Sum


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Comments:
While reading the book __Sum__, I realized that this book was not biased in any way by a particular religion, as I had expected. This book, written by David Eagleman about forty different tales from the afterlife, exceeded my expectations while keeping it short and simple. Inside this novel, I was faced with all sorts of unbelievable scenarios in which some supernatural god-like figure was in control of the afterlife. I'd expected the normal Christian afterlife of a God and a heaven full of angels to be the basis by which these other tales were formed, but I was completely wrong. Each tale started off by giving you its backround. Then it it took you through many twists and turns before finishing itself off with some sort of reason as to why this type of heaven caused its inhabitants to be miserable. It left me wondering,"Can any heaven be perfect as it was designed to be?" Throughout this book, I was kept interested by Eagleman's descriptive and detailed word choice, not to mention all the different afterlives which were exciting in themselves. In a nutshell, David Eagleman's __Sum__ is an intriguing story which could satisfy anyone who decides to read it. -Benjamin Schools

Sum is, to say the least, a very inventive book. The author David Eagleman explores the age-old question of the afterlife in directions far from the conventional heaven. He seems to suggest that, in most cases, the afterlife, unlike most beliefs, is not life's superior nor perfect. In fact, most humans dislike the afterlife craving for any chance to return to being a human. While I expected this book to describe heavens, it seemed more to be describing hells. For instance, in the first chapter, Sum, Eagleman suggests a world where you relive all of your life where the similar parts are grouped together. Eighteen days looking into the refrigerator and five days buttoning or zipping up clothes. Perhaps the most depressing stories are Scales and Great Expectations. Scales describes humans as cells on a larger scale. We are the cells of God's body. We are unaware of this, but, like our own cells who have no knowledge of our existence, we eventually kill God, a cancer to him, and as he dies so do we. Great Expectations reminds one more of the afterlife pictured today by many, whether it be 72 virgins or other worldly pleasures, and the likelihood that our conception of heaven is completely wrong making us depressed that we cannot have our own heaven. The most thoughtful of Eagleman's stories seems to be Metamorphosis. Having the ability to choose our next life form, we are limited to our own knowledge of other life forms and are, thus, likely to choose a less intelligent form, and, in doing so, doom us for our next choice in metamorphosis since our knowledge will be even smaller. Sum is a fascinating book that allows readers to experience different ideas about the afterlife and perhaps explore their own ideas instead of the pre-conceived notions we've been taught for years. -Riley Daen

Sum is a wonderful synthesis of views on the afterlife that have been expressed throughout the history of mankind. David Eagleman explores the expansive realm of the afterlife in various manners. Eagleman addresses concerns that many people have about the afterlife, and he creates scenarios that become believable in short, straightforward tales. Even an afterlife doubter can find themselves believing the intricate scenarios Eagleman creates. Pulling together 40 stories into one anthology can be a difficult task. Many authors address this problem by creating awkward transitions between story lines. Take a movie like "Valentine's Day" which I was recently dragged into watching by my sister on a gloomy afternoon. The movie moves roughly from story line to story line, trying to stuff as many stars as it could into a fairly predictable and ordinary plot line. Eagleman, however, chooses to go about this problem by ignoring useless transitions. By splitting up the stories into different sections, Eagleman keeps the reader engaged by creating and developing new stories in as little as a page and a half. Sum was a wonderful, flowing book that I am glad I had the opportunity to read. -Ethan Zisk

Sum, despite the widespread attention it has gained, failed to impress me, due to its atheist approach to the mystery of the afterlife. It seemed to me that David Eagleman, the imaginative author, developed some random views of the afterlife on one boring day where he questioned his future after death. His miniature stories of the afterlife in Sum rarely link to any other religions, despite the occasional link to there being a supreme God, and they seem to come from the mind of a kindergardener, as he links to migits to frankenstein to computers. I could not tell what his goal for writing this book was, whether it was supposed to be a children's fantasy of the afterlife or a mockery of the bible. As for the writing scheme, Mr. Eagleman tore this book, or collection of books, into choppy segments that had no flow, no cliffhangers or interesting scenes.His book jumps from one idea to the next, almost skipping around from reliving your life to being a tiny atom. Did David Eagleman, supposedly an acclaimed neuroscientist, believe that an of the imagined stories would be true? Or is that supposed to be the beauty of it? In my opinion, there is no beauty in inventing your own afterlife. Overall, if you are looking for a better book, read the Bible. -Landon Sanford

Sum is a book that contains many answers to the questions of the afterlife that mankind has been pondering for generations. Eagleman takes forty afterlives and places them all into a small book. There was one question that struck me while I was reading this book. Why there was always a consequence to the afterlives? At first the afterlives would sound fine, however as you would finish the story of an afterlife there was always a consequence or a bad side to it. In one of Eagleman’s afterlives, Circle of Friends, one would think that having all of the people that were remembered in your life with you would not seem so bad. However as one keep’s reading it is clear that it is a hell, because one is stuck with the same and can never meet the new. Eagleman also represented one of his afterlives, “Oz”, to the book “The Wizard of Oz.” In this afterlife one received a scroll saying that you were to meet the creator of the universe and only the most courageous of all people could see him. As the person meets the creator, he appears to be this huge person with godly features, but then the face disappears and an old man appears. I think that this afterlife has the best name over all of them. Eagleman also keeps all of the afterlives coherent and I never was mixed up with them. I was glad that I was able to read this book and feel that I picked the most interesting of all the books on the list. -Horry Kerrison

