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| Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife | 
 enlarge | Author: Mary Roach
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95 (32.84 RON)
Buy New: $10.88 (25.61 RON)
You Save: $3.07 (7.23 RON) (22%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  113 reviews
Sales Rank: 20649
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 0393329127
Dewey Decimal Number: 129
EAN: 9780393329124
ASIN: 0393329127
Publication Date: October 2, 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Amazing book! Insightful and funny. November 20, 2005
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I read this book in one night. Mary Roach is a superb writer who addresses the possibility of an Afterlife with a scientist's impartial eye and a comedian's deadpan humor. Everyone knows scientists can't write worth a hoot, and thus we have the wonderful Roach to broach the gap between knowledge and entertainment in this uproarious book. Congrats, Mary! I can't wait to see what your next book is...
Thoroughly Entertaining November 15, 2005
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
My husband and I heard the interview with Mary Roach on NPR independently of each other. It was the first time either one of us felt compelled to buy a book immediately. We were going by a book store that night so popped in and purchased it (after much searching with staff help). Spook was not disappointing! Roach's witty but irreverent style of writing is most entertaining. She tackles, from a very unscientific position, science's search for the soul, ghosts, spiritual mediums, reincarnation, out-of-body experiences and the like. I laughed the whole time I was reading it and not until the last line do we find out if she is a believer or skeptic. I am going to recommend this to my book club even. I've already recommended it to a number of friends.
After finishing Spook, I went out and bought her book, Stiff. I enjoyed learning about what happens to cadavers but I don't think my book club would be as keen on it. It maybe a touch gory for some.
I certainly look forward to Roach's next book. My hope is that she writes about consciousness next!
 A Big Disappointment November 15, 2005
6 out of 13 found this review helpful
When I read Mary Roach's first book, Stiff, I could hardly put it down, so when I heard she had a new book out I immediately placed a hold on it at the library where I work. Am I glad I didn't buy it.
As soon as it came in I eagerly started reading. What a disappointment. The humor and writing style that made Stiff so readable are lost here. Instead we're presented with a writer who not only seems to have her mind firmly made up beforehand about the topic but also seems to be writing an essay, craming in way more than enough details and worthless facts. The result is a boring read that I had to force myself to pick up.
Spook November 6, 2005
13 out of 26 found this review helpful
Terrible, Terrible, Terrible. What a waste of time and money.
I think the author wants to be a stand up comic. However, I did not find anything that was funny to me due to the subtitle of... "Science Tackles the Afterlife" on the cover. There was nothing that read like true science. Very, very disappointing. I would give it a Zero rating but the stars only go down to 1*.
Not A Science Writer November 4, 2005
16 out of 28 found this review helpful
Would somebody PLEASE tell all of the book stores to move this book out of the science and technology section. Mary Roach is NOT a scientist or science writer. This book is a major disappointment if you expect science or even an understanding of science from the author. It is however an easy read, well suited for a long flight or while sitting in a waiting room. It has the type of humor you expect from the author but not much more. I did NOT like this book beyond the fact that she writes in a nice flowing easy to read style.
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