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In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife
A near-fatal health emergency leads to this powerful reflection on death—and what might follow—by the bestselling author of Tribe and The Perfect Storm.
For years as an award-winning war reporter, Sebastian Junger traveled to many front lines and frequently put his life at risk. And yet the closest he ever came to death was the summer of 2020 while spending a quiet afternoon at the New England home he shared with his wife and two young children. Crippled by abdominal pain, Junger was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Once there, he began slipping away. As blackness encroached, he was visited by his dead father, inviting Junger to join him. “It’s okay,” his father said. “There’s nothing to be scared of. I’ll take care of you.” That was the last thing Junger remembered until he came to the next day when he was told he had suffered a ruptured aneurysm that he should not have survived.
This experience spurred Junger—a confirmed atheist raised by his physicist father to respect the empirical—to undertake a scientific, philosophical, and deeply personal examination of mortality and what happens after we die. How do we begin to process the brutal fact that any of us might perish unexpectedly on what begins as an ordinary day? How do we grapple with phenomena that science may be unable to explain? And what happens to a person, emotionally and spiritually, when forced to reckon with such existential questions?
In My Time of Dying is part medical drama, part searing autobiography, and part rational inquiry into the ultimate unknowable mystery.
For years as an award-winning war reporter, Sebastian Junger traveled to many front lines and frequently put his life at risk. And yet the closest he ever came to death was the summer of 2020 while spending a quiet afternoon at the New England home he shared with his wife and two young children. Crippled by abdominal pain, Junger was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Once there, he began slipping away. As blackness encroached, he was visited by his dead father, inviting Junger to join him. “It’s okay,” his father said. “There’s nothing to be scared of. I’ll take care of you.” That was the last thing Junger remembered until he came to the next day when he was told he had suffered a ruptured aneurysm that he should not have survived.
This experience spurred Junger—a confirmed atheist raised by his physicist father to respect the empirical—to undertake a scientific, philosophical, and deeply personal examination of mortality and what happens after we die. How do we begin to process the brutal fact that any of us might perish unexpectedly on what begins as an ordinary day? How do we grapple with phenomena that science may be unable to explain? And what happens to a person, emotionally and spiritually, when forced to reckon with such existential questions?
In My Time of Dying is part medical drama, part searing autobiography, and part rational inquiry into the ultimate unknowable mystery.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2024
About the author
Sebastian Junger
40 books2,648 followersSebastian Junger is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of War, The Perfect Storm, Fire, and A Death in Belmont. Together with Tim Hetherington, he directed the Academy Award-nominated film Restrepo, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and has been awarded a National Magazine Award and an SAIS Novartis Prize for journalism. He lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 237 reviews
July 10, 2024
This book is a journey through a range of emotions, from fear and confusion to awe and hope. It is a mix of engagement and discovery that can be challenging at points, but ultimately it will lift you up. Junger's soothing, steady tone gives you a companion in thinking about the big existential and afterlife questions.
The (audiobook version) is structured in a way that effortlessly transitions from personal stories and reflections to broader philosophical insights. One moment you'll be caught in a dramatic story, the next considering your beliefs and experiences. It reminds you that thinking about the afterlife is not only a matter of philosophy but something deeply human.
In audio, "In My Time of Dying" will be a spellbinding listen for anybody who has even been curious about life and death mysteries. Junger, with his kind and deep explorations of the texts, not only takes you through some of these big questions, but also empowers you to consider them with an open heart. Well done to Sebastian Junger on writing an experience of the afterlife so engaging that the audiobook platform was a great choice.
The (audiobook version) is structured in a way that effortlessly transitions from personal stories and reflections to broader philosophical insights. One moment you'll be caught in a dramatic story, the next considering your beliefs and experiences. It reminds you that thinking about the afterlife is not only a matter of philosophy but something deeply human.
In audio, "In My Time of Dying" will be a spellbinding listen for anybody who has even been curious about life and death mysteries. Junger, with his kind and deep explorations of the texts, not only takes you through some of these big questions, but also empowers you to consider them with an open heart. Well done to Sebastian Junger on writing an experience of the afterlife so engaging that the audiobook platform was a great choice.
February 3, 2024
Everything alive has some kind of flux and ebb, and when that stops, life stops. When people say life is precious, they are saying that the rhythmic force that runs through all things — your wrist, your children’s wrists, God’s entire green earth — is precious. For my whole life, my pulse ran through me with such quiet power that I never had to think about it. And now they were having trouble finding it.
