"Life After Life" by Raymond Moody


Life After Life is a 1975 book written by psychiatrist Raymond Moody. It is a report on a qualitative study in which Moody interviewed 150 people who had undergone near-death experiences (NDEs). The book presents the author's composite account of what it is like to die. On the basis of his collection of cases, Moody identified a common set of elements in NDEs:


  • (a) an overwhelming feeling of peace and well-being, including freedom from pain.

  • (b) the impression of being located outside one's physical body.

  • (c) floating or drifting through darkness, sometimes described as a tunnel.

  • (d) becoming aware of a golden light.

  • (e) encountering and perhaps communicating with a "being of light".

  • (f) having a rapid succession of visual images of one's past.

  • (g) experiencing another world of much beauty.


Life After Life sold more than 13 million copies, was translated into a dozen foreign languages and became an international best seller, which made the subject of NDEs popular and opened the way for many other studies.

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