Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives

by David Eagleman

English language

Published Feb. 10, 2009

ISBN:: 978-0-307-37734-0

(23 reviews)

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.

5 editions

Martijn Reintjes reviewed Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

Review of 'Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

"There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time."
--
Interesting book with thoughts on the afterlife.
The book presents 40 different takes on it, most of them are very boring though ... leaning hard on the Christian take with a deity. Some where more thought provoking and "out there", but I expected more of it. Would have been fun if David incorporated a bit more in what other religions made of the afterlife and then REALLY went overboard with his ideas.
So this book is pretty dull, David's afterlives are pretty dull, and I now expect David to be pretty dull as well.
A shame, as it's a cool concept.

surya reviewed Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

Review of 'Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Science has its beauty so does poetry.
Rare are works of art that could bring out the best of both.
One such book is, “Sum: Forty tales from the afterlives” by David Eagleman.

Even if you disagree or find flaws in the plots of some stories, the book is very well written with a seamless flow of beauty that....... well, you are just lost for words to describe it.

My personal favourite is the story called "Subjunctive".
The book also reminded me of yet another book, "Einstein's Dreams" by the physicist Alan Lightman

Eduardo Santiago reviewed Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

Review of 'Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

What an unexpected delight! Much like [b:Gathering Moss|87040|Gathering Moss A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses|Robin Wall Kimmerer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387714999s/87040.jpg|84013] this is a book I'd never heard of and, had I heard of it, would've quickly dismissed as not worth bothering with. Like Gathering Moss, I read it based on the urging of a close friend; and in both cases, wow, am I ever grateful.

To begin with: [b:Sum|4948826|Sum Forty Tales from the Afterlives|David Eagleman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320528453s/4948826.jpg|5014561] is not woo. If I had to pigeonhole it I'd call it SF but it's really so much more: forty fantasies, different what-ifs on what it's all about: are we subjects in a research experiment on love? Were we created by a god who then took off and abandoned us? By a bumbling god who is now learning from us? What if Heaven is perfectly egalitarian and just—could we stand it? Whimsical and quirky. Richly fantastic, thought-provoking. …

gimley reviewed Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

Review of 'Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

When you die, what you expected to be the end of the show turns out not to even be the end of the season. It's merely the end of an episode and not one of the better ones. You were so into playing your character you lost track of reality. Still, your show will probably be picked up for another year by the network, but you, the lead character, may get a better offer elsewhere if you were good. You're hoping for Heaven. You did get a voice mail from your agent but haven't called back yet. You plan to, but first this important message reviewing the book . . .

Some afterlives were a lot better than others. He should probably have edited it down to 30. Still, none of them are worth dying for. I much preferred Andy Weir's The Egg. Go read it now!