Publisher's Synopsis
7 Minutes is the story of a death-charting the progress from cardiac arrest, the brain's release of its massive reserve of endorphins, through the unraveling of personality, memory, and identity as the brain's consciousness-generating areas are hit by a tidal wave of opioid neuropeptides while simultaneously being starved of oxygen. Self-told narratives unfold and are re-contextualized, fears awaken, desires awaken, time is warped and regresses as the mind is trapped inside a dead husk, unable to communicate, lost to those it has loved and been loved by. Those who have experienced so-called 'near-death' experiences have described bright lights, meeting loved ones: but no-one has returned from behind that light to describe the process of dying. And so, we are left with either a gospel of redemption and condemnation or its opposite, a gospel of cosmic resignation and the final extinction of personality. One day, perhaps not too far away, we shall know-or, then again, perhaps not. 7 Minutes is the collage of stories and half-truths that our protagonists' collapsing neural networks narrate as the brain asphyxiates-light and dark, fact and fiction, actuality and narrative-until the final arrival at the truth of an earthly existence. 7 Minutes is a head fuck. But after you've read it, I hope you can celebrate being alive.
