Sum Tales from the Afterlives
- 24 Apr 2009
- 9781847674272
- £9.99
- 128 pp
- 111×178mm
- 5 Apr 2010
- 9781847679574
- £14.99
- 2 hrs 40 min
- 23 Apr 2009
- 9781847675798
- £7.99
- 128 pp
- 20 May 2010
- 9781847678973
- £19.99
- 2 hrs 40 min
- 125×140mm
In a few words
What happens to us when we die? And what does that tell us about being human?
In a few words
Forty brilliantly engaging tales of what the afterlife might be like
In a few words
What happens to us when we die? And what does that tell us about being human?
In a few words
Forty brilliantly engaging tales of what the afterlife might be like
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
An absolute pearl of a book
Stephen Fry
Elegant, surreal and philosophically questioning, each story from neuroscientist Eagleman offers an inventive, thought-provoking blend of science and romance
An absolute pearl of a book
Stephen Fry
Elegant, surreal and philosophically questioning, each story from neuroscientist Eagleman offers an inventive, thought-provoking blend of science and romance
An absolute pearl of a book
Stephen Fry
Elegant, surreal and philosophically questioning, each story from neuroscientist Eagleman offers an inventive, thought-provoking blend of science and romance
More about
the book
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.
More about
the book
In this astounding book, David Eagleman entertains forty fictional possibilities of life beyond death. With wit and humanity, he asks the key questions about existence, hope, technology and love.
These stories are full of big ideas and bold imagination.
This audiobook assembles a stellar cast of readers who bring the scenarios of SUM brilliantly alive: Gillian Anderson, Emily Blunt, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Jack Davenport, Lisa Dwan, David Eagleman, Noel Fielding, Kerry Fox, Stephen Fry, Clarke Peters, Lemn Sissay and Harriet Walter.
More about
the book
In this startling book, David Eagleman shows us forty possibilities of life beyond death. With wit and humanity, he asks the key questions about existence, hope, technology and love. These short stories are full of big ideas and bold imagination.
More about
the book
In this astounding book, David Eagleman entertains forty fictional possibilities of life beyond death. With wit and humanity, he asks the key questions about existence, hope, technology and love.
These stories are full of big ideas and bold imagination.
This audiobook assembles a stellar cast of readers who bring the scenarios of SUM brilliantly alive: Gillian Anderson, Emily Blunt, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Jack Davenport, Lisa Dwan, David Eagleman, Noel Fielding, Kerry Fox, Stephen Fry, Clarke Peters, Lemn Sissay and Harriet Walter.
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 Herald40 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
IndependentThis 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.
Sum is terrific. The inventiveness, the clarity and wit of the prose, the calm air of moral understanding that pervades the whole thing, add up to something completly original.
Philip Pullman
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
ObserverAnything that tells us, convincingly, that this really may be the best of all possible worlds has something big going for it.
Sum is terrific. The inventiveness, the clarity and wit of the prose, the calm air of moral understanding that pervades the whole thing, add up to something completly original.
Philip Pullman
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
ObserverAnything that tells us, convincingly, that this really may be the best of all possible worlds has something big going for it.
Sum is terrific. The inventiveness, the clarity and wit of the prose, the calm air of moral understanding that pervades the whole thing, add up to something completly original.
Philip Pullman
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
ObserverAnything that tells us, convincingly, that this really may be the best of all possible worlds has something big going for it.
Wacky and whimsical; a little goes a long way.
Sue Arnold
The Guardian
David Eagleman
View profileDavid 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
David Eagleman
View profileDavid Eagleman, PHD, is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Texas where his research laboratory is developing a reputation for doing some of the most unusual experiments in contemporary neuroscience. He has had essays published in all manner of journals including Nature and Science. He also lectures widely and continues to be invited to speak at universities all around the world.
David Eagleman
View profileDavid 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
David Eagleman
View profileDavid Eagleman, PHD, is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Texas where his research laboratory is developing a reputation for doing some of the most unusual experiments in contemporary neuroscience. He has had essays published in all manner of journals including Nature and Science. He also lectures widely and continues to be invited to speak at universities all around the world.
