Patrick "Speaking Wind" Quirk, a Native American author, lecturer, and publisher, was raised by his grandfather, a shaman, in the mountains of northern New Mexico. He shares his grandfather's wisdom and teaching in this volume.

To begin to know spirit through the teachings of the ancients. In a time of transition, one begins to look for answers about living that seem to be missing in life. It seems as if the fulfillment of the promise of the American dream is somehow incomplete. One begins to look for something to fill in the missing pieces. Noodin searched for that missing part and almost literally stumbled on the first people of this land. As he began to learn of their continued existence, they led him on an extraordinary path of understanding. These people who he did not even know still existed, continue to have the gifts of a beautiful culture that respects all things. The goal for Noodin then became to find those gifts.

The best-selling author of Stiff and Bonk trains her considerable wit and curiosity on the human soul. "What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that's that—the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my lap-top?" In an attempt to find out, Mary Roach brings her tireless curiosity to bear on an array of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die.