In the afterlife you may find that God is the size of a microbe and unaware of your existence. Or you may find the afterlife contains only those people whom you remember. In some afterlives you are split into all your different ages; in some you are recreated based on your credit-card records; and in others you are forced to live with annoying versions of yourself that represent what you could have been.
In these wonderfully imagined tales - at once funny, wistful and unsettling - Eagleman kicks over the chessboard of traditional notions and offers us a dazzling lens through which to see ourselves here and now. His stories are rooted in science and romance and awe at our mysterious existence: a mixture of hope, love and death that cuts through human nature at innovative angles.
David Eagleman, PhD, is a neuroscientist and internationally bestselling author. He teaches at Stanford University, is the creator and host of the Emmy-nominated television series The Brain, and is the CEO of Neosensory, a company that builds the next generation of neuroscience hardware. The author of seven other books, he lives in Silicon Valley in California.
@davideagleman | eagleman.com
Title: Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
Author: David Eagleman
ISBN: 9781847674272
Binding:
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
Publication Date: 2009-04-24
Number of Pages: 128
Weight: 0.1180 kg
Witty, bright, sharp and unexpected . . . as surprising a book as I've read for years. Every story is a new Heaven. -- Brian Eno
A very well-written, very funny and very thought-provoking book that makes you realize that when it comes to the afterlife, most religions suffer from an acute shortage of imagination. Sum immediately made me think of several more alternative afterlives * * Yuval Noah Harari * *
SUM is terrific. It's such a good idea that I was grinding my teeth all the way through wishing I'd thought of it first. The inventiveness, the clarity and wit of the prose, the calm air of moral understanding that pervades the whole thing, add up to something completely original. I hope Sum will be the great big hit it deserves to be. -- Philip Pullman
Brilliantly realised, blazingly original, Sum isn't so much about the next life as this one. Eagleman's stories - parables? - a chilly reminder of our foibles and delusions. -- Colin Waters * * Sunday Herald * *
40 intriguing tales describing different heavenly scenarios ... and all formidably imagined ... Readers may discover much to appreciate - not least the lives they are living now, still so much better than some nightmares in these pages ... quirky, occasionally unsettling ... never short of new new ideas, all of them rolled out with style. -- Nicholas Tucker * * Independent * *
This delightful, thought-provoking little collection belongs to that category of strange, unclassifiable books that will haunt the reader long after the last page has been turned. It is full of tangential insights into the human condition and poetic thought experiments ... full of touching moments and glorious wit of the sort one only hopes will be incopious supply on the other side. * * The New York Times * *
This stunningly original book is little more than 100 pages long. You can get through it in an hour, but you'd be mad to hurry, and you will certainly want to return to it many times ... Sum has the unaccountable, jaw-dropping quality of genius. It seems exquisitely adapted to fill the contemporary longing for a kind of secular holy book. -- Geoff Dyer * * Observer * *
It does what it says in the title - satirical, playful, troubling, inventive, thought provoking and often funny takes on possible afterlives. A complete one off. I've been buying it and giving to friends and family. Everyone is delighted. Keep by the bed and feed yourself one or two before turning out the light. -- Andrew Greig * * Sunday Herald * *
Mind-bending . . . Thought-provoking and life-affirming with the dose of humour I enjoy. To help me appreciate the here and now rather than agonising about the what-ifs * * Daily Telegraph * *
SUM is an imaginative and provocative book that gives new perspectives on how to view ourselves and our place in the world. * * Alan Lightman, author of EINSTEIN'S DREAM * *
I suppose there could be people who dislike Canongate's latest find ... those, dare one say it, without poetry in their souls. For the rest - the millions who even in a post-religious, secular society find themselves at unexpected moments wondering who or what God is, if he's not a little old man sitting on a cloud. -- Mary Crockett * * Scotsman * *
This is as much an object of desire as an actual book ... elegant, surreal and philosophically questioning, each story from neuroscientist Eagleman offers an inventive, thought-provoking blend of science and romance ... sly wit, ingenuity and oddly acute insight into the vagaries of the human condition. -- Tina Jackson * * Metro * *
The most thought provoking stocking filler you could hope to find: a slender volume of bite size vignettes pondering what happens after we die. * * Scotsman * *
Whimsical, dark and sometimes funny -- CATHERINE STEADMAN * * Daily Express * *
Clever, memorable stuff. -- Lottie Moggach * * The London Paper * *
Charming, a bit whimsical, and thought-provoking. -- Mark Sarvas
A clever book. -- Robert Hanks * * Daily Telegraph * *
