Sum: Tales from the Afterlives
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Witty, bright, sharp and unexpected...As surprising a book as I've read for years. --Brian Eno
Review
Sum is terrific... The inventiveness, the clarity and wit of the prose...add up to something completely original.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This little book has already caused quite a sensation in the publishing world, and for good reason too. And you can read why from the blurb on the back of the book. It did generate a variety of effects for me. Each short tale leaves a slightly different taste to the previous one. Some you will want to savour and allow the flavours to linger, whilst others may have no affect at all. Not only do you get such a wide variety of ideas and concepts, but the prose is delicious! Writers generally acknowledge that the short story is more of a challenge. These are not really short stories, more ideas for films or something, but the writing is superb.
They read quite like modern parables, with the effect of making you slow down and reflect. You can't help but put the book down after reading one and stare out of the window for a while and allow some re-arranging of the auld internal furniture. And you think of how life could be and then you think of how life is. And it's not so bad at all. And you just might catch a glimpse of wonder at the mystery of it all.
They read quite like modern parables, with the effect of making you slow down and reflect. You can't help but put the book down after reading one and stare out of the window for a while and allow some re-arranging of the auld internal furniture. And you think of how life could be and then you think of how life is. And it's not so bad at all. And you just might catch a glimpse of wonder at the mystery of it all.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Taken at face value, as a kind of fantasy thought-experiment succintly exploring the sheer strangeness of the concept of death itself, the book is by turns witty, imaginative, playful, and occasionally poetic. Each tale works independently in terms of its individual logic, and overall there is a real cumulative pleasure taken in the notion of comparing 40 'invented' afterlives. Some of the ideas are extensions of already existing fantasy and science-fiction lore to some extent, and religious ideas also get included - paradoxes and all - but what becomes clear,as it should, is that all of this is about how we actually value our lives, and really has nothing to do with the afterlife at all. It is essentially secular in its free play with ideas, levelling the profound alongside the trivial, and the 'deep' with the light.
Apparently some religious critics have found this book shallow and undermining of the seriousness of certain religious ideas. As someone who firmly believes religious afterlife 'hope and judgement' conceits are human-foible infected fantasies anyway, I find the humanity and playfulness exhibited here actually a confirmation of one the best aspects of human nature - inquisitivity. God forbid Eagleman uses the imagination God apparently gave him in the first place.
Apparently some religious critics have found this book shallow and undermining of the seriousness of certain religious ideas. As someone who firmly believes religious afterlife 'hope and judgement' conceits are human-foible infected fantasies anyway, I find the humanity and playfulness exhibited here actually a confirmation of one the best aspects of human nature - inquisitivity. God forbid Eagleman uses the imagination God apparently gave him in the first place.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having read some of the weaker review scores, I was apprehensive about buying this book, but the topic and impressive list of cover reviews intrigued me.
My conclusion is that the book is a 'curate's egg'.
I failed to find anything remotely resembling genius in its covers, but there is certainly a fair smattering of original thought mixed with modified versions of old themes and ideas. If you are tolerant of the style of writing, I think the structure of 40 short imaginings (mostly 2-3 pages) makes an enjoyable excursion that one can dip into over the course of a few days to cover the entire material.
Whilst reading the text, I was conscious that the stories are the product of someone who has worked as a stand-up comedian, where brevity and punchlines are important.
Having now read the book, I do still find some of the cover reviews somewhat amazing, although I recognise that not all reviewers read a book they are asked to comment upon, nor are their clipped comments always reprensentative of all reviewers. After all, no author in their right mind is likely to agree to their publisher printing that the book is 'not worth reading.' Nevertheless, I'm afraid that I did not feel the book represents 'jaw-dropping quality of genius' (Observer) or that one 'will not read a more dazzling book this year' (Stephen Fry). However, is due to the author and publisher for rounding up such an impressive and positive range of reviews. After all, that is what these comments are there for: namely, to help sell the book.