In David Eagleman's novel __Sum__, he takes the reader into 40 very different and interesting afterlives. He challenges the conventional theories of the afterlife by providing radical and bizarre ones, which make one question what the afterlife really is like. Rather than portraying the afterlives as the mundane utopian worlds that we often view the afterlife as, Eagleman explores some afterlives which are often far from perfect. The afterlives in this novel range from worlds where god has lost control of his people to worlds where humans are no more than computers and the play toys of gods and even aliens. As stated before: Eagleman's afterlives are no utopian civilizations, but rather each afterlife has at least one tragic flaw. I couldn't help from noticing that most of the stories had a pattern. They started out sounding like a happy, good afterlife, but after being fed more information, the egregious flaws would stand out, altering your view of that afterlife 180 degrees. In the end most, (if not all all)of the stories ended on a sour note that you hadn't expected when reading the beginning of that story. All in all, I thought the book was just alright. It's not a book that you read in one sitting, but it's a better book to spread out over a couple of days or weeks. I was not aware when choosing this book that it was just a compilation of stories that did not correlate, so I was not too fond of that. But that being said, there were still some intriguing afterlives that I enjoyed and made me question my preconceived perception of the afterlife. -Henry Oelsner

The __Sum__ is a novel that is made up of 40 short stories. In each story, David Eagleman describes a different idea of an afterlife. Though, there always seemed to be a consequence or punishment in each afterlife. For example, in one of the stories, those who were very sinful during their Earthly lives, were sent to an afterlife, and those who were loyal to God, died. It seems it is just a big mix up, but it is not. God has lived for eternity, and has grown to hate it because he has grown tired of living, and so therefore he makes those who were sinful have to suffer the same "punishment", which is eternal life. Another story I found interesting was "Descent of Species". In this story, you are given the opportunity to choose your next life. You decide that you want to live a simpler lifestyle, and so you choose to become a horse. You become the horse, but you forget your whole reasoning of why you wanted to become the horse. All you can think about now is where you will sleep next, or where the good patch of grass is. Your brain has become less developed, thus making you less intelligent. Therefore, you forget what a human is, and you cannot climb up the intelligence scale, you can only descend. I also found it interesting that in some of the stories, Eagleman described God as a "She", I was not very sure of why Eagleman chose to do that. I thought the __Sum__ was a great book and found it very interesting. I was glad I chose to read the __Sum.__ -Michael Byrd

In his book, __Sum__, David Eagleman seems to be using these various hypothetical afterlives as a platform from which to comment on our earthly lives. I gathered that one of the main points of the work was to indirectly state that our idea of 'heaven' could very well not be what we imagine it to. On the contrary, it could be far more hellish than we would like. Therefore, Eagleman is possibly trying to convey the message that we should make the most of this life, because we definitely don't know what awaits us afterward. This point is illustrated very effectively by these highly varied and outside-the-box conceptions of what the afterlife //could// be like. Some of the most amusing stories to me were those that portrayed creator-figures as being, in some way or another, inferior to their creations. For instance, he gives us the idea that a group of slow-minded beings created us for the sole purpose of discovering the answer to life, only to realize later that we had become so advanced that the information we would try to relay was completely incomprehensible to them. I enjoyed reading __Sum__, not only because it brings a plethora of captivating ideas to the table, but because it makes you think about the fact that, for good or bad, what is beyond this life is a mystery to us. -Ben Byrd

In David Eagleman's novel __Sum__, he explores the possibilities of forty different afterlife scenarios. With very short chapters, Eagleman keeps the reader entertained and focused on what the afterlife might be like. It is a very intriguing story that makes you more interested in each different possibility of the afterlife. __Sum__ explores the lives of all people and all religions. The theme of the book is to show that you that the traditional views you have always been taught are not exactly the right ones. __Sum__ was a very creative and interesting story that really made you think about what the afterlife might be like. It was a very enjoyable read and I am glad I chose it. -Maddie Farrell

The book Sum: Forty Tales of the Afterlife

by David Eagleman has many very interesting takes on the afterlife. Even though at points I had felt a certain disbelief in the reality used in some of the scenarios, I would still recommend this book to someone. It has very good stories, and each one pulled me further into the story. However, some of the different scenarios of the afterlife lacked realism, such as the last chapter, “Reversal.” By splitting the book into little page and a half sections, it kept me interested. But at the same time, a good stopping point was easy to find. Overall, David Eagleman’s Sum: Forty Tales of the Afterlife

was a different and progressive book that was interesting and should be more well-known. -Nick Zimmerman