In 2020, at fifty-eight years old, best-selling author Sebastian Junger had a near-fatal health emergency (a ruptured aneurysm on a pancreatic artery; his odds of surviving, even with timely medical intervention, were around 10%), and while doctors at the Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis worked frantically to save his life, Junger had a profound near death experience that forced him to consider the possibility of an afterlife for the first time. In My Time of Dying is a perfectly balanced account of Junger’s experience: part memoir (including previous brushes with death, as a surfer and as an embedded war journalist in Afghanistan), part investigation into the nature of reality (from others’ accounts of NDEs to the latest revelations from quantum physics), and part personalised processing of his experience and consequent research, this is rich storytelling that nicely blends awe and reason. I must admit that this is exactly my kind of thing (it’s the 28th title on my “death and dying” shelf) but I think it is an objectively excellent read; highly recommended. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
Wilson was still working on my neck, and I was feeling myself getting pulled more and more sternly into the darkness. And just when it seemed unavoidable, I became aware of something else: My father. He’d been dead eight years, but there he was, not so much floating as simply existing above me and slightly to my left. Everything that had to do with life was on the right side of my body and everything that had to do with this scary new place was on my left. My father exuded reassurance and seemed to be inviting me to go with him. “It’s okay, there’s nothing to be scared of,” he seemed to be saying. “Don’t fight it. I’ll take care of you.”
I enjoyed all of the biographical information (Junger was writing The Perfect Storm when he had his surfing accident; his great aunt Ithi had an affair with her algebra tutor, Erwin Schrödinger; Junger’s wife insisted he go to the hospital for his stomach pain, reminding the author of “the renowned statistic that married men live longer than unmarried men”), and we learn enough about Junger’s family and upbringing to understand that an encounter with the afterlife would be a shock in this group of atheists and scientists. Junger goes on to share all sides of the debate: stories from those who encountered the afterlife during near death experiences; perfectly rational explanations from scientists regarding brain activity at the time of death; and stories from others, like Junger himself, who understand and believe in the science but who nonetheless had profound NDEs that seemed to promise a continuation of the consciousness after death. And when Junger gets to the latest in quantum physics — explaining how unlikely the existence of the universe, and our place within it as sentient beings, really is — it’s easy to be persuaded to believe in something more.
Some interesting bits:
• “It doesn’t surprise me that you saw the dead. Not because I have strong beliefs about it, but because I have zero disbelief.”
• My worst fear — other than dying — was that because I’d come so close to death, it would now accompany me everywhere like some ghastly pet. Or, more accurately, that I was now the pet, and my new master was standing mutely with the lead watching me run out the clock.
• Finding yourself alive after almost dying is not, as it turns out, the kind of party one might expect. You realize that you weren’t returned to life, you were just introduced to death.
• Scientists are so far from explaining consciousness that they can’t even agree on a definition, yet it is the crowning achievement of the physical world and seems to be the reason that anything exists in the form that it does. The circularity is audacious: a mix of minerals organized as a human brain summon the world into existence by collapsing its wave function, giving physical reality to the very minerals the brain is made of.
• Our universe was created by unknowable forces, has no implicit reason to exist, and seems to violate its own basic laws. In such a world, what couldn’t happen? My dead father appearing above me in a trauma bay is the least of it. When I tried to find the ICU nurse who had suggested I try thinking of my experience as something sacred rather than something scary, no one at the hospital knew who she was; no one even knew what I was talking about. It crossed my mind that she did not exist. My experience was sacred, I finally decided, because I couldn’t really know life until I knew death, and I couldn’t really know death until it came for me.
Really well written and interesting throughout, full stars from me.
June 22, 2024
Medical emergencies can sneak up on one. This is what happens to Junger, though he did have clues that he dismissed, which too many of us do. Life threatening internal bleeding, he only had a ten percent chance of survival.
Without going into detail, I’ll just say that I more in common with this scenario, than I would like. So, he details his experience in hospital, his recovery, and expresses the gratitude he feels in those who saved his life. He also shares the times previously that he came close to death, he was in Afghanistan, and those who didn’t make it. What he saw when he was dying and he also tells of others who have had near death experiences.
Interesting book and a deeper dive into what happens as we are dying.
Without going into detail, I’ll just say that I more in common with this scenario, than I would like. So, he details his experience in hospital, his recovery, and expresses the gratitude he feels in those who saved his life. He also shares the times previously that he came close to death, he was in Afghanistan, and those who didn’t make it. What he saw when he was dying and he also tells of others who have had near death experiences.
