Of earth and heaven

Dr Eben Alexander's book 'The Proof of Heaven' is almost targeted at a very erudite audience since the neurosurgeon takes great pains to explain just how he suffered a form of brain damage through the invasion of bacteria meningitis

Even as I sit down to write today's reviews, I have my Facebook window open, so you can imagine just how hard I'm concentrating on typing all this. That's one major grouse I have against social media. They are just so annoyingly, amazingly distracting!

So just why have I begun my column this way, you might ask. Well, that's because the books being reviewed today speak precisely about this phenomenon about being true to one's work when you have a million things bombarding you for attention.

First up, we have MR Kopmeyer's 'Here's Help'. Much like its title, the book is indeed a big help when it comes to prioritising what's important in life. I especially liked the very opening page which states that by buying this book, you are in fact buying a stake in yourself, your most precious asset. I never thought of my mind in terms of an asset, but then again when I think of senile film directors like Sajid Khan, I have to agree. Having a functional, normal mind is definitely an asset.

The next book today has been written by a neurosurgeon and is titled, 'Proof of Heaven'. The unique thing about this book is that it chronicles a near death experience like never before. After all, we have a brain surgeon giving his testimony. And even among the medical community, a neurosurgeon's word is hard to discount. A good part of the book involves a lot of jargon a doctor would probably understand, a doctor or rather doctorate in any field.

In the sense, the book is almost targeted at a very erudite audience since the neurosurgeon, Dr Eben Alexander, takes great pains to explain just how he suffered a form of brain damage through the invasion of bacteria meningitis. His case was said to be unprecedented in medical history since the possibility of such an infection was just one in ten million. The bottom line is that Dr Eben Alexander was as good as officially brain dead for a full week when his soul seemed to have crossed over through an ugly tunnel and reached the other side.

They say when a person is close to dying, a deceased family relative is the one who comes to usher the soul into the next world. Yet in Dr Alexander's case he had some unknown pretty girl waiting for him. Dr Alexander, when he returned from his coma was almost disillusioned that he didn't meet his dead father, only to be told that he had in fact a biological sister who had passed away before he could meet her. The book doesn't exactly leave you with goose bumps, but it's worth a read, all the same.

Finally we have, Marcus Buckingham's 'Find Your Strongest Life' and this book I found very, very useful. Want to know why? Just google it. Three cheers to social media!!