The novel __Sum__, by David Eagalman, takes the reader into 40 different and surprising afterlife adventures. Eagleman uses bizarre theories to then compare and contrast them to conventional ones, which then poses the question to the reader of what the afterlife really is like. Instead of viewing the afterlife as a flawless world and perfect angles and floating clouds, Eagleman explores worlds far from that. In some of the short stories throughout the novel Eagleman portrays people from being a strong believer in God to being atheistic. Overall, I think that David Eagleman's __Sum__ is a book that people of all religions and beliefs should read because it explores many different varieties and beliefs of the afterlife. -Victor Hyman

In __Sum__, David Eagleman describes 40 different theories on what the afterlife holds for us. Using a vivid imagination, he goes through entertaining, yet questionable afterlives. Some of the more questionable scenarios involved God not being a factor or even being present, which I thought was a bold move by David Eagleman. No doubt he raises questions that can cause even complete opposite religions to think. While I was reading his book, I felt immersed in amusing, sometimes even comical tales of what waits for us beyond death. Overall, I think that David Eagleman's __Sum__ is a book that people of all religions and beliefs should read, as it dances around the touchy subject of religions and views worldwide. -Will Bennett

__Sum__ was, to be blunt, an extremely creative look at what lies in store for us after death. Written by neuroscientist David Eagleman, it is comprised of forty small and completely original mini-stories that are exceptionally different from our vague ideas of what might be out there. In "Mirrors", my favorite story, Eagleman says that death occurs in two parts, one being the last beat of your heart and the other is when, in a type of purgatory, everything except your consciousness is taken away from you. Next, every view of you that was held by friends, family, and strangers is pooled before you and then molded around your consciousness. Finally, a mirror is held up and for the first time, you see yourself for what you truly are, and only then, from shock, do you die. I think that Eagleman was just making up crazy ideas that were not entirely plausible, but fun to read and think about. __Sum__ was very good and I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a bit of out-there thoughts on a subject that is somewhat disputed between different people. -Stuart Faith

__Sum__, a creatively devised book about different ways to view the afterlife, was a very intriguing read. The author, neuroscientist David Eagleman, told forty tales of what the afterlife could consist of. These tales included some radical theories, but a few stood out from the others. Early on, Eagleman suggests that God's favorite book is Mary Shelley's __Frankenstein__. According to this theory, Shelley sat on a throne in heaven due to her marvelous work of literature and due to the fact that God could relate heavily and "painfully" to anything having to do with creation. If you think about it, how could God not be a little saddened by the humans, not all but some being monsters, that he created. Another theory suggests that God is not man nor woman but a married couple. The wife makes women in her image, all different shapes, sizes, looks, and personalities, and the husband makes men in the same light. One theory says that we never truly die, meaning that our marks are never erased; what we did on earth is still affecting people after our death. However, earlier on in the book, a theory says that we completely die when our name is spoken for the last time. The theory which stood out to me the most was "Apostasy". This theory suggested that the God we see in heaven is not what we would expect, but the God of all religions and traditions. "She" is a God in which all people who believe, no matter the religion, can take refuge. In any case, I would recommend this book to anyone, who doesn't have their mind made up about their beliefs in life after death. __Sum__ shows that you don't have to know what the afterlife is like, but there are many different ways to consider. -Bethany Robinson

After finishing the book Sum, it struck me that the author, David Eagleman, is truly a genius. In his book he explains forty possiblities of the journey we make once we die. Even though each individual tale of the afterlife is only several pages long, they were all full of vivid detail and well thought out. An example and personal favorite of mine is the afterlife Eagleman named "Egalitaire". The beginning of this afterlife was quite simple, it consisted of a god that was too loving to nominate anyone evil and condemn them to hell, so she sent them to heaven. But there was a clever catch! No one is actually happy. "The communists aren't because they only constructed their perfect society with the help of a god whom they don't want to believe in... The conservatives have no penniless to disparage; the liberals have no downtrodden to promote..." writes Eagleman. All of the stories, like this one, were interesting and had surprising outcomes. Unlike most assigned books we are forced to read, this one didn't linger on unimportant details without sacrificing intriguing plots. That quality of the book was very appealing to me. Before reading Sum I expected that Eagleman would lean toward one religion, but afterwards i realized that he had completely avoided all religions and with his intelligence created tales that hardly have anything to do with religion at all. Seemingly, they were 'what if' stories. Overall David Ealgleman's Sum is an excellent short masterpiece that pleases all who read it. -Josie Griffith