On the positive side, I did enjoy many of the imaginings, both for their humour and in a few cases, their originality. If the book consisted of the 20 best stories, then I should have been more inclined to score it with 4 stars, but I felt that some of the stories were simply modifications of ideas that have been around in the philosophy, mysticism or science fiction literature for a long, long time.
Eagleman certainly applies his knowledge from psychology to capture and weave together the many mundane, the peculiar, the bizarre in our lives and reconstruct them in some amusing and on occasions highly original ways. For this he deserves credit. However, I should temper my expectations when purchasing this book, so as not to have a disappointing experience on reading its pages. Also, I am glad a read the book, since the few genuinely original ideas between its covers are a delight to encounter.
My conclusion is that the book is a 'curate's egg'.
I failed to find anything remotely resembling genius in its covers, but there is certainly a fair smattering of original thought mixed with modified versions of old themes and ideas. If you are tolerant of the style of writing, I think the structure of 40 short imaginings (mostly 2-3 pages) makes an enjoyable excursion that one can dip into over the course of a few days to cover the entire material.
Whilst reading the text, I was conscious that the stories are the product of someone who has worked as a stand-up comedian, where brevity and punchlines are important.
Having now read the book, I do still find some of the cover reviews somewhat amazing, although I recognise that not all reviewers read a book they are asked to comment upon, nor are their clipped comments always reprensentative of all reviewers. After all, no author in their right mind is likely to agree to their publisher printing that the book is 'not worth reading.' Nevertheless, I'm afraid that I did not feel the book represents 'jaw-dropping quality of genius' (Observer) or that one 'will not read a more dazzling book this year' (Stephen Fry). However, is due to the author and publisher for rounding up such an impressive and positive range of reviews. After all, that is what these comments are there for: namely, to help sell the book.
On the positive side, I did enjoy many of the imaginings, both for their humour and in a few cases, their originality. If the book consisted of the 20 best stories, then I should have been more inclined to score it with 4 stars, but I felt that some of the stories were simply modifications of ideas that have been around in the philosophy, mysticism or science fiction literature for a long, long time.
Eagleman certainly applies his knowledge from psychology to capture and weave together the many mundane, the peculiar, the bizarre in our lives and reconstruct them in some amusing and on occasions highly original ways. For this he deserves credit. However, I should temper my expectations when purchasing this book, so as not to have a disappointing experience on reading its pages. Also, I am glad a read the book, since the few genuinely original ideas between its covers are a delight to encounter.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fariry story
Sorry I can't agree with any of the other reviews. This book is a fairy story and if you enjoyed them as a child maybe this book is for you. Read more
Published 2 days ago by cyclingelaine
Sum of all parts
This is short story telling at its very best: Pure invention with 40 different tales of the end of our days and beyond. Read more
Published 13 days ago by mbreview
Thought-expanding stuff
David Eagleman's "tales from the afterlife" is a beautiful collection of eclectic scenarios which, like a good astronomy book/program, remind us of our place in the universe and... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Ruaridh
It makes you think...
Is it philosophy? Prose poetry? Short stories? Religious subversion? Mental gymnastics? Jeux d'esprit? ... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Little Eddy
thought provoking
I loved this little book. Eagleman has such a great imagination taking us on whimsical hypothesis that stay with us long after putting the book down. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Paula Sharkey
very imaginative but too short a book
A lot of highly imaginative descriptions of what might happen when we die. Any of the themes could have been worked up into a short story or novella, but here we have just a... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Captain Kirk
It's OK.
Didn't know what to expect from this book and was slightly disappointed to find nothing particularly profound in it - more an exploration of how many different scenarios the author... Read more
Published 8 months ago by J A Beetham
Philosophy without the snooze
Mind-bending book - so glad I bought it as it really makes you think and question your own existence and the ideas of an afterlife. Funny in places too!
Published 8 months ago by T. S. Harper
clever and funny!
I don't think it will go down well with people of strict Christian faith, but for all others this book is hilarious and well written. Especially the last chapter is worth reading!
Published 10 months ago by Langsmeade House
The book SUM
A very intriguing insight as to what might be , if you believe ? if you don't still read it then you might .
Published 10 months ago by Mr. M. Sampson
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