Interesting book and a deeper dive into what happens as we are dying.
March 25, 2024
A very odd duck of a book -- partly this, partly that, partly something else. Junger had a shockingly close rush with death. It wasn't the first such encounter in his life, but the first as a man with a family and a decades-long stake in living. He gives all the details of the close call: how close it was, what might have happened, how fortunate he was, his experience of the event (as best as he can piece together), how while he was being treated in the emergency department he "saw" his deceased father. Also details of other close calls he had (he had/has a propensity for high-risk adventures). And then more and more and more medical details, and digressions into what people have written and believed about Near Death Experiences and what happens (if anything) after we die.
It was an interesting read, thought-provoking at times (as who has not thought at least in passing of his/her own death and whether the afterlife has wifi? With my luck it'll probably be dial-up and I'll spend eternity listening to the screech of the connection and a mystical voice telling me I've got mail), and I may come back to add a few excerpts. But over all I found it less than I'd hoped from an author I hold in high esteem.
My thanks to Simon & Schuster and Edelweis+ for providing an advance digital copy in return for an honest review.
It was an interesting read, thought-provoking at times (as who has not thought at least in passing of his/her own death and whether the afterlife has wifi? With my luck it'll probably be dial-up and I'll spend eternity listening to the screech of the connection and a mystical voice telling me I've got mail), and I may come back to add a few excerpts. But over all I found it less than I'd hoped from an author I hold in high esteem.
My thanks to Simon & Schuster and Edelweis+ for providing an advance digital copy in return for an honest review.
June 13, 2024
Oh that ending snuck up on me. I wish there’d been a more conclusive theory as put forth by the author but I guess his theory is the same as most people: we just don’t know. But this book offers scientific comfort where others offer spiritual relief and I appreciate both.
May 15, 2024
The author had a medical emergency in 2020 which brought him very close to death during which he had visions of his dead father. After recovering he dived into an investigation of what happens to a person when and after they die including those that have had NDE incidents. The book relates all of this - his own emergency, his past experiences where he could have died, stories about his family, war stories, overly detailed medical information, his research into death and dying, physics. scientific information way beyond me, etc. What started out as a very interesting book goes back and forth and all over so much you don't know when or where you are half the time. Worth the read but I wouldn't have gone out and bought it. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the Advanced Uncorrected Proof of the book.
March 24, 2024
I expected this book to be about NDE’s after his own near death experience. But, 75% of this book were the actual details of his illness and near death. I felt like the author waited too long to bring up the examples of NDE’s and the valid questions that he brought up, sadly only in the last 25 pages of the book.
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June 20, 2024I have followed Sebastian Junger for years and am always up for anything new that he writes.
This one is not exactly what I'd expect from the man who wrote The Perfect Storm as this time it's he that is in danger of not surviving.
In addition to just liking Junger's style, this topic grabbed my interest right away. I come from of family of believers. Though most of these believers are now deceased, they always held true that family will be there at death, will come and help you to transfer to what ever is next. I saw this happen as my father knew death was imminent. Mother, too.
I really wondered how Junger would handle this, the visitation and advice from his dead physicist father. Junger, seemingly was not that close to his father, but he was there to guide him as his death was approaching. But he didn't die and when he knew he would live he had a lot to think about. His answers were very interesting and his conclusions seemed sound.
The scientific jargon was a bit too much for me but the death, dying and living was enough for me to give this book a high rating.
My sincere gratitude to Libro.fm for providing the Audio edition, narration by Junger. This made the telling superior, as who better to know the nuances, the emotions, the bewilderment he felt in those words he put on paper.
This one is not exactly what I'd expect from the man who wrote The Perfect Storm as this time it's he that is in danger of not surviving.
In addition to just liking Junger's style, this topic grabbed my interest right away. I come from of family of believers. Though most of these believers are now deceased, they always held true that family will be there at death, will come and help you to transfer to what ever is next. I saw this happen as my father knew death was imminent. Mother, too.
I really wondered how Junger would handle this, the visitation and advice from his dead physicist father. Junger, seemingly was not that close to his father, but he was there to guide him as his death was approaching. But he didn't die and when he knew he would live he had a lot to think about. His answers were very interesting and his conclusions seemed sound.
The scientific jargon was a bit too much for me but the death, dying and living was enough for me to give this book a high rating.