David Eagleman's __Sum__, is a mind-bending exploration of life's greatest mystery-the afterlife. It is composed of 40 pithy short narratives, each of which offer a different conjecture as to the prospect of the afterlife. Before I began this book, I figured that it would encompass the views of many different world religions to highlight the more common views of the afterlife that most people are familiar with. I was surprised however to find that the book neglected modern religion (with the exception of a few elements, like heaven/hell and a supreme being), giving Eagleman the creative freedom to write imaginative, thought-provoking possibilities of the afterlife. The most interesting thing I found in reading this book was that Eagleman was really using the premise of his afterlife stories to shed light upon and sometimes even poke fun at different elements of human nature and modern society. For example, in the story, Great Expectations, Eagleman seems to mock modern society's glorification of possessions, beauty, and self-gratification. In this version of the afterlife, humans are able to pick the circumstances of their afterlife including physical appearance, possessions, occupations. They decide on all of these factors which are then programed into a computer which your consciousness is implanted into upon your death (which is a scheduled vaporization). It is assumed that this method is foolproof (perhaps another nod towards societies faith in technology?) however, it doesn't work and those who had invested in it find themselves with God in heaven, but thoroughly disappointed. They find that they had believed so strongly in a reality that promised to expose them to the highest levels of earthly pleasures that when faced with the traditional heaven promised by God they were unhappy and disappointed. Lesson learned? As a whole there is a lot to be gained from the reading of Sum. All religious implications aside, if read as a study of our humanity, rather than as a serious conviction of the afterlife, __Sum__ offers many intriguing insights into the inner workings of the human mind and society. -Mary Beth Robards

The book __Sum__ by David Eagleman is an open-minded short book made of forty tales. Throughout the book, i realized that the author was not giving his own point of view on the subject of after-life but he gave some opinions, facts and possibilities which makes the book even more interesting. No matter which religion the reader is, this book keeps him reading just to build his own opinion on what's waiting for him after he dies. Eagleman wrote on a taboo and difficult subject that is after-life. However, his simple way of expressing gives the reader the opportunity to understand and working his imagination. I thought each tales was showing a different view of the after-life, with always God in relation to what happens in the tale. In the tale "Missing" for example, the author brings the possibility that God would actually be a married couple which breaks all the theories of most of the religions that have said for centuries now that God is a man. Also in this tale, Eagleman shows that the relationships between this married couple are not great all the time and have some ups and downs which relate to the humans being they built from their own image. This way the reader can relate to his God and trust him. In the end, __Sum__ is a great book to let the imagination work and to see all the different possibilities the human species could have with the after-life. It tells the reader all the relationships between God and his creations, us humans, but also what role plays the universe and the decisions we make in our lives. -Alizee Mussini

In the book __Sum__, the author (David Eagleman) explores many concepts, answers, to the old question of the afterlife. In some of his explanations, concepts from religions have been explored, and almost parodied. However, he does not just stick to the religious explanations- he goes out on a limb and explains how technology supposedly gives you the chance to explore a wonderful afterlife, but fails in the end, as your soul is sent to G-d. In almost all of these concepts, the concept of "G-d" is also stretched, and changed- G-d is portrayed in one as a married couple, instead of one being. Their "divorce" would result in a disaster, as the opposite sexes would also be torn apart. David Eagleman tells us of many different ways our lives could go on, and many of these are original concepts not based on any religion, or any atheistic thought- rather, upon his own original ideas. -Savannah Cash

In David Eagleman's book Sum, he creates 40 fictional tales from the afterlife. Each intriguing story is a few pages long, and personally made me question what is ahead in the afterlife. Some of these very radical stories are far from what we are taught as Christians, and are extremely convincing. These stories make you think, like in his first story "sum" where you relive all of your experiences reshuffled into all moments that share a similar quality. It made me think more than any of the other tales in the fact that Eagleman say's you spend 6 months watching commercials in your life time but only enjoy 14 minutes of pure joy throughout your entire life. To me the meaning of this story is to live your life to the fullest and waste your time doing meaningless things. Overall i thoroughly enjoyed the imaginative stories of David Eagleman and would definatly recomend this book. -Will Sherer

The highly praised book __Sum__ by David Eagleman, presents forty theories of life after death. As I opened this book, ready to be blown away, I was thoroughly disappointed. It seemed as if an "average joe" had formulated the idea to write a book about afterlife theories, and he ran out of reasonable ideas after the eleventh idea. Although this book was well-written, I found myself tired of listening to his ideas after fifty pages of nonsense. David Eagleman did not mention the popular theories that I hear mentioned every day, such as Christianity, Judaism and others. I'm not saying that his ideas or beliefs are not true, but it was a disappointment that he overlooked popular religious speculations. Overall, this book's reviews may vary (depending on the reader), but I was not satisfied in the end.

-James Huey
The very interesting novel Sum by David Eagleman is a creative take on 50 scenarios of the human afterlife. Each short tale is only 2 or 3 pages long which kept me interested and helped me enjoy each piece. These odd and sometimes frightening stories show Eagleman's true vivid imagination. One thing I found sort of odd in this book was the use of second-person writing. Being used to reading only first and third person stories this made reading this book take a little longer. Although some of the stories are just flat out disasters a few such as the story "Prism" show some things that are really insightful. "Prism" lets you live at all your ages in your life to show you that you are not the same person at 16 that you are at 65. A reading of each story shows that human nature brings out sadness and regret. Eagleman did not go into popular theories of the afterlife as portrayed in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hindu, or Buddhist. Sum is a to me was a good but not great book because of its repetitiveness. Although most of the stories were somewhat interesting, it was hard to follow around 50 of them. David Eagleman put his vivid and thought provoking ideas on display in his book Sum.

