Many people devote their lives to caring for their souls and preparing for an afterlife.
Others doubt souls exist. For questioners, the local experts on souls are usually ministers, priests, or rabbis. Not surprisingly, spiritual counselors almost always believe in various spirits, including some kind of supernatural soul. But given what we now know about the brain, psychology, and body chemistry, the skeptic may well ask what meaning or relevance this medieval term can possibly have today. Physicist Jerome W. Elbert takes up this intriguing issue in his informative yet accessible study.