The author of this book died three times in 1977. Since then she has devoted her life to understanding the near-death experience, and has spoken to thousands of survivors. This is a comprehensive account of the near-death phenomenon, including its after-effects and implications. Atwater challenges the stereotype experience of the tunnel of light, and presents evidence of many different types of experience, including the hell-like as well as the transcendent. She also describes the experiences of people who were dead for several days and then revived, and those who attempted suicide.