Does what it says on the cover: forty (extremely short) tales of possible afterlives. These are philosophical rather than theological exercises, and the afterlives in question are exclusively modern Western � no Valhallas here, no Gehennas, no meetings with the Hindu pantheon, or with the Chinese gods, no Elysian Fields; there are Heavens and Hells, or nothings and neithers. There is a Heaven where Mary Shelley is venerated, there are afterlives where we are cogs in a machine (not the most original of concepts, that one), there are afterlives where we finally move on only after our name is spoken for the last time � the famous fare particularly badly here � there is an afterlife where everything exists in all possible states at once, and another where everything in your life is repeated in blocks rather than as individual events & The author is a neuroscientist, and you'll find a little of everything here. Everything except actual faith. As to whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I decline to comment.