The Reading Monk

This is my second book by Mary Roach. The first being Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers which I read a few years ago. I’ve also read a few articles by Ms Roach on and off in various publications such as GQ and Readers’ Digest and find her writing style humourous and engaging. It’s stand up but in a book, so to speak.

Six Feet Over (in the UK) is published as Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife in the US – a title I think is more accurate and less misleading. Let me elaborate.

Firstly and personally, the topic of the afterlife is something that appeals to me. If you’re familiar with me, then you’ll know that I’ve written pieces on the paranormal on the Readingmonk.com based on my personal experiences. Hence, when I saw Six Feet Over, I thought it’d be a book on ghostly spectres and hauntings, or communications with beings from the other atmosphere. You know, something dramatic and spooky.

Though it does cover topics such as seances and voices of dead people recorded on tape, Ms Roach’s discussion of these don’t really go the direction I was hoping for. Instead, her approach is more scientific albeit in her trademark off-beat style. There is nothing here resembling any of the Ghost Hunters or Most Haunted tv episodes. To each his/her own, and I suppose Ms Roach’s angle would suit some of us just fine.

In Six Feet Over , the topics  of discussion range from reincarnation, the weight of a soul, ectoplasm, communicating with the dead to bizarre incidents of scientists attempting to find the human soul inside a spermatozoa using microscopes and scalpels.

I found the discussions just too heavy and protracted in some parts. Meaning to say, boring. And there are more of these bits than there are the fun or dramatic bits.  The chapters are inundated with historical facts and quotes from scientific journals; quite heavy reading (and at times, irrelevant) for anyone who’s just looking for a scary tale.

Again, to be fair, this is a good book if you’re into the science of these phenomenons – which is excellently covered by Ms Roach. For me, it was akin to buying a ticket for a roller-coaster ride only to have all the excitement fizzle out by an hour long explanation by the technician of how the roller-coaster works. But like I said – to each, his or her own.

I give this is 3. Know what you want. The title is a bit misleading. Funny in general.

Besides Stiff and Spook, Mary Roach is also the author of Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Sex and Science which I will also review in due course.