-Win Lipov

David Eagleman’s __Sum__, is an enlightening collection of forty stories about the afterlife. All of the stories vary and each deliver their own message. However, many of the stories often sarcastically criticize how our world acts today. I was very amused with how Eagleman was able to do this, for it really made you stop and think. While I was expecting a book filled with explanations of the afterlife according to world religions, I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the stories never mentioned any gods, holy books, or ethics codes. Eagleman simply created forty insightful stories that really gave me a fresh and fun perspective on the afterlife. He was not trying to tell others what the afterlife is or should be, he just imagined forty different scenarios. Also, I was very pleased with the format of the book. It was nice to have tons of short stories rather than just one storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Sum and I certainly recommend this book to anyone. Layne Mather __Sum,__ written by David Eagleman, is an interesting book composed of multiple stories about the afterlife. These possible events or supernatural theories twist one's mind and make the reader really consider if these stories could possibly come true. My favorite story was "Circle of Friends", which talks about when you die you feel that there has been some "subtle change" in what is happening, but for the most part is the same. You wake up and do all of the normal things that you usually do and you go to work. But the odd part is that the world's population is a very small fraction of what it used to be. I personally thought this book was very creative and exciting to read! ~Rob Thomas Sum is a collection of theories written by David Eagleman that span a variety of religions and ideals and gives the reader many different insights into the possibilities of the afterlife. This novel challenges us to look past what we know and explore our fears into the unknown. Sum toys with ideas like God not knowing that humans actually exist, being able to chose who we want to be in the next life, being actors in someone else’s dreams, and the fact that we as humans were created for an experiment that cannot be brought to a conclusion. Some theories, like humans are forced to live with the more successful extensions of themselves because they fall short of their potential or that no matter what God does she cannot make everyone around her happy, leaves you depressed. Other times, the depictions of the afterlife leave you wanting to know more. Such theories include the fact that we mesmerize and surprise those who have created us because they didn’t know that they had the power to do so or that we can change the world anyway we see fit. Through all of these theories, it is clear that David Eagleman has an expansive imagination that leaves you both excited and wildly unsettled. Apsley Allen In David Eagleman's novel Sum, he tells forty deep and expansive stories of the afterlife. All of these stories made you really consider what actually happens to you when you die. I think the read might have been more enjoyable if there were a little less stories and they went into more depth than they did. As a whole, i thought the book was extremely interesting, but some of the concepts could also be hard to grasp at times. It is very confusing in some parts the way people are reborn into new lives. I also didnt like the sad endings of most of the stories as they progressed. In my opinion, David Eagleman did a fantastic job transitioning through from story to story, keeping it interesting the whole entire time. All in all, i think the book was pretty good, not fantastic, but i liked it at most of the parts. I do appreciate the way the book is written even though the plot may have been confusing at times. -Marcus Newberry In the book __Sum__: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, David Eagleman explores the many possibilities of what its like after we die. I found it most interesting when Eagleman would contradict his own writing, such as saying God is a woman then a man then saying in one of the stories that God is a married couple. The one particular story i enjoyed reading most was Quantum. I thought it was the story that was most similar to how i personally had pictured heaven, or the afterlife. The religious aspect of the book is not bias as one would have thought. Eagleman included a story that most likely was suitable for everyone. He writes stories that include living peacefully and stories that tell of decomposing and being nothing but a microbe in the afterlife. He explores numerous possibilities and does so in a specific style. Most of his stories did entail a conflict or a part of the afterlife that nobody liked. Though his style was the same throughout, each afterlife was remarkably different and thats what i liked the most, the variety throughout the book. In all I thought David Eagleman did phenomenal job in writing this novel and it was definitely a fantastic read. -Elizabeth Norton Being possibly the least stringent religious follower, some people can just call me an everyday atheist. To be honest, I'm not enticed by any religion this world offers, but I still like to participate in religious ceremonies whether they be from my Hindu-sided family or something as simple as Christmas. And with these viewpoints, you can assume that I was not a big fan of this book, written by the neuroscientist David Eagleman. The author chooses a middle route between the traditional belief systems of the numerous religions and the certainty of a true atheistic world. He ponders in this middle possibility with what seems like insanely ludicrous stories, as if a young child's dream has been caught in a native Indian dream-catcher that roughly puts it into chopped segments of a book, "Sum". None of the stories in particular struck me as something I could believe, but being a fictional book, the author isn't in particular trying to convince anyone of this pseudo-afterlife that he describes. One quote I did like from the chapter, "Scale" was, "The atheists and the theists agreed that it only through us that He lives." And this is something that I totally believe, that God is just something we invented as a retreat, as a comfort zone, as a belief just so we can have that. But my religious affiliations aside, overall the book was poorly constructed, to say the least. This could have been greatly improved if these "40 tales from the afterlife" were somehow connected, in chronological order that made sense. You could read the book backwards and still get write an accurate review/summary, which to be honest is what I exactly did after the first couple of chapters. Either you enjoyed the supernatural stories, or you thought they were a little "too" imaginative. Either way, it was still a short book for which I give it a merit. So by that, if you ever ponder about what happens after you die (which I do not, a leading cause to why Sum didn't captivate me), then go ahead and read it. It only takes an hour or two to finish it and you can decide for yourself whether you liked it or not. -Sachin Abrol

