Sum by David Eagleman

This slim volume is a cult book waiting to happen. For starters, David Eagleman is described on the jacket as a ‘neuroscientist and writer’, a curious combination. The book itself is very curious. It’s made up of 40 short stories, all of which feature a different afterlife, and they’re only linked by all being written in the same style – second person, and summarizing a vast concept. So here you may die and find yourself in a waiting room before you can properly get to heaven, or elsewhere. You’ll only be released when you are forgotten on earth – and so will all the others waiting there. Or, we are all the product of one sentient elementary particle rushing about incredibly rapidly. Or, as in the title story, your afterlife is the sum of your experiences and so you take all of the times you were hurt one after another, then all of your sleep, then all of your boredom, and so on. It’s a very clever book, perhaps too clever by half in places, but it’s fun to dip into over time. [David Agnew]