In the fall of 2005 Mark C Taylor the controversial public intellectual and widely respected scholar suddenly fell critically ill For two days a team of forty doctors many of whom thought he would not live fought to save him Taylor would eventually recover only to face a new threat surgery for cancer Field Notes from Elsewhere is Taylor s unforgettable inverted journey from death to life Each of his memoir s fifty two chapters and accompanying photographs recounts a morning to evening experience with sickness and convalescence mingling humor and hope with a deep exploration of human frailty and conversely resilience When we confront the end of life he explains the axis of the lived world shifts and everything must be reevaluated As Taylor sorts through his remembrances much that once seemed familiar becomes strange paradoxical and contradictory He reads his experience with and against ghosts from his past recasting the meaning of mortality sacrifice solitude and abandonment in light of modern ways of dying In the fall of 2005 Mark C Taylor the controversial public intellectual and widely respected scholar suddenly fell critically ill For two days a team of forty doctors many of whom thought he would not live fought to save him Taylor would eventually recover but only to face a new threat surgery for cancer These experiences have changed me in ways I am still struggling to understand Taylor writes in this absorbing memoir After the past year I am persuaded that I have done enough fieldwork to write a book that combines philosophical and theological reflection with autobiographical narrative Writing is not only possible but actually seems necessary Field Notes from Elsewhere is Taylor s unforgettable inverted journey from death to life Each of his memoir s fifty two chapters and accompanying photographs recounts a morning to evening experience with sickness and convalescence mingling humor and hope with a deep exploration of human frailty and conversely resilience When we confront the end of life Taylor explains the axis of the lived world shifts and everything must be reevaluated As Taylor sorts through his remembrances much that once seemed familiar becomes strange paradoxical and contradictory He reads his experience with and against ghosts from his past recasting the meaning of mortality sacrifice solitude and abandonment along with a host of other issues in light of modern ways of dying You never come back from elsewhere Taylor concludes because elsewhere always comes back with you