The afterlife, as David Eagleman believes, consists not only of ourselves but of the Gods we might have created. Once we come upon death, our atoms disperse. They still take on our properties; therefore, we are set to take on different forms. This theory that Eagleman pieced together was used to create multiple stories, which make up the intriguing novel, Sum. It displays the possibilities of what awaits for us at the door of our afterlife. Each mini-story is told directly, as if it was actually going to occur. For example, “In the after life you are invited to sit in a vast comfortable lounge…” or “In the afterlife you receive a clear answer about our purpose on Earth.” Eagleman does not use many ‘maybes’ throughout the text. The religious ideas expressed in Sum are not what one might have expected. God is portrayed as a female, male, or married couple. There is no mentioning of any certain religions in the novel. Eagleman is extremely straightforward, as he metaphorically compares humans to computer chips that program data, running a software program. This writing style is expressed constantly throughout the book. I did come upon the fact that each afterlife usually results in a sense of disappointment. Without going into the complications of the studies of science, Eagleman goes far into imagination as he constructs impractical possibilities of the afterlives that lie ahead, successfully entertaining the reader. Although it was somewhat hard to grasp the concept of each afterlife, there being so many; many of my questions have been answered and my thoughts are no longer limited. Sum now has me pondering the depths of what might or might not occur in the afterlives humans shall pertain. --Elizabeth McGehee

David Eagleman's idea for the book //Sum// is very interesting to say the least. //Sum// is composed of forty short stories relating to the after life. Before reading this book I imagined that characters would experience encounters with the likes of God, Jesus, the Devil, or other supernatural beings. After reading the book i know that my previous hypothesis is incorrect. //Sum// falls within the middle ground of the long lasting argument of the existence of the supernatural. Eagleman never acknowledges the existence of Heaven or Hell but neither say that they don't exist. The book was very intriguing and kudos to Eagleman's imagination for creating forty different afterlives. Although the book did not meet my prior expectations i still enjoyed it. --Cole Shannon

David Eagleman had quite the imagination when he wrote, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives. This book is not only inventive and clever, but it also makes you think. Sum usually has some consequence at the end of every chapter. My favorite chapters in the book were Sum, Circle of Friends, Metamorphosis, and Incentive. In Sum, you relive your life through moments that shared the same quality. Therefore, you spend thirty years of sleep, twenty-seven hours of intense pain, six weeks waiting for a green light, fourteen minutes of pure joy, six months watching commercials, etc. In Circle of Friends, the afterlife is only made up of people that you have met before. And though it seems this afterlife is desirable, industries begin to shut down, because you have never met some of the people that work to make rubber tires, launch rocket ships, etc. In Metamorphosis, you never truly die until your name has been forgotten. People like Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great never get to pass on to a better place, because their names will always be remembered throughout the history books. Fame on Earth translates to your never-ending life in the waiting room that you sit in until your name has been finally forgotten. Lastly, in Incentive, your afterlife is made up of Actors. Even your parents, siblings and friends are Actors. About half of the people are Actors and half are Beneficiaries. You begin to realize that Actors play their parts earnestly, because if you play your parts well, you can be reincarnated as a Beneficiary. Sum was fun and imaginative, but I was disappointed that David Eagleman did not bring up the different beliefs of our world's religions. Overall, I would recommend it if you were wanting a book that was thought-provoking and a quick read. -Brandon Barber In David Eagleman’s novel, Sum, you explore 40 different afterlives. Each unexpected afterlife gives you a great image of what we could find in our lives after we pass away. Eagleman keeps you very entertained with his bizarre theories and makes you really think. His vivid stories interfere with all different kinds of religions and ways of life. I thought this book was a good reality check of how much time is wasted doing thing that are insignificant and have no value to our lives. I liked this book because it made me think and imagine things that I would never have before. The portrayed afterlives reflect on people’s fears, desires and ways of life. This book keeps you thinking and always wondering what life could be like when we die. -Hudson Worthy

