Reviews

Dirk Quigby's Guide to the Afterlife: All You Need to Know to Choose the Right Heaven by E.E. King

rlbasley's review

2.0

Initially I loved this book. I appreciated the concept of plot.. a guide to the idea of heaven in differing belief systems and how they would be seen as a vacation spot.. for eternity. I initially felt this would be a great book to use in a sociology or anthropology belief systems class to create more of an understanding of how differing beliefs view afterlife. This book showed a lot of promise and I do believe it still has the potential to be a great book, however, it did not really have an ending. It was almost like the writer got to they wanted to review and sent it to the publisher. It also dealt with the various sections of Christian sects and dominations with just a nod to other religions. I would suggest looking at the pagan community as well if the author decides to expand on this book. Again I liked the book in the beginning but it falls very short in the conclusion.

vladdbad's review

funny informative lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Racism

If you want to read someone being snide and snarky about different religions, this might be for you. Don't look for wit or understanding or empathy or even basic knowledge of theology beyond what you might find in a risque cartoon... This is _Beavis and Butthead Do Religion_, basically. The author takes some surface level observations from an encyclopedia of religions and makes some snarky comments about implausibility, and that's pretty much it. If you remember the jokes made by that one kid in school who snuck bacon into the Turkish exchange student's lunch and bullied the Mormon kids, and they still make you chuckle... You'll probably enjoy this. If you are that kid, you'll probably read it for ideas. The author includes a section on references, because editors obviously saw how shallow the understanding was. Whatever she did to consult, in essence it ended up being something akin to reading an encyclopedia entry. As an example, she has one entry for all the different traditions of Islam, and makes a statement about prayer that completely ignores or invalidates all Shia traditions... This isn't someone who followed the hyperlinks, this is being content with skimming the bare surface. This quickly passes Mencken in meanness and leaps full bore into bigotry. There is a wrapper for the 'reviews' that reads like pat filler to try and justify a bigger page count. That whole additional layer is a poor graft onto the reviews that damages whatever credibility is left, and could easily be skipped with no loss. If you are starting to have doubts in your faith, give this a read... It acts as a quick antidote to whatever questions serious atheists have raised for you, and will help you feel like an embattled minority again. If you grew up watching Christian media and are starting to feel like _maybe_ the hateful atheists are a dubious stereotype... Here you go, at least one of them does actually exist, and her arguments are just as silly as in _God's Not Dead_. If you actually enjoy looking at the quirks of religion and faith and different traditions, if you can enjoy both Terry Pratchett and CS Lewis... This is going to leave you cold. But if you need a quick pick-me-up as an atheist yourself because you've run out of snarky comments to throw at your family and friends... This will help isolate you further. This is Richard Dawkins-level theological sophistication, without the science to justify it, but all of the bigotry.