# Death Is But a Dream *A hospice physician's account of end-of-life dreams and visions, by Christopher Kerr with Carine Mardorossian.* > I did not read this book. It is in copyright. I read the publisher's page, the Kirkus review, a UB essay by the co-author, the published 2014 study the book builds on (open PDF), and the two vault notes on Kerr's talks. The summary reports what those say the book contains. ## 1. Book facts | | | |---|---| | Title | *Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning at Life's End* | | Author | Christopher Kerr, with Carine Mardorossian | | Publisher | Avery (Penguin Random House) | | Published | 11 February 2020 | | ISBN | 9780525542841 (hardcover) | | Pages | 256 (publisher page) | | Audiobook | Read by Fred Sanders, 7 hours 42 minutes (publisher page) | | Subject | Dreams and visions of the dying, hospice care, meaning at the end of life | **Where it came up.** - [The Deathbed Doctor: Weeks Before Death, Patients Start Having Visions (Dr Christopher Kerr)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlaSnROMqRY&t=4556s), The Diary of a CEO, 1:15:56: Kerr says his book is for anyone caring for someone or wondering about their own mortality. Vault note: [[Video Summaries/death/The Deathbed Doctor - Weeks Before Death, Patients Start Having Visions (Dr Christopher Kerr)]]. - [I See Dead People: Dreams and Visions of the Dying (Dr. Christopher Kerr, TEDxBuffalo)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbnBe-vXGQM), TEDxBuffalo, 2015: listed as a source; the vault note does not mention the book (the talk predates it). Vault note: [[Video Summaries/death/I See Dead People - Dreams and Visions of the Dying (Dr. Christopher Kerr, TEDxBuffalo)]]. ## 2. Book resources - [Penguin Random House page](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/604704/death-is-but-a-dream-by-christopher-kerr-md-phd-with-carine-mardorossian-phd/) (description, praise, formats) - [Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/christopher-kerr/death-is-but-a-dream/) - [Dr. Christopher Kerr's site](https://www.drchristopherkerr.com/about) - [The source study (PubMed, 2014)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24410369/) and the [open PDF copy](https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/kerr-experiences-dying.pdf) - [Co-author essay in UBNow (2021)](https://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2021/03/mardorossian-dreams-death.html) **Where to get it (legal, free).** No legal free full text of the book located; it is in copyright. The free route is a library loan (print, ebook or audiobook); I did not check holdings. The 2014 study the book rests on is available free at the link above. ## 3. Author biography **Christopher Kerr** is CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo (formerly the Center for Hospice & Palliative Care), in New York. The ideaXme interview page's biography says he has an undergraduate degree in psychology, an MD and a PhD in neurobiology, and did his internal medicine residency at the University of Rochester. He joined in 1999 as medical director of its 22-bed inpatient unit, became Chief Medical Officer in 2011 and CEO in 2017. His research has moved from bench science to patients' end-of-life dreams and visions ("end-of-life experiences"). Sources: [ideaXme]((https://radioideaxme.com/2020/04/15/death-dying-and-dreams/). **Carine Mardorossian** is a professor of English and of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University at Buffalo; the university lists medical humanities, death and dying, feminism and Caribbean literature among her areas ([UB expert page](https://www.buffalo.edu/news/experts/carine-mardorossian-faculty-expert-medical-humanities-sexual-violence.html); [UB profile](https://www.buffalo.edu/cas/english/faculty/faculty_directory.host.html/content/shared/cas/english/profiles/mardorossian-carine.html)). ## 4. Author interviews and talks - [The Deathbed Doctor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlaSnROMqRY), The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, 19 October 2026 (per the vault note): long interview; see the vault note above. - [I See Dead People](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbnBe-vXGQM), TEDxBuffalo, 2015 (17 minutes per the vault note). - [Death, Dying, and Dreams](https://radioideaxme.com/2020/04/15/death-dying-and-dreams/), ideaXme, 15 April 2020 (page opened; I did not listen). - [Carine Mardorossian: As death approaches, dreams offer comfort, reconciliation](https://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2021/03/mardorossian-dreams-death.html), UBNow essay, March 2021: the co-author on how she came to work with Kerr. ## 5. Summary **Thesis (publisher's description).