For more than twenty years van Lommel systematically studied such NDEs in a wide variety of hospital patients who survived a cardiac arrest. In 2001, he and his fellow researchers published his study on near-death experiences in the renowned medical journal The Lancet. The article caused an international sensation as it was the first scientifically rigorous study of this phenomenon. Now available in English, van Lommel offers an in-depth presentation of his results and theories in his book, Consciousness Beyond Life: the Science of the Near-Death Experience, that has already sold over 400,000 copies worldwide.
Van Lommel provides scientific evidence that the near-death phenomenon is an authentic experience that cannot be attributed to imagination, psychosis, or oxygen deprivation. He further reveals that after such a profound experience, most patients’ personalities undergo a permanent change. In van Lommel’s opinion, the current views on the relationship between the brain and consciousness held by most physicians, philosophers, and psychologists are too narrow for a proper understanding of the phenomenon. In Consciousness Beyond Life, van Lommel shows that our consciousness does not always coincide with brain functions and that, remarkably and significantly, consciousness can be experienced separate from the body.
Book by Pim Van Lommel, M.D.
In November 2007 his book ‘Endless Consciousness’ (Eindeloos Bewustzijn) was published in The Netherlands, which is a bestseller with more than 155,000 copies sold (30th edition). His book was nominated for the ‘Book of the Year 2008’ in the Netherlands. In 2009, it has been published in Germany, and it has been published in the English language in 2010, entitled: Consciousness beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience. In the same year the book received the 2010 Book Award by the Scientific and Medical Network. It has since also been published in Poland, Spain, France, Latvia, Italy, Hungary, China, Russia and Bulgaria. By now more than 400,000 copies have been sold worldwide.
“An exciting, informative, and thorough overview [by] one of the foremost experts in the field.”
– Raymond A. Moody, M.D., Ph.D., author of Life After Life
“Pim van Lommel’s evidence is robust and can no longer be ignored either by the science community or by society at large.”
– Dr. Ervin Laszlo, author of Science and the Akashic Field
“The distinctive contribution of this book is that it presents and defends a complete theory of consciousness…Clearly a landmark book.”
– Dr. Kenneth Ring, professor emeritus of psychology, University of Connecticut
“This rigorous and provocative book may change our ideas about the mind and how we practice medicine.”
– Bruce Greyson, M.D., Carlson Professor of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioura Sciencesat the University of Virginia School of Medicine
Pim Van Lommel, M.D.,worked from 1977-2003 as a cardiologist in Hospital Rijnstate, an 800-bed Teaching Hospital in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and is now doing full-time research on the mind-brain relation. He published several articles on cardiology, but since he started his research on near-death experiences (NDEs) in survivors of cardiac arrest in 1986, he has authored over 20 articles (most of them in Dutch), one book, and contributed many chapters about NDE in other books.
He was co-founder of the Dutch International Association of Near-Death Studies (IANDS) in 1988. In 2005 he was granted the Dr. Bruce Greyson Research Award of IANDS. In 2006, the President of India rewarded him the Life Time Achievement Award at the World Congress on Clinical and Preventive Cardiology in New Delhi.
His Dutch book ‘Endless Consciousness’, was nominated for the ‘Book of the Year 2008’ in the Netherlands. In 2010 he received the 2010 Book Award from the Scientific and Medical Network, and in 2017 he received the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Award by the Dutch Society of Volunteers in Palliative and Terminal Care (VPTZ). In 2020 the Spiritual Awakenings International (SAI) honored him for his ground-breaking work about Near-Death Experiences as Circle of Honor honoree.
He also won an award from the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies (BICS), started in 2021, in an international essay contest, for the best scientific evidence about a possible ‘afterlife’. With his article, entitled, ‘The Continuity of Consciousness’ he won second Prize. In 2022 he became an Honorary Member of the Scientific and Medical Network (SMN). In 2024 he received the ‘Icloby Award: Premio Somos Alma’ by the ICLOBY FOUNDATION in Barcelona for his scientific research and his contribution to science, and in Madrid, he received the ‘Social Reformer Award’ by ANOCHE TUVE UN SUEÑO for his scientific career in demonstrating the existence of consciousness beyond the body in NDE.
