Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives

David Eagleman

Feb 2009 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

At once funny, wistful and unsettling, Sum is a dazzling exploration of unexpected afterlives—each presented as a vignette that offers a stunning lens through which to see ourselves in the here and now.  In one afterlife, you may find that God is the size of a microbe and unaware of your existence. In another version, you work as a background character in other people’s dreams. Or you may find that God is a married couple, or that the universe is running backward, or that you are forced to live out your afterlife with annoying versions of who you could have been.  With a probing imagination and deep understanding of the human condition, acclaimed neuroscientist David Eagleman offers wonderfully imagined tales that shine a brilliant light on the here and now.

Ratings and reviews

Very good insight for fictional work. It will keep your wheels spinning and turning...I like the very first tale call "Sum" based upon the book title; but also a play on words. I believe in latin it means "I am", if I am not mistaken. Excellent read!!

The author does something unique and creative here. The only complaint would be that he took a bit too much of a shotgun approach, and the quality of the chapters varies. Fewer concepts, more fleshed out, could have made a book of greater depth. Still worth the couple of hours it takes to read.

An imaginative book that presents 40 different, possible afterlives. What they all have in common is, no matter how good they may appear at first, they're all limited in some way and don't compare to this life now.

About the author

DAVID EAGLEMAN is a neuroscientist, a Guggenheim Fellow, a TED speaker, and a New York Times bestselling author.  His books have been translated into 33 languages. Eagleman runs a neuroscience technology company in Palo Alto, CA, where he teaches at Stanford University and also directs the Center for Science and Law. He is the author and presenter of the Emmy-nominated PBS series The Brain.  At night he writes.