My sincere gratitude to Libro.fm for providing the Audio edition, narration by Junger. This made the telling superior, as who better to know the nuances, the emotions, the bewilderment he felt in those words he put on paper.
June 14, 2024
As I get older I find myself thinking about death a lot more and what’s waiting for us after, so I picked this up immediately when I saw it. I thought it would be some very deep insight into staring death in the face and a possible afterlife theories but instead I found this to be kind of a jumbled mess.
First half was about the authors near death scare and what was wrong with him with some huge medical lingo and jargon that went way over my head, and the second half was not really what I was hoping for, and had some different things that just left me wondering.
It’s a short read at 160 pages but I’m down the middle with this. 3 stars
First half was about the authors near death scare and what was wrong with him with some huge medical lingo and jargon that went way over my head, and the second half was not really what I was hoping for, and had some different things that just left me wondering.
It’s a short read at 160 pages but I’m down the middle with this. 3 stars
May 3, 2024
I really thought I was going to like this book. However, it wasn’t what I expected. Only a small portion talks about the author’s actual near death experience. The rest is the science of dying or war stories that I struggled to relate to the main text. If you like reading about medicine and the science of the human body, you’ll probably enjoy this book. It just wasn’t for me.
May 25, 2024
Some readers may recognize the title of this book from the classic Led Zeppelin song based on a Blind Willie Johnson blues classic. Others will note that the author Sebastian Junger is the writer of such unforgettable classics like THE PERFECT STORM. Neither of these facts will prepare you for the deeply emotional journey Junger is about to take you on with his latest memoir, IN MY TIME OF DYING.
There have been countless books dedicated to the subject of death or near death experiences. John Gunther’s classic DEATH BE NOT PROUD comes immediately to mind. However, you rarely get to experience the subject of one’s own mortality through the eyes of a famous author who previously had no faith and was raised to handle such things in an extremely scientific, forensic manner.
IN MY TIME OF DYING opens with one such experience where the near death depiction while surfing amongst monstrous waves is detailed in a manner only someone like Junger can manage. For Sebastian Junger, who had survived many life-threatening experiences throughout his career both personally and as a writer, nothing will prepare him for the unexpected blow that is dealt to him during the summer of 2020.
While enjoying some time with his wife and two children, Junger is overcome with severe abdominal pain while walking in the woods with his wife. He attempts to walk it out on his own but quickly requires the assistance of his wife as he loses control of his legs and his eyesight. She gets him home, phones for an ambulance and all are horrified at how active the EMT’s are with Junger. This sends the message to everyone, including Junger himself, that this is no minor medical issue.
Junger takes the time while recounting this ordeal to philosophize about the nature of life and death. He states that dying is the most ordinary thing you will ever do but also the most radical. The most unnerving and chilling thing I took away from Junger’s brilliant prose was when, during his near-death experience, he comes upon the fisherman of the ill fated Andrea Gail from THE PERFECT STORM. They are sitting in a circle on a beach when he approaches them and they announce to him: “We’ve been expecting you.”
He shares how he was raised, particularly by his brilliant engineer father, in a manner that included no religious belief of any sort and was far too rational. With that being passed on to Junger, it was not easy for him to admit to thoughts of an after-life until he was faced with his own mortality. The stomach issue was indeed major and several surgeries were required to save him after he lost nearly forty percent of his own blood. Having this happen during the Pandemic really brought the spectacular job the medical staff did in saving his life to light. It also has turned Junger into a regular blood donor.
The medical staff at Cape Cod Hospital all get their just due from the eternally grateful Junger and their methods in saving his life read like a television medical drama. The best way he describes what the staff did for him was when he compared their efforts as the civilian equivalent of combat surgery. Much like an episode of M*A*S*H, these doctors pulled out all stops and utilized everything at their disposal to save this man’s life
The after-life portion of the book is special and is surprisingly introduced via a deathbed visitation Junger receives from his father. Junger cites many works that dealt with this subject, including an examination of Schrodinger’s Cat --- part of that famous experiment that concluded that there was a point where the cat existed in a state somewhere between or simultaneously alive and dead. By surviving, Junger became that much more existential. He speaks about how humans live by patterns, meaning if something lives something else must die. That thought brought him to tears with the mere power of this depth of understanding.
