Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

When I was little, I used to imagine the afterlife as a heaven with a grandfatherly God in long, flowing robes, sitting on a shiny golden throne atop a bunch of fluffy clouds. David Eagleman’s Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives provides a vast array of possible afterlives for a more mature audience that will leave readers reflecting about what each “afterlife” would be like if they truly existed.

Eagleman, a neuroscientist, blends some wonderfully creative and deliciously imaginative details into his writing; his extensive scientific knowledge flows effortlessly into 40 short vignettes. Not all of the vignettes are scientific-oriented, and I must admit that I appreciated those which were non-scientific (or with minimal mention of science) much better than his heavily, and in some cases, overly scientific tales. My biggest gripe with Sum’s science-filled afterlife vignettes is that they were not as easy for laypeople, like myself, to wrap their heads around and completely understand the concepts mentioned. For that, one would have to be a major science buff.

I understand that science surrounds Eagleman’s educational and professional background. I believe, however, that Sum could have been more accessible to a wider audience, if it didn’t feel like the author was assuming that everyone understood the overdose of science infused into a good portion of his vignettes.

“Each vignette reminded me of unwrapping presents to find different surprises awaiting you from each respective afterlife…”

Don’t get me wrong. I did enjoy Sum for the most part. It is a great book for anyone who has ever been curious about or has imagined afterlives themselves. While many of the vignettes possess a more serious and thought-provoking mood and tone to them, Eagleman does inject some fun moments into some of his imagined afterlives that will make you laugh.

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Each vignette reminded me of unwrapping presents to find different surprises awaiting you from each respective afterlife. Having majored in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Poetry in college, I found my two absolute favorite vignettes to be his opening story, named, “Sum” and the closing tale, “Reversal.”

 “…a life where episodes are split into tiny swallowable pieces, where moments do not endure, where one experiences the joy of jumping from one event to the next like a child hopping from spot to spot on the burning sand”

— David Eagleman

“Sum” focuses on having to relive all of life’s moments “that share a quality…grouped together.” This type of afterlife will make you wish for “a life where episodes are split into tiny swallowable pieces, where moments do not endure, where one experiences the joy of jumping from one event to the next like a child hopping from spot to spot on the burning sand.” In “Reversal,” Eagleman writes that this afterlife is more like living your life backwards, so that “in this way our life neither dies nor disintegrates, but rewinds.” Births would be when people “dig you up from the earth and transport you grandly to the mortuary, where the birth makeup is removed.” Deaths would be when “babies climb back into the wombs of their mothers, who eventually shrink and climb back into the wombs of their mothers, and so on like concentric Russian dolls.” This beautifully poetic language lingers in my mind. It sparks my own imaginative juices about what my version of an afterlife might look like now that I’m older and hopefully a little wiser.