__Sum__, a book of forty profound tales, takes your mind into a whole new perspective of looking at the abstruse afterlife. Personally, David Eagleman's__Sum__ was one of the most engrossing and interesting books I have ever read. The first tale, Sum, was by far my favorite because it's different to think about your life in a way of having everything with the same qualities happen at once, but once it happens it can never happen again. I think it is horrible how much times we spend doing virtually nothing instead of doing something productive. In the book it says that we spend four weeks thinking that there is something better to do, 18 days standing in front of the refrigerator, and 51 days deciding what to wear; that is ridiculous. I thought it was interesting that you could only experience 14 minutes of pure joy. I felt like it should be more like 14 hours maybe, and I laughed when David Eagleman said you would think about what life would be like in this order for 4 minutes because I did just that after I read that first tale. Something else that I noticed was that David Eagleman would say God was She and also He. Circle of Friends was another tale I found interesting because it shows us that when we have everything we know, we want more, but when we have more than we know, we don't think to use anything more than what we already have. Metamorphosis was one of my favorite tales, as well. This tale was saying that there are three deaths: "The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time." Basically, if you are someone like Martin Luther King Jr. then you may never die all three deaths because he is an important historical figure. And finally, Reversal, a tale of reliving your life from old to young, another favorite out of David Eagleman's, __Sum__. __Sum__ is definitely a book anyone would enjoy. -Alexis Ball I really liked the book. Once I started it I found that i couldn't put it down. It's mesmerizing. I saw Inception before I began the book so I kept referencing back to the movie and thinking "I'm so lost in thought right now and confused on what is actually real". I like how Eagleman gave each afterlives god a character. He, She. them, it... It worked well in his favor, but part of me wanted more of some afterlives and thought others were a tad over done when the idea was so simplistic. Had there been 15, longer more in depth tales, it would've gotten deeper into my thought. One line that sticks out in my head from this book is from the tale "Oz". The last sentence, "It is not the brave that can handle the big face, it is the brave who can handle its absence."

-Lindy Lofton

-Tyler Owens
 * I**n the novel __Sum,__ by David Eagaleman, there are 40 short stories each telling a different tale of what the afterlife could be like. This novel was very interesting and was completely different then I expected. I anticipated the novel would focus on afterlife from a specific religious point of view but, to my surprise it incorporated details about many religions. For example, in the story “Graveyard of the Gods” the tale talks about many different gods that belong to separate religions around the world. Eagleman also incorporates many different ideas that are usually overlooked. For example, in the short story “Egalitaire” God is usually thought of as a male but in this particular story God is perceived as a female. I think the point of this book was to enlighten the reader that there may be many different possibilities of afterlives instead of the ones that are traditionally passed down. In my opinion, I think this book was great and very thought provoking. It also broadened my perspective on many other topics, not just afterlife.

When I think of the afterlife, I think of god, clouds, and eternal happiness. David Eagleman’s __Sum__ tells you about 40 stories from the afterlife, in which almost all end up with you being unsatisfied. i thoroughly enjoyed this book because it made me think outside the box. My parents raised me to be a Christian, and I have never doubted my faith until now. after each story I asked my sellf the same question,"where would i stand if this afterlife is real?" The reason i couldnt answer the question was because, in almost every story, the god or higher being was unpredictable. Christianity suggests that god is omnipotent and all knowing; it also suggests that god has a divine planfpr everyone. Most stories in __Sum__ suggest everything depends on what you do. After thinking about __Sum__ for a week, I came to the conclusion that __Sum__ is an interesting book, but that is all it is. i am confident in my faith and i am sure that these afterlife tales are only tales. -Andrew Proctor

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__Sum __ was a very bizarre book that in some parts didn’t seem to strike a spark in my mind and in others, made me put down the book and think strictly about the tale. David Eagleman’s __Sum__ seemed to me as more of a book that was just day dreamed and based strictly on imagination more than people’s opinions on the afterlife. Also I found some of the 40 tales to be pretty similar, which proves to me that David Eagleman started running out of his stories. However some of these 40 tales were absolutely mind-blowing, as David Eagleman described the afterlife as being a fake and that death wasn’t real, or when David Eagleman described humans and the earth as being merely a tiny particle on God’s fingernail. All in all I believe that if you get too obsessed with the afterlife you will go crazy with un-knowingness. There are many different perspectives to the afterlife but no one can prove (based on fact) who is wrong and who isn’t. For this reason we have faith, to put trust into something we can’t explain. But this leaves the afterlife a mystery that everyone wants to know, but sometimes things are better left unknown. ======

