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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
reflective
fast-paced
There's this one chapter where he speaks about meeting different versions of you from parallel universe. There's a less successful "you" who made poor choices and a more successful "you" who made better choices. Ultimately the best version of "you" is the real competition in afterlife.
The above is the best thing I read in a while. It's just too deep.
The above is the best thing I read in a while. It's just too deep.
Some distracting repetition takes places in the stories, but some were brilliant. I will *always* remember the premise of the first one. Loved it.
My friends Matt and Cassie recommended this book to me. It's a series of short 2-3 page stories about different possible afterlives. I have to admit I was a little skeptical at first because I wasn't sure how good they would be if they were so short. Boy was I wrong.
This book was phenomenal. It is funny, sad, humorous, and just downright lovely at times. I am definitely going to buy a copy.
My favorite story is probably one involving our creators being tiny, dim-witted creatures. After you die, you wake up and they are all staring at you in a lab, asking the same question, "Do you have answer? Do you have answer?" In this afterlife you realize that these creatures could not figure out the meaning of life and decided to pool their collective knowledge and create a machine smarter than they were. That's us. So they sent us out into the world to try and discover what the meaning of it all is. When you die, you come back to report to them. The only problem is, we don't know the answer. One of the little creature scientists runs off into a corner and begins to weep, realizing the project is a failure. Or is it?
Just wonderful. I highly recommend this book.
This book was phenomenal. It is funny, sad, humorous, and just downright lovely at times. I am definitely going to buy a copy.
My favorite story is probably one involving our creators being tiny, dim-witted creatures. After you die, you wake up and they are all staring at you in a lab, asking the same question, "Do you have answer? Do you have answer?" In this afterlife you realize that these creatures could not figure out the meaning of life and decided to pool their collective knowledge and create a machine smarter than they were. That's us. So they sent us out into the world to try and discover what the meaning of it all is. When you die, you come back to report to them. The only problem is, we don't know the answer. One of the little creature scientists runs off into a corner and begins to weep, realizing the project is a failure. Or is it?
Just wonderful. I highly recommend this book.
This book was full of surprises, and it constantly gave me a reason to reflect on my own life. Eagleman is an incredibly creative writer, setting up each unique world, or "afterlife," before embedding his point within it, and his ability to do this with such brevity is impressive. Reading it was like doing Yoga for the brain, many of the fictional vignettes bent my mind into mental contortions unlike anything I have experienced, at times unsettling, and always thought-provoking. I loved it.
Each vignette should be given time to steep, it's a short book, but let it be read slowly.
Goes well with Brian Eno and Harold Budd.
EDIT: It turns out that Brian Eno is a fan of this book, too, and even did a live performance with David Eagleman!
Each vignette should be given time to steep, it's a short book, but let it be read slowly.
Goes well with Brian Eno and Harold Budd.
EDIT: It turns out that Brian Eno is a fan of this book, too, and even did a live performance with David Eagleman!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
That was a fun thought experiment-kind of read at different ideas of the afterlife. Each chapter explores a different take on what will happen next. In one, God is bored, so only the good move on to the next realm, the bad have to stay by his/her side so he/she’s not so lonely. I like the first one the best. In this afterlife, you experience everything you did while being alive, but now it’s all categorized so that you experience all of one thing all at once. So three months straight of showers, six months of looking out a bus window, etc.
For such a small book, it was weirdly dense and I had to step away from it often. Worth the trip.
For such a small book, it was weirdly dense and I had to step away from it often. Worth the trip.
medium-paced
Short essays imagining different configurations of heaven and hell, reincarnation, reliving life.