sub-title: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife
My sister gave this to me. It's the story of a doctor who had a near death experience after going into a coma from an infection. It was a life changing experience that drove him to share his experience with others. I was moved by the transformation of his beliefs and his passion for sharing his experience.
Published: 2012 Read: May 2026 Genre: Memoir
I say this often: this is the best book I've read in a while. What makes a book a "best" for me? One factor is that the writing doesn't distract from the story; another that the characters are believable and interesting. Both of those find me reading without noticing the passage of time late into the night. I want to know how the story ends, but I don't rush through because their are bits almost every page to savor.
This is a story of an older woman who predicts the death of passengers on a plane. What do people do if they know when and how they will die? Moriarty takes us through their reactions while at the same time revealing the lives they were living and how the prediction changes or does not change them. Interlaced with their stories, is the story of Cherry, the prognosticator, and how she came to be on the plane.
It's an engrossing story that made me smile and cry and appreciate how the author weaves the stories of many people into a meaningful whole. Read this book, I'm sure you will enjoy it.
Quotes:
"The belief that the probability of future events changes based on past events (assuming those events are independent) is known as the Monte Carlo fallacy or the gambler's fallacy. [26 consecutive landing on black in 1913 in Monte Carlo casino]."
"Math, by the way, is a language, I would argue a beautiful one, and it's the only universal language there is, because it's the same all over the world."
"Those big open landscapes gave me a not unpleasant sensation of vertigo. I enjoyed the feeling of being small and insignificant. It's healthy to be reminded of your insignificance."
"I still think that, sometimes, even though I know full well I am exemplifying the just-world fallacy, which is the erroneous belief that the world is fair. We are socialized to think that. It makes the world feel more predictable if we believe good behavior is rewarded and bad behavior punished."
A woman with a chronically I'll husband is losing her father in the ICU and escapes to a Best Western in the desert to sort out her emotions. This is the beginning of a strange tale of dealing with overwhelming grief, loss, and sadness. She wanders in the desert and seeks comfort and answers from nature - a Saguaro cactus, rocks, and rabbits.
I picked this up at The Tattered Cover bookstore in the Denver airport as the reviews said it was funny and would make me laugh. Hardly.
Published: 2023 Read: June 2023 Genre: Fiction
