Enjoyed this read, though I had to be in the mental mood to read it, as it took a bit of effort to get through and grasp the subject at hand. A tad fun, a bunch of science and decent enlightenment are held within the cover. Would recommend for those looking to expand their knowledge base.

Without imposing his ideas to the reader, David explains the three subjects with a neutral pace; Buddhism, Science, and the Paranormal. This approach provide the reader the chance to triangulate the three subjects and correlate their own conclusions. I liked this balanced approach compared to other book where sciences or mysticism are the key or the explanations of everything.


#MindBeyondBrain #NetGalley

Until recently, the bricks-and-mortar way of understanding the world with its atoms and scientific laws seemed to be enough. But then the atom was split even further and then physics starts to get weird. Consciousness at a quantum level can actually determine things.
Psychologists and physicists may be specialists at understanding consciousness at an objective level, whilst Buddhism specialises at understading the deeper layers of subjective consciousness. The hope expressed in this book is that one day, the approaches of each will merge, then a new way of understanding reality will emerge.
Chapters here bring together the fruit of old and new research into parapsychological research first founded by William James. Empirical research carried out over a hundred years ago into such matters as the NDE (near-death experience), mediumship and children who claim to remember earlier lives. More recently, there has been the work on the latter by Ian Stephenson, for example. This kind of research, the book argues, is where the merging of Buddhism and Science will be most fruitful.
This is quite a slim volume of chapters, but sometimes more can be less. The research here is certainly being encouraged by no less that the Dalai Rama himself.
You do not need to be a Buddhist however, to enjoy this, perhaps just to have an interest in where science and mysticism - or non-dog stick spirituality - overlap. Perhaps what is most interesting is that with James, there was already a lively interest in these areas, and that somehow, this easier painstaking research was forgotten.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

The authors' that that this book is motivated by the notion that the contemporary encounter between Buddhism and science provides a forum in which to productively explore a more central role of mind and conscousness in our description of nature. Mind Beyond Brain describes a variety of phenomena that is not readily understood within the current explanatory framework of biophysical science. The book coveres the general state of various paranormal fields at present. Topics such as near-death experiences (NDEs), past-life memories, mediums, crisis apparitions, deathbed experiences, and extrasensory perceptions such as telepathy and psychokinesis are discussed. I found the first and last chapters to be too philosophical for my taste, however, the remaining chapters a nicely written and provide an objective (as much as possible) look at the current status of the subject. The authors try to demonstrate the existence of these paranormal phenomena, make an attempt at understanding how they work and what the implications may be for our general scientific worldview. This isn't a religious book, but spirituality, mind and brain functioning are central issues. Sections of this book come across as an attempt to gain funds for additional research for these topics. I'm all for additional research into paranormal phenomena so can someone please fund these people? Inconsistenceis between observed paranormal phenomena and the known explanatory mechanism should be reasons for excitement and result in new advances in sicentific intestigation of mind and its relation to the world of matter. The book is clearly written, interesting and provides food for thought. However, I do wish the authors had gone into more detail on some of the topics covered in this book.