Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

I usually enjoy all of Mary Roach's books but this one was good but not her best. She didn't seem really objective to the subject as a scientist should.

Despite the fact that Mary Roach prefaces the book by telling you that you won't be finding any answers to the great mysteries of life in this book, I read it with the hope that I would. As promised, I did not get any profound answers, but I did enjoy myself for a little while.

Roach writes with good-humored prose and tackles the weirdness that is the search for life after death with good spirit (forgive the pun). The experiments she participates in were fun to read about, and the history lessons she provides were interesting.

I had hoped for something more, though. The book feels like it only scratched the surface. It didn't deliver any big punches, just little set-up taps. Usually, when I finish a book I like, I'm driven to grab up other books by that author and tear through them. When I finished Spook, I closed it, returned it to the library from which I'd borrowed it, and had zero desire to pick up any of her other books. That's no knock against Roach's writing or the subject matters, mind you. I enjoyed this book very much, but it's just not something that compels me to her other work.

A little slow paced but funny. If you believe in ghosts, you should read it.

It was more generous to the crackpots than I would have been. It ends really strong. I got more out of Packing for Mars.

More about the soul, etc. than ghosts - bummer!

After reading and really enjoying Stiff, I was slightly disappointed with Spook. She repeats herself between the books and doesn't seem as interested in this subject as with actual corpses. I prefer this subject over the other so maybe I'm a little biased and over-informed to really enjoy this book (I didn't learn nearly as much as I did from Stiff) but I would still recommend this to people interested in the subject, especially if they're looking for a sort of starter read. I still enjoy Roach's writing style and distinct voice, though.

I didn't like this as much as Mary Roach's Bonk.

Since I am a non-believer, it seemed like an exercise in frustration to research the subject.