Signs of Life

A thoroughly original history of resuscitation - from the 18th-century pioneers who blew smoke up the bottoms of the drowned to cutting-edge scientists reviving brains in the lab

For most of history, only the gods could bring back the dead. Yet today, resuscitation has brought millions of people back to life - some with vivid memories of what they saw on the other side. In Signs of Life, Jemima Lewis tells the extraordinary story of our attempts to undo death - from medieval miracle cults to bizarre Victorian experiments, the resuscitation of Abraham Lincoln and the girl whose death mask became the most kissed face of all time. Drawing together history, medicine, science and religion, Signs of Life is the definitive history of an awesome, unpredictable science that has transformed the way we think about God, death, consciousness and the soul.