Forensic pathologist Janis Amatuzio began recording the stories told to her by patients, police officers, and other doctors because she felt that no-one spoke for the dead. She argues that the real experience of death - the spiritual experiences of those near death and their loved ones - was being ignored.

In "Beyond Knowing", Dr. Amatuzio goes beyond simply telling the comforting and amazing stories of experiences and connections between loved ones after a person has died. She suggests that these are life-changing moments for the living and demonstrates that these connections make life on earth more satisfying. These experiences, and the stories in this book, help the living focus on the important things in life. As Dr. Amatuzio says, 'People hear these stories and something in them wakes up, or it's as if they remembered something they already knew'. The stories contained in this book are arranged around the themes of connections to loved ones and demonstrating our love while we can.One story relates the easing of pain when a woman hears her dead husband's favorite song on the radio, and she has the sensation that they are actually dancing together again. Other stories include the Monarch butterflies who attend the funeral of Brianna, who loved butterflies, who was killed by a car on her thirteenth birthday. A sick dog helped an elderly grandmother recover from a hip fracture and then found a way to sleep beside her one last time; a man going for routine surgery sends a final message to his wife before his untimely death; and, the most amazing story in the collection, the man who 'met' the donor of his kidney on the ceiling of the operating room and then knew the donor's name and sought out his family, closing a circle of love.As in "Forever Ours", the stories are told with grace and calm, the voice of the compassionate coroner making them personal and universal at the same time. Through these encounters, she has heard many stories of communication and the responses, and this book offers those stories to a wider audience.