Spook

SPOOK

by: Mary Roach

     "What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that's that -- the million-year nap? Or does some part of my personality, my me-ness, persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my laptop?" Apparently I'm really getting into these philosophically questioning books about what occurs after death. Who would have thought? The atheist fascinated by the afterlife! Irony. I guess, in that sense, Mary Roach and I have a lot in common.

    What fascinated me about Spook was how one who had not spent years investigating the claims could seriously believe some of the things she investigates. She talks about the dangers of being too skeptical or dogmatic and of the virtue of having an open mind because, if she is being honest, she hasn't studied this stuff at all. In fact, the way she writes about some of her adventures, the reader can identify that she doesn't believe what some of the people she encounters say.  These characteristics help her in being able to interview people with no judgements toward their story. 

    Roach utilizes her abilities to travel around the world facing different situations and different people along the way.  Though she doesn't believe everything she is told -- she is able to write a fascinating story about the person involved in the life after death experiences.  She incorporates their emotions into her story while still revealing her true intake on what is being said.  

    Though slow and a somewhat tedious book to read, Spook intrigued me with it's differing tones, fascinating adventures, and compelling yet thought-provoking stories.  It questioned what I believed and showed strange evidence of peoples lives being twisted and churned because of what they thought to be their reincarnation.