ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vivekanand Palavali, MD
For more than three decades, Vivekanand Palavali, MD, has treated patients with some of the most devastating injuries and diseases of the human brain.
His experiences in the operating room—and his encounters with patients at the boundary between life and death—led him beyond the questions of medicine to one of humanity's oldest mysteries: Does a soul exist independently of the brain, and can it survive death?
Searching for Soul brings together his perspective as a brain surgeon with an exploration of neuroscience, near-death experiences, philosophy, religion, and the enduring human belief in an afterlife.
FROM NEUROSURGERY TO THE SEARCH FOR SOUL
Decades spent treating disorders of the brain brought me face-to-face with some of life's most profound questions. I cared for patients with devastating head injuries, brain tumors, strokes, and spinal injuries—experiences that revealed both the extraordinary power and the profound vulnerability of the human brain.
Yet medicine also exposed me to questions it could not easily answer. What creates our sense of self? Why have human beings across cultures believed in a soul? What happens to that presumed soul when the brain dies?
Those questions led me beyond the operating room into neuroscience, philosophy, history, and religion—and ultimately to Searching for Soul, an examination of one of humanity's most enduring beliefs: that something within us may survive death.