IN MY TIME OF DYING is so well put together and both uplifting and eye-opening. While I am sorry Junger, or anyone for that matter, would have to suffer like this I am glad that it happened to someone with the ability to share and examine the entire process from start to finish and give us all something to be thankful for about life and to deeply ponder.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter
There have been countless books dedicated to the subject of death or near death experiences. John Gunther’s classic DEATH BE NOT PROUD comes immediately to mind. However, you rarely get to experience the subject of one’s own mortality through the eyes of a famous author who previously had no faith and was raised to handle such things in an extremely scientific, forensic manner.
IN MY TIME OF DYING opens with one such experience where the near death depiction while surfing amongst monstrous waves is detailed in a manner only someone like Junger can manage. For Sebastian Junger, who had survived many life-threatening experiences throughout his career both personally and as a writer, nothing will prepare him for the unexpected blow that is dealt to him during the summer of 2020.
While enjoying some time with his wife and two children, Junger is overcome with severe abdominal pain while walking in the woods with his wife. He attempts to walk it out on his own but quickly requires the assistance of his wife as he loses control of his legs and his eyesight. She gets him home, phones for an ambulance and all are horrified at how active the EMT’s are with Junger. This sends the message to everyone, including Junger himself, that this is no minor medical issue.
Junger takes the time while recounting this ordeal to philosophize about the nature of life and death. He states that dying is the most ordinary thing you will ever do but also the most radical. The most unnerving and chilling thing I took away from Junger’s brilliant prose was when, during his near-death experience, he comes upon the fisherman of the ill fated Andrea Gail from THE PERFECT STORM. They are sitting in a circle on a beach when he approaches them and they announce to him: “We’ve been expecting you.”
He shares how he was raised, particularly by his brilliant engineer father, in a manner that included no religious belief of any sort and was far too rational. With that being passed on to Junger, it was not easy for him to admit to thoughts of an after-life until he was faced with his own mortality. The stomach issue was indeed major and several surgeries were required to save him after he lost nearly forty percent of his own blood. Having this happen during the Pandemic really brought the spectacular job the medical staff did in saving his life to light. It also has turned Junger into a regular blood donor.
The medical staff at Cape Cod Hospital all get their just due from the eternally grateful Junger and their methods in saving his life read like a television medical drama. The best way he describes what the staff did for him was when he compared their efforts as the civilian equivalent of combat surgery. Much like an episode of M*A*S*H, these doctors pulled out all stops and utilized everything at their disposal to save this man’s life
The after-life portion of the book is special and is surprisingly introduced via a deathbed visitation Junger receives from his father. Junger cites many works that dealt with this subject, including an examination of Schrodinger’s Cat --- part of that famous experiment that concluded that there was a point where the cat existed in a state somewhere between or simultaneously alive and dead. By surviving, Junger became that much more existential. He speaks about how humans live by patterns, meaning if something lives something else must die. That thought brought him to tears with the mere power of this depth of understanding.
IN MY TIME OF DYING is so well put together and both uplifting and eye-opening. While I am sorry Junger, or anyone for that matter, would have to suffer like this I am glad that it happened to someone with the ability to share and examine the entire process from start to finish and give us all something to be thankful for about life and to deeply ponder.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter
June 21, 2024
Favorite Quote = “We assume that life is the most real thing we will ever experience. But it might turn out to be the least real, the least meaningful. The idea that you will appreciate life more after almost dying is a cheap bit of wisdom easily assumed by people who have never been near death. When you drill down into it, which you must, we are really talking of an appreciation of death rather than of life. Eventually you will be all alone with doctors shrugging because they have run out of things to do and the person you really are, thumping frantically in your chest; the successes and catastrophes, and affairs and hangovers, and genuine loves, and small betrayals, and flashes of courage and the river of fear running beneath it all of it, and of course the vast stretches of wasted time, that are part of even the most amazing life. You will know yourself best at that moment. You will be at your most real, your most honest, your most uncalculated.”
May 26, 2024
"On some level I knew something was seriously wrong, but my brain wasn't working well enough to understand that I was dying. I didn't have any grand thoughts about mortality or life; I didn't even think about my family. I had all the introspection of a gut-shot coyote."
July 1, 2024
This book chewed me up and spit my back out. A fascinating exploration of near death experiences and afterlife encounters. The way that Junger interwove personal experience with medical, psychological, and physics perspectives/facts was brilliant and fun to read. This book had me wanting to learn more about death and dying, to embrace living, and had me questioning my own existence throughout. Loved it even if it scared me a little.
