Sum

What an unexpected delight! Much like [b:Gathering Moss 87040 Gathering Moss A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses Robin Wall Kimmerer https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387714999s/87040.jpg 84013] this is a book I'd never heard of and, had I heard of it, would've quickly dismissed as not worth bothering with. Like Gathering Moss, I read it based on the urging of a close friend; and in both cases, wow, am I ever grateful.To begin with: [b:Sum 4948826 Sum Forty Tales from the Afterlives David Eagleman https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320528453s/4948826.jpg 5014561] is not woo. If I had to pigeonhole it I'd call it SF but it's really so much more: forty fantasies, different what-ifs on what it's all about: are we subjects in a research experiment on love? Were we created by a god who then took off and abandoned us? By a bumbling god who is now learning from us? What if Heaven is perfectly egalitarian and just—could we stand it? Whimsical and quirky. Richly fantastic, thought-provoking. Multi-toned: at times funny, other times gloomy or bitterly cynical. Not all the stories work for me... but maybe they will on rereading in a few years? Because this is the sort of book one needs to keep nearby, to pick up and read a story or two from time to time, put it back down, and ponder. Not in any realistic sense, but in a spirit of reflection on who we are.