David Eagleman

Multiple award-winning author Philip Pullman's ingenious and challenging new book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, is a remarkable piece of fiction that raises many questions. Pullman's acclaimed trilogy, His Dark Materials, was adapted for the National Theatre. David Eagleman's collection ... (more)of fables, Sum, has already become a cult classic: 'An absolute pearl of a book...Uniquely brilliant' (Stephen Fry). Eagleman, an American neuroscientist, guides the reader through 40 inventive versions of the afterlife, all of which shed a light on our own existence. They discuss the power of elemental stories with author and playwright William Nicholson.

Cult American writer and neuroscientist, David Eagleman will talk about ideas found in his critically acclaimed book exploring the possible multiple realities of life after death, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives. Beyond the dogmatism of atheism and religious certainty lies a third option: 'Possibiliansim'. ... (more)A Possibilian, David Eagleman proposes, is one who is interested in the awe of the cosmos, one who can be comfortable with vast ignorance, who can celebrate uncertainty. Possibilianism, at its root, is an appeal for intellectual humility. It is also at the heart of a scientific career. Science operates by holding multiple ideas in mind and working to see which one is supported by the data. Often one is not able to obtain conclusive data, and in those cases one must embrace the possibilities. You don't commit to a particular version of the story when there is no reason to privilege one over the others. Nor do you throw all the stories out. David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at the Baylor College of Medicine, where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception, synesthesia, and neurolaw. ‘By night' he is an internationally bestselling fiction writer, published in 16 languages. His debut creative work, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives was lauded as a work of remarkable imagination, capable of articulating the infinite and unknowable nature of life after death. Stephen Fry has Twittered about it; Brian Eno has composed a score for it. David Eagleman is a cult phenomenon. Extracts from Sum: Forty Tales of the Afterlives (Canongate Books 2009) 'When you arrive in the afterlife, you find Mary Woolstonecraft Shelley sits on a throne. She is cared for and protected by a covey of angels...' 'In the afterlife you receive a clear answer about our purpose on Earth: our mission is to collect data. We have been seeded on this planet as sophisticated mobile cameras...' 'In the afterlife you relive all your experiences, but this time with the events reshuffled in a new order: all the moments that share a quality are grouped together...' 'In the afterlife you are judged not against other people, but against yourself. Specifically, you are judged against what you could have been. So the afterworld is much like the present world, but it now includes all the yous that could have been ...' 'In the afterlife you meet God. To your surprise and delight, She is like no god that humans have conceived. She shared qualities with all religions' descriptions, but commands a deific grandeur that was captured in the net of none. She is the elephant described by blind men: all partial descriptions with no understanding of the whole...' 'There is no afterlife, but that doesn't mean we don't get to live a second time...' ADVANCED BOOKING IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR THIS EVENT For bookings contact (020) 7405 7986 For enquiries only contact nora@swedenborg.org.uk

SUM is a dazzling exploration of funny and unexpected afterlives that have never been considered — each presented as a vignette that offers us a stunning lens through which to see ourselves here and now. In one afterlife you may find that God is the size of a microbe and is unaware of your existence. ... (more)In another, your creators are a species of dim-witted creatures who built us to figure out what they could not. In a different version of the afterlife you work as a background character in other people's dreams. Or you may find that God is a married couple struggling with discontent, or that the afterlife contains only those people whom you remember, or that the hereafter includes the thousands of previous gods who no longer attract followers. In some afterlives you are split into your different ages; in some you are forced to live with annoying versions of yourself that represent what you could have been; in others you are re-created from your credit card records and Internet history. David Eagleman proposes many versions of our purpose here; we are mobile robots for cosmic mapmakers, we are reunions for a scattered confederacy of atoms, we are experimental subjects for gods trying to understand what makes couples stick together. These wonderfully imagined tales — at once funny, wistful, and unsettling — are rooted in science and romance and awe at our mysterious existence: a mixture of death, hope, computers, immortality, love, biology, and desire that exposes radiant new facets of our humanity. This is sure to be a thought-provoking evening, I hope you can join us.

Join Brazos at the Houston Public Library's "An Evening with..." series, featuring Houston neuroscientist David Eagleman reading and signing his new novel, SUM: Forty Tales from the Afterlives. For more info, call the library at 832.393.1313.

Ever wondered what happens after we die? So did David Eagleman - and then he collected 40 different stories of what the afterlife might be like. The result is his book Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives. This is a charming and thought-provoking read that manages to be spiritual and funny ... (more)all at the same time. Don't miss David at Bookworks.

"[This] is an imaginative and provocative book that gives new perspectives on how to view ourselves and our place in the world."Alan Lightman author of Einstein's Dreams "Sum is terrific. The inventiveness, the clarity and wit of hte prose, the calm air of moral understanding...add up to something completely ... (more)original."Philip Pullman author of The Golden Compass David Eagleman runs a neuroscience lab at Baylor College where he studies time perception, synesthesia, and how neuroscience will influence the legal system. Sum is his first book.

Please join us Sunday, April 26th at 3 PM as we welcome David Eagleman, reading from his latest book, Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlife.
David Eagleman studies the human perception of time as well as synesthesia, a condition in which stimulation to one sense triggers an involuntary response in others. ... (more)A psychologist and biomedical engineer, he is Director of the Laboratory for Perception and Action and an assistant professor of neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.

DAVID EAGLEMAN: SUM: 40 TALES FROM THE AFTERLIVES 4-5:30pm Neuroscientist David Eagleman’s debut SUM: Forty Tales from the Afterlives presents a range of possibilities for the world that comes (or does not come) after death. Eagleman leads us through imaginative afterlives born of science, religion, ... (more)economics, and the highs and lows of human nature. Eagleman is a rising star neuroscientist who heads the Laboratory for Perception and Action at Baylor College of Medicine, and is founder and director of the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law.

Sum is a dazzling exploration of funny and unexpected afterlives that have never been considered, each presented as a vignette that offers us a stunning lens through which to see ourselves here and now.
In one afterlife you may find that God is the size of a microbe and is unaware of your existence. ... (more)In another, your creators are a species of dim-witted creatures who built us to figure out what they could not. In a different version of the afterlife you work as a background character in other people’s dreams. Or you may find that God is a married couple struggling with discontent, or that the afterlife contains only those people whom you remember, or includes the thousands of previous gods who no longer attract followers. In some afterlives you are split into your different ages; in some you are forced to live with annoying versions of yourself that represent what you could have been; in others you are re-created from your credit card records and Internet history. David Eagleman proposes many versions of our purpose here; we are mobile robots for cosmic mapmakers, we are reunions for a scattered confederacy of atoms, we are experimental subjects for gods trying to understand what makes couples stick together.
David Eagleman grew up in New Mexico. As an undergraduate he majored in British and American Literature before earning his PhD in Neuroscience. He heads the Laboratory for Perception and Action at Baylor College of Medicine, and is founder and director of the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. At night he writes fiction.