June 21, 2024
Made me tear up at least 7 times, and got chills even more. Quantum physics at the end will have me walking around with my thoughts for days.
May 24, 2024
The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything
I came to this book after watching Junger's charming and compelling interview on "The Daily Show" and promptly bought, and devoured, his book. Having read Junger's work before, I knew it would be great. I just didn't have any idea how great.
In this man's search for meaning, we start with a harrowing tale of survival that reads like a thriller with segues explaining how the author was saved with details so exacting that it would require a medical doctorate and years of surgical training to fully grasp.
But what readers are likely to be deeply moved by are Junger's near-death experiences--staggering in both number and variety--and the near-death encounters that brought him a vision of his father. Jumger analyzed why a skeptical atheist father and son would be reunited years after the father's death. Along the way, he shares the encounters of others and the scholarly research involving whether there's anything to near-death visions. He even asks his fathers' physicist colleagues, who, after some thought, place the odds of Junger's near-death encounter being anything more than the last gasp of a dying brain at Avogadro's number, a clever yet cutting way of saying "no chance in hell."
Junger concludes with a thicket of physics concepts to untangle--for author and reader alike--but he comes to a sort of universal constant of consciousness that would indeed explain life, the universe, and everything.
Read Douglas Adams if you're looking for the punchline, Viktor Frankl if you're searching for a psychological take, but read this if you'd like to appreciate the miracle of life or if, like me, you'd really like to think your parent is out there waiting for you beyond the veil.
I came to this book after watching Junger's charming and compelling interview on "The Daily Show" and promptly bought, and devoured, his book. Having read Junger's work before, I knew it would be great. I just didn't have any idea how great.
In this man's search for meaning, we start with a harrowing tale of survival that reads like a thriller with segues explaining how the author was saved with details so exacting that it would require a medical doctorate and years of surgical training to fully grasp.
But what readers are likely to be deeply moved by are Junger's near-death experiences--staggering in both number and variety--and the near-death encounters that brought him a vision of his father. Jumger analyzed why a skeptical atheist father and son would be reunited years after the father's death. Along the way, he shares the encounters of others and the scholarly research involving whether there's anything to near-death visions. He even asks his fathers' physicist colleagues, who, after some thought, place the odds of Junger's near-death encounter being anything more than the last gasp of a dying brain at Avogadro's number, a clever yet cutting way of saying "no chance in hell."
Junger concludes with a thicket of physics concepts to untangle--for author and reader alike--but he comes to a sort of universal constant of consciousness that would indeed explain life, the universe, and everything.
Read Douglas Adams if you're looking for the punchline, Viktor Frankl if you're searching for a psychological take, but read this if you'd like to appreciate the miracle of life or if, like me, you'd really like to think your parent is out there waiting for you beyond the veil.
April 20, 2024
“Everyone has a relationship with death whether they want to or not; refusing to think about death is its own kind of relationship.” Sebastian Junger has a way of making nature a central character to each story he has crafted — in a very triumvirate man.vs.nature.vs.self battle — and In My Time of Dying is no exception.
Junger’s latest book affords an intimate look into an esteemed writer’s thought and research processes of making sense of an unfathomable experience. In My Time of Dying is like taking a peek into a journalist’s personal journal in which he explores faith, fact, feeling of Near Death Experiences with empirical and mystical data.
Junger grapples with what it means to almost die — and how to live life following such an experience. Junger writes: “But I didn't die, and it made me wonder what this new part of my life was supposed to be called. The extra years that had been returned to me were too terrifying to be beautiful and too precious to be ordinary.”
I’m a huge fan of Junger’s works and appreciate this intimate undertaking by the author. Thank you to Goodreads and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy reading opportunity.
Junger’s latest book affords an intimate look into an esteemed writer’s thought and research processes of making sense of an unfathomable experience. In My Time of Dying is like taking a peek into a journalist’s personal journal in which he explores faith, fact, feeling of Near Death Experiences with empirical and mystical data.
Junger grapples with what it means to almost die — and how to live life following such an experience. Junger writes: “But I didn't die, and it made me wonder what this new part of my life was supposed to be called. The extra years that had been returned to me were too terrifying to be beautiful and too precious to be ordinary.”
I’m a huge fan of Junger’s works and appreciate this intimate undertaking by the author. Thank you to Goodreads and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy reading opportunity.
June 12, 2024
Full disclosure, I won a copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway in April or May. The copy I won says on the cover, "Advance Proof, Uncorrected - Not for Resale or Quotation, Publication Date 05/21/24."
