown (and that's not really complete in that it leaves out the "mood setting" introduction by medium George Anderson); only snippets of some others are shown; the vast majority are not referenced at all -One John Edward is missing with the sitter, Schwartz takes the sitter's place and counts the information as hits for him There's plenty more, but the holes in this book are huge. It is not remotely science. You can determine that by noting that Schwartz does not publish it in scientific journals; he publishes it in the media. He then refuses to share the actual data with anyone. The experiments are worthless. Schwartz demonstrates nothing. Buy the book if you are interested in how people deceive themselves and others by donning the trappings of science while avoiding its rigors, but do not buy it if you want actual science demonstrated. And, yes, I have communicated my thoughts to Schwartz.
Rating:
Summary: No Science in These Experiments
Review: The book is not evidence of an afterlife nor of telepathy. Those two phenomena may well exist, but this book does nothing to evince it. For detailed reviews, I suggest the Skeptical Inquirer (sorry, I don't know which volume off the top of my head), skepticreport.com, or the Forum at randi.org. For a quick list of flaws, though, I'll give it a shot: -There is no hypothesis put forth which the experiment attempts to demonstrate or falsify. -The protocols are ludicrously porous; Schwartz claims that cheating is not possible but a reading of the book reveals myriad opportunities for cheating by the medium and for cold reading (for instance, and this is not the worst of it: Schwartz says the sitters give no feedback, but they consistently do -Schwartz's statistical analysis contains sophomoric errors, particularly where he averages "accuracy" -The "control" survey done is not a control at all and is instituted after and differently than the actual experiments -Schwartz refuses to say how he turns a subjective sitter determination of accuracy (on a scale of -3 to +3) into a percentage accuracy; he just does it -Only one complete transcript is shown (and that's not really complete in that it leaves out the "mood setting" introduction by medium George Anderson); only snippets of some others are shown; the vast majority are not referenced at all -One John Edward is missing with the sitter, Schwartz takes the sitter's place and counts the information as hits for him There's plenty more, but the holes in this book are huge. It is not remotely science. You can determine that by noting that Schwartz does not publish it in scientific journals; he publishes it in the media. He then refuses to share the actual data with anyone. The experiments are worthless. Schwartz demonstrates nothing. Buy the book if you are interested in how people deceive themselves and others by donning the trappings of science while avoiding its rigors, but do not buy it if you want actual science demonstrated. And, yes, I have communicated my thoughts to Schwartz.
Rating:
Summary: An Old Topic Made New Again
Review: The book presents the results of a scientific experiment carried out by scientists at the Univesity of Arizona, concerning the possibility of communication with the dead. To be sincere, to those interested in the topic, this kind of research is nothing new: Asakof, Crookes, Lombroso, De La Roche, Kardec and others had done that over 2 centuries ago (and not to detract from the present author, much better than he has). However, it is refreshing to see the topic revisited -- especially when portrayed in a very soft, non-academic writing style that makes it easy to read. It should be a good stepping stone to other, more complete works. It also has a good last chapter, about the implications of such findings -- the most important aspect of the whole thing (which is often let aside in most contemporary works of the same kind). I would definitively recommend it.
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