Are Best-Selling ‘Heaven’ Books For Real?
Now that Alex Malarkey has said his book The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven is, well, malarkey, will other best sellers that have made similar claims come under scrutiny?
Christian publisher Tyndale House says it will stop selling the book now that Alex admitted he made up the story of going to heaven. He was paralyzed in a car crash at age 6.
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In the last few years, books about celestial visits have been a godsend to the publishing industry.
Kid says he did not go to ‘Heaven’; publisher to stop selling book
Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent has had the most heavenly run on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list, hitting No. 1.
Todd, an evangelical minister, tells the story of his son, Colton, then almost 4, who after an emergency appendectomy “died” and went to heaven, only to come back and report what he’d seen.
A film version starring Greg Kinnear was released last year.
Other best-selling to-heaven-and-back titles:
— Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey Into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander, a Harvard neurosurgeon who was in a coma for seven days in 2008. It reached No. 4 on USA TODAY’s list.
— To Heaven and Back: A Doctor’s Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again: A True Story by Mary Neal, an orthopedic surgeon who thought she had died after a kayak accident in Chile. It hit No. 14 on USA TODAY’s list.
— 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life by Don Piper, a Baptist minister whose car collided with a semi-truck that crossed into his lane. It peaked at No. 16.
