Glimpsing Heaven: The Stories and Science of Life After Death,
by Judy Bachrach. National Geographic, 2014.
Is there such a thing as a near death experience (NDE) or is death really experienced and then the person comes back to life? Scientists and some doctors are beginning to think that the death was real, not just near death. There are thousands of people alive today who have had their heart stopped, brain activity flattened and declared DEAD by their doctors who returned to life. Some are reluctant to tell their stories because
they may be classified as out of their minds, suffering from lack of oxygen, or day dreaming.
Initially the author did not believe in people who claimed to have been carried out of their bodies and experienced light and peace and no desire to return to earth. After having such an experience herself, she became a believer and began to solicit stories like hers.
People who previously had feared death were eager to remain in the “light experience” and did not want to return to earth. Some of this class lost completely
their fear of death and welcomed it. Mothers frequently in labor experienced death, saw their child and/or children in light and did not want to return to earth. Others had the opposite experience.
Some suffering from Alzheimers had periods of lucidity before their actual death, and were able to converse with family members. Some in a near death
experience saw deceased members and were welcomed HOME by them. Some were given the details of their upcoming death.
For the most part, people who had “died and came back” were reluctant to tell their stories, had to coaxed by their listeners, and even wanted to remain anonymous. Medical personnel and hospice nurses often became listeners
to stories which they could not possibly believe, but they are becoming less skeptical.
(Thanks to Sr. Irene Hartman OP for this review.) 
