Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

First edition
Author	Mary Roach
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Science
Publisher	W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date	2005
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	311 pp
ISBN	0-393-32912-7
OCLC	76884889

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (2005), published by W. W. Norton & Company, a nonfiction work by Mary Roach, is a humorous scientific exploration as to whether there is a soul that survives death. In Britain, the title of the book is Six Feet Over: Adventures in the Afterlife.

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife was the recipient of the Elle Reader's Prize in October 2005. Spook was also listed as a New York Times Notable Books pick in 2005, as well as a New York Times Bestseller, and it was also an October Booksense pick.^[1]

Book synopsis

Author Mary Roach investigates the possibility of an afterlife and also attempts to find and define the soul, all while using a scientific approach. The book covers these topics:

• Investigations of reincarnation
• Attempts to find the soul (by dissection, weighing, and other methods)
• Spiritualism, fraudulent mediums, and ectoplasm
• Modern mediumship, and "medium schools"
• Attempts to use electronic devices to communicate with the dead, including electronic voice phenomena (EVP)
• Other forces that make people feel haunted electromagnetic fields, infrasound, etc.
• Court cases involving ghosts
• Near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences