28. Passage

by Connie Willis (594 pgs)

Rating: 5

Joanna is a researcher studying and chronicling Near Death Experiences (NDEs)as scientifically as possible. Richard is a neurobiologist who's found a way to stimulated the brain into entering the NDE state by use of a drug. They team up to find out what the biological cause and function of NDEs is. This is all complicated by a sensationalist evangelical new waver named Mandrake, a labranthine hospital, and contaminated test subjects. When Joanna starts undergoing the tests as well, she finds herself on the Titanic...or does she?

It took me almost 3 months of reading, on and off, but finally I've finished it. We're back to the concept of speculative fiction, I guess. I would call Passage Sci-Fi maybe. But sci-fi has come to mean wookies and zap guns. Not that I have anything against either, but it would be a misrepresentation of this book. Much of it was about neuro-transmitters in the brain. There's a historical-fiction aspect of it in the importance the Titanic plays in the plot but even though it is important it's still tangential. I think the importance of this book is the philosophical aspects about death and grieving. There's a message there that touched me deep down and that I won't forget.

Recommended to anyone curious about death and to research scientists who I feel will appreciate some of the humor.