** Kerr, a hospice doctor, says many dying patients have dreams that are "more real than real" and that resurrect relationships, events and themes of love and forgiveness. The publisher says the book draws on interviews with over 1,400 patients and more than a decade of quantified data, and argues these experiences humanise dying and help the bereaved. **What the Kirkus review adds.** Kirkus says Kerr, with an "aversion to the supernatural", is not offering evidence of an afterlife or a soul; it is what happens just before death that matters. It describes the book as a series of case studies (a dying child guided by a deceased dog, a mother's arms reaching over an elderly woman's bed, a widow reliving crosswords with her late spouse), calls it "sympathetic and intriguing", and finds the case-by-case format "a little tedious", wishing for more research context. **Origin of the work (UBNow essay).** Mardorossian writes that Kerr noticed the phenomenon the nurses knew; in 2005 a patient named Mary moved her arms as if rocking a baby; and that over 80% of his patients had experiences that increased in frequency near death. **Chapter outline.** No table of contents located in any source I opened (Open Library has none), so none is given here. ## 6. Fact-check Overall verdict: **supported**, with sample-size caveats. The book's core factual claim, that most hospice patients in Kerr's studies reported dreams/visions that felt real and were mostly comforting, matches the published study. How far it generalises is a separate question. | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---| | Death Is But a Dream, Avery, 11 Feb 2020, 256 pp. | Supported | [PRH page](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/604704/death-is-but-a-dream-by-christopher-kerr-md-phd-with-carine-mardorossian-phd/) | | Nearly 90% of dying patients have vivid dreams/visions (Diary of a CEO) | Supported (with caveat) | 52 of 59 patients (88.1%) in the [2014 study](https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/kerr-experiences-dying.pdf); a single hospice inpatient unit, patients able to be interviewed | | Patients say the experiences feel "more real than real" | Supported | 267 of 269 events (99%) so rated, same study | | Almost half occurred while asleep | Supported | 45.3% asleep, 15.7% awake, 39.1% both (same study); [PubMed abstract](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24410369/) says "almost half" | | Comforting dreams of the deceased become more common nearer death | Supported | PubMed abstract | | The first study had 66 patients and "about 450 interviews" (TEDx) | Partly supported | 66 consented but the final sample was 59, with 453 interviews (PubMed; paper) | | The book draws on "over 1,400 patients" (publisher) versus "about 1,500 people" (Diary of a CEO) | Inconsistent | The vault note on the interview points to the same discrepancy; the study itself covers 59 patients and the larger dataset is not published in sources I opened | | Experiences differ from delirium (Kerr's claim) | Partly supported | The paper's discussion argues pre-death experiences typically have clear sensorium and are mostly comforting, unlike delirium; I did not check later studies | | Kerr holds an MD and a PhD in neurobiology | Supported | [ideaXme biography](https://radioideaxme.com/2020/04/15/death-dying-and-dreams/) | | What happens after death / that these experiences show a soul | Not empirically testable | Kerr says no one knows (vault note); Kirkus says the book does not argue it | ## 7. Citations and references - [Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/604704/death-is-but-a-dream-by-christopher-kerr-md-phd-with-carine-mardorossian-phd/); [Kirkus](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/christopher-kerr/death-is-but-a-dream/). - Kerr CW, Donnelly JP, et al. "End-of-life dreams and visions: a longitudinal study of hospice patients' experiences." *J Palliat Med* 17(3):296–303, 2014. [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24410369/); DOI 10.1089/jpm.2013.0371 (not opened); [PDF copy](https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/kerr-experiences-dying.pdf). - [Hospice Buffalo profile](https://www.hospicebuffalo.com/about-us/leadership-board/leadership/christopher-kerr-md-phd); [ideaXme](https://radioideaxme.com/2020/04/15/death-dying-and-dreams/); [UBNow essay](https://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2021/03/mardorossian-dreams-death.html); [UB expert page](https://www.buffalo.edu/news/experts/carine-mardorossian-faculty-expert-medical-humanities-sexual-violence.html). - Videos: [The Deathbed Doctor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlaSnROMqRY); [I See Dead People](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbnBe-vXGQM).