Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences

Dying to Live examines reported near-death experiences through psychology, biology and medicine, asking how familiar features might arise from changes in the brain. Susan Blackmore considers accounts of tunnels, brilliant lights, peace, joy, life reviews, timelessness and apparent out-of-body perception, while distinguishing experiences associated with approaching death from interpretations added afterwards.

The book sets scientific explanations against spiritual claims about survival after death. Blackmore discusses oxygen deprivation, brain activity, memory, visual experience and related states of consciousness, then weighs the evidence for neurological and afterlife interpretations. Her argument favours the Dying Brain hypothesis, presenting near-death experiences as powerful events that may be explained without treating them as proof of a surviving self.