What I'm Reading

It's been awhile since I shared my reading stack. Here are a few books I'm reading at the moment.

The book, After is my most recent read.  It's all about Near Death Experiences (NDEs) as studied by psychiatrist, Dr. Bruce Greyson during his over 40 years of psychiatric practice and study of NDEs. It's quite fascinating because the book is based on actual patients studied by Dr. Greyson and the findings are based on scientific studies rather than simple anecdotes of patients. 

The people who have had NDEs overwhelming reported a happy, pleasant transition to the other side with no pain at the point of death. Many of the ones who returned to life on earth come back with a strong sense of destiny and purpose to fulfill and the feeling that they haven't yet completed their 'work' here on earth.  There are a few who have a horrible and terrifying experience but they seem to be in the minority. One's background of faith or lack thereof, doesn't seem to make a significant difference in how they experience a NDE. There are many other findings but these ones jump out at me.

I've always been fascinated by this subject so it was interesting to read about what has been studied and some of the findings to date. The end of the book contains a detailed listing of all references and sources for those who would like further study on their own.

The other two books I'm reading are Digging Stars and The Botanist's Daughter.  

Digging Stars is by a new to me author, NovuyoRosa Tshuma.  

Athandwa Rosa Siziba grows up in Zimbabwe without her father who is well known astronomer and professor living and working in the USA. When Athandwa is 11 she joins her father for a single visit but then sadly he dies soon after.  Years later, she returns to the USA when she is old enough to start graduate university studies in the same graduate program her father had attended. What unfolds are the hard and uncomfortable experiences Athandwa faces in regards to race, political consciousness and scientific ethics. I'm at the part when Athandwa is just beginning to confront the challenges of being black in America.

The Botanist's Daughter tells the tale of two women botanists in a race against time to find a rare and miraculous plant.  It's a tale of dual narratives and I'm in early stages of the story. 

One story deals with Elizabeth, a young woman of the Victorian era whose father is a botanist. He dies but on his death bed he entrusts her to the mission of finding the rare and miraculous plant he was unable to locate. Elizabeth travels by boat from Cornwall, England to Chile with her helper to try to realize her mission. 

The other botanist, Anna, lives in present day Sydney, Australia. After Anna's grandmother passes, Anna discovers a mysterious metal box among her grandmother's possessions. The box contains a number of items including watercolour sketches, an old photograph and a bag of seeds.  These items set her on a mission to unravel the mystery of what they mean.

These are the books I'm reading at the moment and they're in various stages of completion. I hope to finish the latter two soon because I have 2 more on hold and they'll be coming available soon. If you have a stellar book you can recommend, tell me a little bit about it in the comments section. Thanks so much and thank you for stopping by!