Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, also simply called Sum, is a work of speculative fiction by American neuroscientist David Eagleman. It is in press in 28 languages as of 2016[update]. The Los Angeles Times described it as "teeming, writhing with imagination."[2] Barnes and Noble named it one of the Best Books of 2009.[3]
As a short story cycle, the book presents forty mutually exclusive stories staged in a wide variety of possible afterlives. The author has stated that none of the stories is meant to be taken as serious theological proposals but, instead, that the message of the book is the importance of exploring new ideas beyond the ones that have been traditionally passed down.[4]
The title word "Sum" refers to the Latin for "I am", as in Cogito ergo sum.
Like Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, Sum does not fit entirely into the traditional category of a novel. Sum has been called "philosofiction",[5] an "experimental novel",[6] and "a collection of thought experiments".[7] Most of the stories are understood to "posit the afterlife as mirroring life on Earth"[8][9]
The New York Times Book Review called Sum a "delightful, thought-provoking little collection [which] belongs to that category of strange, unclassifiable books that will haunt the reader long after the last page has been turned".[10]Sum was chosen by Time magazine for their 2009 Summer Reading list, with the acclaim "Eagleman is a true original. Read Sum and be amazed. Reread Sum and be reamazed.".[11]Sum was selected as Book of the Week by both The Guardian[12] and The Week[13] and was the featured subject on the cover of two magazines in 2009, The Big Issue and Humanitie. On September 10, 2009, Sum was ranked by Amazon as the #2 best-selling book in the United Kingdom.[14]
The book received accolades from non-religious reviewers as well as from the religious community. The recommendations of Stephen Fry, Philip Pullman, Brian Greene, Brian Eno, and others appear on the cover. In 2018, Tim Ferriss wrote in his newsletter, "Don't let the title of this book fool you; it isn’t making a case for the afterlife. Instead, this short read... is a collection of 40 thought exercises on the nature of existence, reality, perception, death, pain, boredom, and more. It's remarkably elegant and fun. At the very least, it should make you appreciate your own life — warts and all — much more."
PhilosophyEdit
Eagleman refers to himself as a possibilian[15] and to Sum as a reflection of that position.[16][17] According to his definition, possibilianism rejects both the idiosyncratic claims of traditional theism and the certainty of atheism in favor of a middle, exploratory ground.[18] The possibilian perspective is distinguished from agnosticism in that it consists of an active exploration of novel possibilities and an emphasis on holding multiple hypotheses at once when no data is available to privilege one position over the others.[16] Possibilianism is understood to be consonant with the "scientific temperament" of creativity and tolerance for multiple ideas when there is a lack of data.[4] Speaking with The New York Times, Eagleman stated that he was working on a book entitled Why I Am a Possibilian.[19]
Related publications and performancesEdit
David Eagleman and Brian Eno performing Sum at the Sydney Opera House, June 6, 2009.
In June 2009, Eagleman and musician Brian Eno performed a musical reading of Sum at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.[20]
The scientific journal Nature originally published one of the stories in Sum, "A Brief History of Death Switches". This story was subsequently anthologized in Futures from Nature.[24][25]
forty, tales, from, afterlives, also, simply, called, work, speculative, fiction, american, neuroscientist, david, eagleman, press, languages, 2016, update, angeles, times, described, teeming, writhing, with, imagination, barnes, noble, named, best, books, 200. Sum Forty Tales from the Afterlives also simply called Sum is a work of speculative fiction by American neuroscientist David Eagleman It is in press in 28 languages as of 2016 update The Los Angeles Times described it as teeming writhing with imagination 2 Barnes and Noble named it one of the Best Books of 2009 3 Sum Forty Tales from the AfterlivesFirst edition US AuthorDavid EaglemanCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishPublisherPantheon Books US Canongate Books UK Publication dateFebruary 10 2009Media typePrint hardbackpaperbackaudiobooke bookPages107 1 Hardback 2009 ISBN978 0 307 37734 0 Hardcover 2009 OCLC228676738Dewey Decimal813 6 22 1 LC ClassPS3605 A375 S86 2009 1 Contents 1 Overview 2 Philosophy 3 Related publications and performances 4 References 5 External linksOverview EditAs a short story cycle the book presents forty mutually exclusive stories staged in a wide variety of possible afterlives The author has stated that none of the stories is meant to be taken as serious theological proposals but instead that the message of the book is the importance of exploring new ideas beyond the ones that have been traditionally passed down 4 The title word Sum refers to the Latin for I am as in Cogito ergo sum Like Italo Calvino s Invisible Cities Sum does not fit entirely into the traditional category of a novel Sum has been called philosofiction 5 an experimental novel 6 and a collection of thought experiments 7 Most of the stories are understood to posit the afterlife as mirroring life on Earth 8 9 The New York Times Book Review called Sum a delightful thought provoking little collection which belongs to that category of strange unclassifiable books that will haunt the reader long after the last page has been turned 10 Sum was chosen by Time magazine for their 2009 Summer Reading list with the acclaim Eagleman is a true original Read Sum and be amazed Reread Sum and be reamazed 11 Sum was selected