The Romeo Error

The Romeo Error (1976) – Lyall Watson
Coronet | ISBN: 034019989X
Condition: Good | Sold by Crappy Old Books

Death. It’s one of life’s few reliable certainties, along with taxation, disappointing weather and the discovery that whatever you’ve just bought will be cheaper somewhere else tomorrow. But what if death isn’t quite as straightforward as we’ve been led to believe? What if the boundary between being alive and being dead is rather less clearly marked than the medical profession would like us to imagine? And what if the entire business of shuffling off this mortal coil is considerably more complicated than simply failing to turn up for breakfast?

Welcome to The Romeo Error, Lyall Watson’s fascinating, provocative and gloriously unconventional exploration of death, dying and the mysterious territory separating the living from the departed.

Watson, a biologist with an enthusiastic appetite for life’s stranger possibilities, takes his title from the tragic consequences of mistaken death in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Romeo, finding Juliet apparently lifeless, jumps to a catastrophically premature conclusion. It’s probably literature’s most famous example of why checking the patient’s vital signs before taking drastic action might be advisable.

From this unfortunate misunderstanding, Watson launches into a remarkable investigation of what death actually means. Is it a single identifiable event, or a gradual biological process? At precisely what moment does life cease? Can someone pronounced dead subsequently recover? And are the extraordinary experiences reported by people who have approached the edge of death evidence of something beyond conventional biological explanation, or simply the last fireworks of an oxygen-starved brain?

Combining medical history, biological observations, unusual case reports and more speculative possibilities, Watson examines humanity’s longstanding obsession with mortality. His interests extend into the territory of near-death experiences, apparent death, consciousness and the bewildering variety of ways different cultures have attempted to understand that most final of human experiences.

Naturally, some of Watson’s interpretations venture considerably beyond established science. His willingness to entertain unconventional explanations is part of the book’s attraction, although readers should distinguish intriguing speculation from demonstrated fact. This is, after all, a writer more interested in asking uncomfortable questions than in politely accepting whatever explanation happens to be fashionable.

Published in the 1970s, when parapsychology, altered consciousness and the unexplained enjoyed a particularly enthusiastic readership, The Romeo Error captures an era when the boundaries of scientific enquiry seemed wonderfully elastic. Watson approaches the subject with curiosity, imagination and a refreshing refusal to regard death as an entirely closed case.

This 1976 Coronet paperback, offered in Good condition by Crappy Old Books, is a splendid find for collectors of vintage popular science, readers fascinated by consciousness and mortality, or anyone who has ever wondered whether the Grim Reaper occasionally makes an administrative error.

An absorbing examination of life’s ultimate mystery, with one reassuring conclusion: before declaring anyone permanently deceased, it might be worth making absolutely certain.

Romeo, unfortunately, didn’t have this book.

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