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zellreads's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting thought experiments but not well fleshed out. This book goes in 40 different directions that could all be interesting but it feels like you're being given sketches rather than a fleshed out idea.
leovonahn's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
moscat's review against another edition
5.0
An incredible achievement. Each story is a mere handful of pages but creates a fascinating vision of the afterlife. Some are comic, some nihilistic, some horror, all thought-provoking.
In some the afterlife is a hell for the dead, in others a hell for God. One would not be out of place in a Yellow King collection. Love, technology, the nature of creation, the unanswerable.
Everyone should read this. It packs so many ideas into 100 pages, a genuine joy for your brain.
In some the afterlife is a hell for the dead, in others a hell for God. One would not be out of place in a Yellow King collection. Love, technology, the nature of creation, the unanswerable.
Everyone should read this. It packs so many ideas into 100 pages, a genuine joy for your brain.
books2023's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
l44l's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
john_langley's review against another edition
4.0
Inventive, amusing and thought-provoking stories about the afterlife, selfhood and consciousness.
vegantrav's review against another edition
4.0
The short stories in this collection (so short that they might better be termed fables or parables) deal primarily, as the title indicates, with the afterlife. Most of them are ingeniously imaginative and address, in a playful way, the ultimate question that almost all humans ask themselves: what happens to us after we die?
Eagleman doesn't write from any particular religious (or non-religious, for that matter) tradition or philosophical position but simply throws out different scenarios about the nature of the afterlife, and in some of his tales, there really isn't an afterlife--at least not for humans. In these stories, fanciful though they may be, about what lies beyond death, there is a great deal of insight about the human condition, and most of the tales address important issues in philosophy (particularly as concerns the nature of personal identity as well as important existential questions) and even in science, particularly biology, physics, and advanced computer technology.
Several of the tales that I particularly enjoyed reminded me of why I am completely content with the notion of my ceasing to exist forever when I die: the afterlife, if there is one (and I'm quite sure there's not one), may not be all it's cracked up to be.
This is a delightful short story collection, one that I highly recommend.
Eagleman doesn't write from any particular religious (or non-religious, for that matter) tradition or philosophical position but simply throws out different scenarios about the nature of the afterlife, and in some of his tales, there really isn't an afterlife--at least not for humans. In these stories, fanciful though they may be, about what lies beyond death, there is a great deal of insight about the human condition, and most of the tales address important issues in philosophy (particularly as concerns the nature of personal identity as well as important existential questions) and even in science, particularly biology, physics, and advanced computer technology.
Several of the tales that I particularly enjoyed reminded me of why I am completely content with the notion of my ceasing to exist forever when I die: the afterlife, if there is one (and I'm quite sure there's not one), may not be all it's cracked up to be.
This is a delightful short story collection, one that I highly recommend.