I have read War and watched Restrepo by Sebastian Junger and find his writing to be very good. I had not idea the topic or content of this book, other than dying (from the word in the title) and thought it was going to be Junger reflecting about death from his war report, and I was wrong and thrown a serious curve ball when I read the back of the book and then dove in.
While I won't spoil the story line for those who have not read it, Junger has his own near-death experience and tells about it along with his reflections about his experience and how he had to come to or came to grips with this.
I had no idea Junger's father was a Physicist and at MIT of all places.
Junger bares his soul and his inner thinkings about the afterlife and delves pretty deeply into quantum mechanics and physics as well as the metaphysical and seems as if he is on a journey to understand if there is an afterlife or not and whether he should or now does believe in the afterlife after his own experience yet he never does come out and tell the reader one way or the other.
The experience certainly seems to have changed him and also seems to have brought him closer to his father. My own father died a few times from a heart attack, and at a very young age, and later told me he saw himself from above his hospital bed and was aware that the doctors who saved him were working on him and this or something similar to this is described by Junger and many others via stories Junger tells from his research throughout the latter half of this book.
Junger then goes on to make sense of the electrical activity of the brain upon dying and numerous stories of others just like or similar to his. He then dives into the science citing Avogadro's number and Planck's constant to explain to the reader things that are happening and to help understand the science vs the non-science part of the experiences.
As I scientist who knows both Avogadro's number and Planck's constant and having heard first hand the story of my father's near-death experience I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I hope you will too.
I highly recommend this book.
I have read War and watched Restrepo by Sebastian Junger and find his writing to be very good. I had not idea the topic or content of this book, other than dying (from the word in the title) and thought it was going to be Junger reflecting about death from his war report, and I was wrong and thrown a serious curve ball when I read the back of the book and then dove in.
While I won't spoil the story line for those who have not read it, Junger has his own near-death experience and tells about it along with his reflections about his experience and how he had to come to or came to grips with this.
I had no idea Junger's father was a Physicist and at MIT of all places.
Junger bares his soul and his inner thinkings about the afterlife and delves pretty deeply into quantum mechanics and physics as well as the metaphysical and seems as if he is on a journey to understand if there is an afterlife or not and whether he should or now does believe in the afterlife after his own experience yet he never does come out and tell the reader one way or the other.
The experience certainly seems to have changed him and also seems to have brought him closer to his father. My own father died a few times from a heart attack, and at a very young age, and later told me he saw himself from above his hospital bed and was aware that the doctors who saved him were working on him and this or something similar to this is described by Junger and many others via stories Junger tells from his research throughout the latter half of this book.
Junger then goes on to make sense of the electrical activity of the brain upon dying and numerous stories of others just like or similar to his. He then dives into the science citing Avogadro's number and Planck's constant to explain to the reader things that are happening and to help understand the science vs the non-science part of the experiences.
As I scientist who knows both Avogadro's number and Planck's constant and having heard first hand the story of my father's near-death experience I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I hope you will too.
I highly recommend this book.
June 18, 2024
This is a short book by Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm among others, about his near-death experience, and his search to make sense of it.
I heard him interviewed on NPR about this book release, and since I am curious about death, dying, and near-death experiences (NDE), I placed the book on hold at my library.
The author is an atheist, and he tackles his questions from a scientific standpoint. The book is peppered with adventurous stories throughout his life, including dangerous surfing, solo international travel to remote places, and experiences as an embedded war journalist. When he describes how his NDE came about, he then goes into detailed descriptions of the medical procedures, how bodies and minds typically respond to massive blood loss and active dying, and how his reactions were sometimes different. In his search for answers, he turns to science, explaining particle physics and what we know about the universe today, covering “Schrodinger’s cat” (how particles can be in multiple places at once until someone observes them), and how entangled particles affect each other across any distance. This discussion culminates in something called delayed-choice quantum erasure, a scientific paradox, which means that what has been done can be undone – revised later -- at least at the quantum level.
I enjoyed reading the book, and while Sebastian draws no conclusions about the meaning of his NDE, he points out the importance of being with people we love. There is a lot to wrap your head around in this book, and I recommend it, if you are so inclined.
I heard him interviewed on NPR about this book release, and since I am curious about death, dying, and near-death experiences (NDE), I placed the book on hold at my library.
