The Modern Book of the Dead

A modern exploration of what happens after death, uniting spirituality with philosophy, biology, neuroscience, and rich examples of afterlife experiences.

What happens to us after we die?

It remains perhaps the single most important question we can ask, one that still inspires thousands to turn to the Tibetan and Egyptian Books of the Dead for hope and comfort. But we can no longer rely solely on ancient wisdom for truly useful answers about our own mortality. We must find explanations for the afterlife in the fruits of modern experience.

Critically acclaimed author Ptolemy Tompkins grew up in a family where questions about the shape and fate of the human soul were discussed on a daily basis, but it was only after his father’s passing that he began to consider death in a genuinely concrete way. In this boldly unconventional book—part memoir, part history of ideas, part road map to what might truly await us—Tompkins approaches the question of the afterlife with refreshing intimacy. Weaving together philosophy, science, stories of near-death experiences, and theology, he offers readers a new perspective on death and comes to an amazing and uplifting conclusion: that, somehow, human consciousness lives on.