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Infinity In Layman's Terms

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By KEVIN WALKER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 15, 2009

"Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives," by David Eagleman (Pantheon, $20)

So what happens when you die?

Of all the questions we ask ourselves - "is this love?" for example, or "how will I make my mortgage payment?" - this question is the one that is the most fascinating and repelling simultaneously. Christians without doubts think they know the answer, and so do atheists, but for the vast majority between it's a vexing question.

It's nice to think there is something beyond death, but it also seems sort of silly to believe in it. On the other hand, if there's nothing but oblivion - well, who wants to think about that?

In "Sum," Texas neuroscientist and writer David Eagleman takes the subject head on, conjuring up 40 possible versions of the afterlife. This is not a serious meditation by a theologian. This is a scientist and exceptionally talented writer using the idea of the afterlife to reflect on our innermost fears and desires and also as a way of dissecting how we live.

In the title story, everyone experiences their life over again, but this time with all like experiences grouped together. You sleep for 30 years, you sit in waiting rooms and flip through magazines for five months and you take a shower that lasts 200 days. Eagleman makes the sad but likely accurate assessment that you'll spend 18 months waiting in line but only seven months having sex - and only 14 minutes experiencing pure joy.

Only then will you realize the value of your former life, where "one experiences the joy of jumping from one event to the next like a child hopping from spot to spot on the burning sand." Nice.

Most of the stories are like this: they make you look at your life in a different way.

For example, in "Circle of Friends," the afterlife is like your life now, except the only people in the world are ones you have met and remember. At first you enjoy this. But the world is empty. You realize how many people you didn't know, people who knew about things you didn't, like shooting rockets into space or vulcanizing rubber.

"The missing crowds make you lonely," Eagleman writes. "You begin to complain about all the people you could be meeting. But no one listens or sympathizes with you, because this is precisely what you chose when you were alive."

Most of the stories are written in the second person. Here are the openings lines of "Giantess," which give you the idea of the tone: "The afterlife is all about softness. You find yourself in a great padded compound. Everything appears designed for quietness and comfort. Your feet fall silently on the cushioned floor."

Like several of the other stories, "Giantess" contemplates what God might be like. In this instance, the news is not good - God is a gigantic being, completely unaware of our little corner of the universe. In "Pantheon," there are many gods, all over very specific areas (chrome, for instance, or bubble gum) and all are in competition with each other, like the Greek gods of mythology.

A little of this, as one might guess, goes a long way. And while "Sum" is a slim volume, I would suggest taking it just one or two stories at a time. Each gives you something to think about and gets better the more you return to it.

I humbly suggest starting with "Mirrors." In it, the afterlife begins with a stripping away of all self-referential memories and our own ego. And then we are shown our selves as we are seen through the observations of others. We finally get to see ourselves "without the benefit of filtration," with devastating consequences.

Kevin Walker edits Friday Extra and the Books pages for The Tampa Tribune.

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