-Sam Wingate
For my wiki book I chose to read Sum. Though it was not very long, it was filled with numerous possibilities about the after life, which were told in fine detail. It was very creatively written and it was detailed in describing each segment of David Eagleman's short stories. My favorite chapter would have to have been the first because it was interesting seeing how David Eagleman pulled out every detail of life and grouped everything that was the same together. The chapter entitled "Sum" put to scale how long people generally spend doing each "activity" in their life. It really made you think how it would be to have a certain part of your life set aside just to suffering pain, driving up and down the road in front of your house, or even something as pointless as clipping your toe nails. Seeing all of those small details in amounts of time was overwhelming and a bit surprising to think that we spend so much time doing insignificant things and maybe not as much time as we should doing more productive things. For example, he estimated that we spend two years of our lives being bored. That's two years we could be out doing something more with our lives and being productive, working hard, and making something of our time on Earth. If anything, this book made me think deeper than I usually do for summer reading, and inspired me to live my life to the fullest and appreciate each day as I go. I also really enjoyed the chapter in which he talked about the after life being a place where everything seems normal at first, but we then realize that something is missing from our daily lives. When things start to get boring, we come to see that we are surrounded only by people we've met or know well. He even said "As you step into the street, you note there are no crowds, no buildings teeming with workers, no distant cities bustling, no hospitals running 24/7 with patients dying and staff rushing, no trains howling into the night with sardined passengers on their way home. Very few foreigners." This was interesting to me just imagining life without strangers or I guess death without them. I couldn't even try to imagine everywhere I go seeing people I have in some way at some point in my life associated with. My third favorite part of the novel was the chapter about the after life being a place with monitors/TV's where all day long you do nothing but watch anything and everything you want to happening on Earth. I guess I might feel creepy doing that, but it would still be awesome to be able to look after your friends and family still living on Earth. The catch to that chapter was that you could only watch until your time is up. This way, others just arriving in the afterlife get to take the next shift at watching, and your time has now been used up for eternity. Each chapter had me guessing the end and every single time I wound up being surprised and caught off guard. I actually didn't mind this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about topics such as this. It keeps you going and you don't want to put it down. -Summer Estee

Sum was a different but interesting book . It was a short novel talking about 40 different afterlives. David Eagleman’s plot selection as a little different than i expected. I was expecting some supernatural weird encounters with a greater being of some sort. I was taken by surprise by the end of the everyones story it seemed like they were all unhappy. I still enjoyed the book though.

Greg Rouse

Possibility after possibility, David Eagleman's Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives delivers multiple ideas of what waits for us in the afterlife. Each story is a theory from Eagleman displaying events containing religious and political themes. Taking seven years to construct this novel, David Eagleman originally wrote seventy tales of the afterlives. Although he added only forty of them, they were extremely interesting and have me deep into thought about what will actually happen. G-d is explained in many fashions; for example- a married couple. Humans are compared to inanimate objects. In the mini-story "Perpetuity," there are no nuns, Samaritans, saints, ect. This shows an example of irony because nuns and saints are some of the most religiously advanced people on earth, and they make up a large part of Heaven. I personally thought that the book was quite fascinating, and it was hard to set down once you began to read. Because the afterlife is such a vague and unanswered topic, Sum covers the material accurately and does not linger on as many other novels I have read recently. -Caroline Kalinsky
 * In David Eagleman's Sum, forty new ideas about the afterlife are explored. Different from the opinions that were commonly accepted in the past, author uses his imagination to give us new visions of what happens when people die. It is the innovative ideas which make the book attractive. In some short stories, the author tries to make us realize that how lucky humans are. For example, in Descent of Species, he suggests that those people, who choose to become simple animals like horses in their afterlives, cannot appreciate that destination at the last. And in Angst, he believes that living as human may be relaxing vacations for us, whose jobs are upholding the cosmos. And there are some stories which can lead us to criticize ourselves. For example, the story Mary expresses God’s disappointment over human’s wars, which darken the ground he has made. And in Reins, God begins to lose control over people that adultery and crime flourished among human beings. After reading the book, I find that there are many different ways to consider on the same topic. I think it is really a worth-reading stories which helps us to rethink the kind of life we are planning to live.**
 * -Eileen Zhang**

Reynolds Ball

Sum was a story of forty possible afterlifes. He has positive afterlife and then one where its just abandoned. With such variety and out of this world theories David Eagleman obviously put alot of thought into the different possabilities, although, some had more in-depth than others but all interesting. Some where about gods problems he fixed, ones where it just abandoned, and others where he talks about the "death switch". Where he ventures into the future of what we can control after where gone like an answering machine telling you that you are dead. To sum it up the book was very intresting and kept me thinks what is there in my aferlife.

In David Eagleman's book, Sum, he takes the reader through forty tales of the afterlives. This book is not only original, but it's interesting. Eagleman suprised me with many unexpected scenarios of the afterlife that I have never considered before. This book showed me a whole new way of looking at life, although the stories in the book are highly fictional. Sum was a fun book to read and I was greatly entertained by it. Olivia Richbourg

The book Sum, by David Eaglemen, takes us through forty different possible afterlives. I really enjoyed this book because it was a lot more interesting than anything i have ever read, and the ultimate meaning behind the whole book is pretty compelling. David Eaglemen takes the reader on a journey through alternative ideas and philosophies that keep your mind wondering. I really enjoyed this book and it made me really think about the vast possibilities that can await you in your afterlife.

-Connor Benton

I thought Sum was very interesesting, each afterlife seemingly containing some sort of life lesson or moral. But, when I first began reading Sum it took be my surprise, each story being so short, and so diferent. In one story, God was a woman, in another the afterlife was simply reliving your former life. It surprised me tale after tale what Eagleman was able to come up with, and how he was able to take so many view points on the afterlife and God in general. I throughly enjoyed this book. - Bailey Poe