Sum is a fun book about what happens in the Afterlife written by a neuroscientist . It’s 40 short pieces of speculative writing. It’s fiction, but there are no characters, instead you insert your own life and identity into the parameters described so the book is different for every one. Each one is creative and playful and funny and offers clever opportunities to reflect on your own life and identity.
Sum suggests an afterlife where you relive your life in different orders or from different points of view. It suggests afterlives where the underlying codes of reality are revealed in different ways. It presents novel ideas of heaven and hell or the creator or gods or our relationships with them. It is written with a patriarchal monotheistic baseline point of view but suggests different iterations of a creator/createe relationship that feel refreshingly naughty. Most iterations suggest that the creator is not interested in our prayers and does not do a lot of judgement but presents the Gods as scientists or doctors or amateur magicians with their own insecurities and loneliness. Some do not include a creator and are very fractal in the way they present infinity and eternity. Some offer ways to be everyone at once or to meet all of yourselves, weather from different ages or from different possible lives and all center on the satisfaction from the unraveling of a profound reveal. It’s an unchallenging way to do some self reflection and check in on how you feel about your life choices and what you think life is.
The Biophilium 