David Eagleman’s Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives ponders over forty different existences after death. It is hilarious at times as well as thought-provoking making this a unique read. Eagleman is a neuroscientist and American writer who has also written Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain and The Brain: The Story of You. He has received the Guggenheim Fellowship award as well as Science Educator of the Year award. His writing delves from scientific fiction to philosophy. This work of fiction is intended for a more mature audience as it contemplates over the unknown. Eagleman’s purpose is to demonstrate that if one’s life is not lived well and to its fullest, imminent remorse is the end result.
The title is direct and to the point …show more content…
The volume does not include an introduction other than more information on the author and it is arranged in chapters, forty in total. The book jacket sparks interest as it catches the reader’s attention with the words “unsettling” and “dazzling”. It quickly demonstrates different afterlives by mentioning a nonstandard God and the unconventional ways as to how the afterlife is portrayed. The cover of the book has a simple ladder with a background of blue color showcasing a way to the unknown.
There are no constant characters in the book. Each chapter demonstrates a different God or creator(s) ranging from a woman who grants everyone access to heaven to dim-witted creatures asking, “Do you have answer?”. In each chapter, the creators have a tremendous effect on the people on earth as they decide what they will encounter in life after death. The humans also have a large effect on their creators as their destruction and sadness causes great torment to the higher beings that love them. Empathizing with some of the creators comes easily as their morality causes them to suffer because making the people on earth joyful constantly is an impossible task that leads to failure and distress. The theme, death, is evident throughout the entirety
The title is direct and to the point …show more content…
The volume does not include an introduction other than more information on the author and it is arranged in chapters, forty in total. The book jacket sparks interest as it catches the reader’s attention with the words “unsettling” and “dazzling”. It quickly demonstrates different afterlives by mentioning a nonstandard God and the unconventional ways as to how the afterlife is portrayed. The cover of the book has a simple ladder with a background of blue color showcasing a way to the unknown.
There are no constant characters in the book. Each chapter demonstrates a different God or creator(s) ranging from a woman who grants everyone access to heaven to dim-witted creatures asking, “Do you have answer?”. In each chapter, the creators have a tremendous effect on the people on earth as they decide what they will encounter in life after death. The humans also have a large effect on their creators as their destruction and sadness causes great torment to the higher beings that love them. Empathizing with some of the creators comes easily as their morality causes them to suffer because making the people on earth joyful constantly is an impossible task that leads to failure and distress. The theme, death, is evident throughout the entirety