The author is an atheist, and he tackles his questions from a scientific standpoint. The book is peppered with adventurous stories throughout his life, including dangerous surfing, solo international travel to remote places, and experiences as an embedded war journalist. When he describes how his NDE came about, he then goes into detailed descriptions of the medical procedures, how bodies and minds typically respond to massive blood loss and active dying, and how his reactions were sometimes different. In his search for answers, he turns to science, explaining particle physics and what we know about the universe today, covering “Schrodinger’s cat” (how particles can be in multiple places at once until someone observes them), and how entangled particles affect each other across any distance. This discussion culminates in something called delayed-choice quantum erasure, a scientific paradox, which means that what has been done can be undone – revised later -- at least at the quantum level.
I enjoyed reading the book, and while Sebastian draws no conclusions about the meaning of his NDE, he points out the importance of being with people we love. There is a lot to wrap your head around in this book, and I recommend it, if you are so inclined.
June 15, 2024
I'm supposed to believe that a man suffering from a life-threatening medical emergency could remember so much. The author says he was slipping in and out of consciousness so you would think that there would be chunks missing. To convince you he's telling the truth he includes statements from his wife and some of the doctors and nurses. Then he includes scientific information to help explain in detail what was happening to him. I think the information is the author's scientific evidence that what happened was real. It backfires though when the information included information about hallucinations or being delusional. So it's very likely that the author was experiencing hallucinations he didn't need to include the section about NDE's. At least he tried to write a more secular and scientific look at the phenomenon which is lacking in many books on the subject.
June 16, 2024
The author had a near death experience and wanted to tell his story. There wasn’t enough material for a book so he filled it with flash backs and medical stories and medical histories that did not enhance his story. I think that this book would’t have been published at all if the author wasn’t already an established best selling writer.
July 5, 2024
Junger is such an amazing writer. This book weaves together his own near death experience(s) with explanations of physics "why are we here" and studies of NDEs throughout human history. Parts of the book have graphic medical descriptions, so not for the squeamish. I really enjoyed this and am going to make people read it so I can talk to them about it. 🙂
June 20, 2024
One of the most powerful and thought-provoking books I have ever read. I have been a fan of Sebastian Junger’s previous books but this is a different, deeply personal and emotional story of his journey back from death. It explores the science of death and what happens after as well as personal anecdotes and near death experiences of others. It’s different in all the best ways from any other book I have read.
June 1, 2024
Not what I expected
The author jumped from story to story and I never really felt like he tied it all together. The authors near death experience really wasn’t that relevant to the book.
The author jumped from story to story and I never really felt like he tied it all together. The authors near death experience really wasn’t that relevant to the book.
May 10, 2024
This book was won from a Goodreads giveaway.
I was a little disappointed in this book. The majority of the book was about the author's NDE. The rest of the book was about his thoughts on it. It was okay. Sources included at the end.
I was a little disappointed in this book. The majority of the book was about the author's NDE. The rest of the book was about his thoughts on it. It was okay. Sources included at the end.
June 11, 2024
I read this book in a day but it will stay with me. To call it thought-provoking is an understatement. Much to remember and ponder
June 8, 2024
A very interesting, beautifully written book. I'm not sure I understood all the science, but for me, the author's last sentence says it all: "Just the knowledge that when we finally close our eyes, someone will be there to watch over us as we head out into that great, soaring night". Gorgeous!
June 9, 2024
Quick, poignant, and heartfelt. Junger grapples with our inevitable demise with sensitivity and breathtaking sentences.
May 25, 2024
What a strange book! It read like Junger had a story to tell ( an interesting one) but it wasn’t enough for a book. It was then fleshed out with all kinds of science facts, history facts and extraneous info. I wanted to really like it and parts of it I did. This book isn’t sure what it is… neither am I.
June 2, 2024
This book was a life changer for me. Junger, after a near death experience, struggles to make sense of what he experienced - a large empty space to his left, and his father telling him it was OK to come with him because he'd take care of everything. In this book, he looks at common threads in experiences of dying and near death, and puzzles out the scientific or unknown reasoning behind where it happens.
In short, he lands on something I've always thought too: that it's not fanciful to acknowledge that there's stuff we just don't know about death and the universe, and it's not necessarily unlikely that death is a beginning in ways that we just don't know yet.
In short, he lands on something I've always thought too: that it's not fanciful to acknowledge that there's stuff we just don't know about death and the universe, and it's not necessarily unlikely that death is a beginning in ways that we just don't know yet.
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