The ideas that Eagleman puts forth in each of his forty essays are not to be taken too seriously, but are indeed, meant to stimulate a more pliable way of pondering the mysteries of life after death. It’s an approach that, for some, offers a bit more intellectual freedom than that of atheism (no God, no afterlife) and theism (one God, one afterlife). But don’t get too caught up with the topic of the hereafter. The vignettes presented in this little thought experiment are really more of a study of life than of death, albeit, cleverly disguised in varying incarnations of the great beyond.

One of the things that drew me to this book was Eagleman’s use of a term he invented called Possibilianism.

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.

He pretty much summed up my own personal philosophies on the subject of death and spirituality. And, although I don’t plan on running out and joining the church of possibilianism anytime soon, it is a refreshing alternative to the awkward and uncomfortable term of agnostic that people like me are so often labeled.

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.

If you’re like me and love reading interesting perspectives on all kinds of interesting topics, I would put this little book on your reading list. It’s a short read and can be easily finished in one sitting. You’ll most likely enjoy it, but even if you don’t, just throw it on your coffee table — it’ll be sure to spark some interesting conversations.

The Victorian Internet — This book was fantastic. My daughter bought it for me at a library book sale for 50 cents. The Victorian Internet chronicles the rise of the telegraph, as well as the astounding effects it had on the world. The most fascinating aspect of the book, to me anyway, was the comparison of the telegraph to the modern day Internet. The cultures surrounding these two technologies were/are eerily similar, each having their own bevy of underground elites. Remember the heyday of IRC? Yeah, like that. This is a must read for any geek.

The Alchemist — First, let me say that I knew nothing about this book, except that it seems to be on every self-help bloggers “favorite books” list. Eventually, after reading about it for the hundredth, I bought the book. I’m really glad I did. The Alchemist is an inspirational (and motivational) book about a young shepherd boy named Santiago and his journey to fulfill his personal legend (aka: his dreams.) And that’s the exact message the story is trying to convey, always follow your dreams! Excellent book if your looking for a good story and a little motivational pick-me-up.

The Dip — Ahh, The Dip. Here we have a well thought out collection of common sense. Yes, common sense. There probably isn’t much in this book that you don’t already know, but it’s good to have a refresher course every now and then. Seth Godin tells us that whatever we do in life, be the best at it. And anything that we can’t be the best at, quit. That’s kind of a crappy summary of the book — Seth actually does give good advice on how and why to live by the aforementioned guidelines. It’s a quick read, less than 100 pages, and could easily be read in one or two sittings. Or in my case, a week. It’s definitely not the best self-improvement book I’ve ever read, but for the money and time invested, it was well worth it.