as Book of the Week by both The Guardian 12 and The Week 13 and was the featured subject on the cover of two magazines in 2009 The Big Issue and Humanitie On September 10 2009 Sum was ranked by Amazon as the 2 best selling book in the United Kingdom 14 The book received accolades from non religious reviewers as well as from the religious community The recommendations of Stephen Fry Philip Pullman Brian Greene Brian Eno and others appear on the cover In 2018 Tim Ferriss wrote in his newsletter Don t let the title of this book fool you it isn t making a case for the afterlife Instead this short read is a collection of 40 thought exercises on the nature of existence reality perception death pain boredom and more It s remarkably elegant and fun At the very least it should make you appreciate your own life warts and all much more Philosophy EditEagleman refers to himself as a possibilian 15 and to Sum as a reflection of that position 16 17 According to his definition possibilianism rejects both the idiosyncratic claims of traditional theism and the certainty of atheism in favor of a middle exploratory ground 18 The possibilian perspective is distinguished from agnosticism in that it consists of an active exploration of novel possibilities and an emphasis on holding multiple hypotheses at once when no data is available to privilege one position over the others 16 Possibilianism is understood to be consonant with the scientific temperament of creativity and tolerance for multiple ideas when there is a lack of data 4 Speaking with The New York Times Eagleman stated that he was working on a book entitled Why I Am a Possibilian 19 Related publications and performances Edit nbsp David Eagleman and Brian Eno performing Sum at the Sydney Opera House June 6 2009 In June 2009 Eagleman and musician Brian Eno performed a musical reading of Sum at the Sydney Opera House in Australia 20 In May 2010 Sum debuted as an opera at the Royal Opera House in London 21 The music was composed by Max Richter with choreography by Wayne McGregor 22 A September 2009 episode of Radiolab featured a discussion with Eagleman and readings of two of the stories by actor Jeffrey Tambor 23 The scientific journal Nature originally published one of the stories in Sum A Brief History of Death Switches This story was subsequently anthologized in Futures from Nature 24 25 The audiobook of Sum was narrated by Eagleman as well as by Gillian Anderson Emily Blunt Nick Cave Jarvis Cocker Jack Davenport Lisa Dwan Noel Fielding Kerry Fox Stephen Fry Clarke Peters Lemn Sissay and Harriet Walter In 2010 Canongate Books released an iOS enhanced eBook version of Sum integrating the audiobook with the text citation needed Readings from the book are featured in a number of episodes of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation s radio programme WireTap WireTap episode Featured Sum story Read by Reference Circle of Friends Circle of Friends 26 26 Minutes 30 Seconds Sum Jane Lewis 27 All Beasts Go to Heaven Descent of Species Katie Malik 28 We Are But the Stuff of Dreams The Cast Jane Lewis 29 The Answering Machine Spirals Jane Lewis 30 Adhesion Adhesion Elizabeth Robertson 31 Getting Away From It All Angst Jane Lewis 32 A Better You Subjunctive Elizabeth Robertson 33 The Reverse Life Reversal Katie Malik 34 References Edit a b c Sum forty tales from the afterlives 2009 ISBN 9780307377340 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help David Eaglemans Sum book review Los Angeles Times February 1 2009 Retrieved on February 8 2009 Best Books of 2009 Barnes and Noble Review December 9 2009 a b Lanham F Writing about what comes next Houston Chronicle February 16 2009 David Eagleman s Sum Forty Tales from the Afterlives book review Texas Monthly February 2009 Retrieved on February 8 2009 Book reviews Vanity Fair February 2009 NPR s Books We Like by Oscar Villalon The Afterlife Not Quite What We Were Expecting Tipping J Sum by David Eagleman Engaging stories about the afterlife Dallas Morning News February 8 2009 Retrieved on February 8 2009 Stark A In Our End Is Our Beginning Wall Street Journal February 13 2009 Alexander McCall Smith Eternal Whimsy Review of David Eagleman s Sum New York Times Book Review June 12 2009 Retrieved on June 14 2009 TIME Magazine s 2009 Summer Reading list July 13 2009 Nick Lezard Life after life explained The Guardian June 13 2009 Book of the week Sum Forty Tales From the Afterlives by David Eagleman The Week March 6 2009 Story collection soars after Fry Tweet Retrieved on September 10 2009 Eagleman David Beyond God and atheism Why I am a possibilian September 27 2010 a b NPR Talk of the Nation February 17 2009 Afterlives Choose your afterlife MSNBC com September 10 2009 NPR On Point February 27 2009 Envisioning the Afterlife Wilson Blake Stray Questions for David Eagleman NYTimes com July 10 2009 David Eagleman Brian Eno amp Friends Tales from the Afterlives Performance at the Sydney Opera House June 6 2009 SUM at the Royal Opera House retrieved November 22 2012 SUM Where neuroscience and chamber opera combine Wired May 14 2012 WNYC Radiolab After Life September 18 2009 Retrieved July 24 2010 Henry Gee ed October 2008 Futures from Nature Tor Books ISBN 978 0 7653 1806 0 Gee Henry November 13 2007 Futures from Nature Macmillan ISBN 9780765318053 Retrieved April 24 2022 Circle of Friends CBC News 26 Minutes 30 Seconds Season 6 CBC News All Beasts Go To Heaven CBC News We Are But the Stuff of Dreams CBC News The Answering Machine CBC News Adhesion CBC News Getting Away From It All CBC News A Better You CBC News The Reverse Life CBC News External links EditAuthor s official website Starred review from Publishers Weekly Sum in Random House catalog Possibilian com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sum Forty Tales from the Afterlives amp oldid 1171840326, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
