In My Time of Dying

How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife

By: Sebastian Junger

Narrated by: Sebastian Junger

Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2024 Sebastian Junger (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Skeptical but with an open mind

A fresh perspective into a paranormal event that's true to the definition. The author helps bridge the gap between physical and metaphysical. If you can drag the ghost out of the darkness and begin to study it, the story would preface that investigation. This book may be an introduction into eventually understanding what we currently can not. We are the dog, looking at the television, and thinking the images are real.

Shorter than Moby Dick, but covers more ideas

I finished it for the first time today. It’s the book he was born to and almost died to write. It is shorter than Moby Dick but manages to cover more ideas. It ends with a thank you to the 10 anonymous blood donors who saved his life and plea for more donors. I am going to have to read it again at least once maybe more.

The interwoven fabric of science and the afterlife

Sebastian Junger’s experiences are outstanding and the fact that he openly discusses his own personal revelation of a NDE was an outstanding thought experiment for my own personal viewpoints.

Nothing beats the introspective and objective analysis of Junger. Easy Five Stars on this one. Bravo!

God and religion

His interpretation of God and religion and fear of the unknown is very thought provoking.

renewed lust for life

This book reminded me how precious each moment is and how vast our lack of knowledge of the universe is as well.

A profound exploration of Death and the Cosmos

Part autobiography, part philosophical adventure, this book is both deeply human and intellectually fascinating. Regardless of your personal beliefs about life and death, you’ll find Junger’s reflections worthwhile and engaging. I lost my father a couple years back and those parts of the book brought me to tears. The religio-scientifico-philosophical analysis at the end of the book was genuinely unique and awe-inspiring, If also challenging and slightly unnerving. Overall it’s a perfect balance of the personal and the abstract, and is both intellectually stimulating as well as emotionally moving.

Death and the experience

So interesting and thought provoking . This book gave me comfort and also challenged me to think further..

The perfect narrative and narrator

This is a scientific spiritual journey. It is uplifting and thought provoking. While technically dense, it is easy to understand. It is one of my new favorites

interesting and emotional

I saw the author on a news program talking about this book and I immediately wanted to read it. It's an interesting topic and he dives in deep with fascinating details and information.
I completely enjoyed exploring this subject with him!

Sebastian Reveals that Death is More

What a fantastic book. I’ve read it twice and plan to keep it in steady rotation.