Have you ever imagined heaven? Here’s forty of them. Each as beautiful, tangible and terrifying as the last.

Sum – between unpacking it from its Amazon packaging and skimming the first few prose printed pages, it fast became my favourite book of the year, maybe even of the last few…

A collation of ‘theories’ on the unknown human condition; answering those burning questions while posing about a hundred more. Each piece of flash fiction won’t take you more than a few minutes to get through, but you’d be crazy to rush. Instead you’ll find yourself returning time and time again to discover that this book isn’t so much about an afterlife, as it is about this one.

Phillip Pullman, a renowned English novelist, recalled “grinding (his) teeth all the way through wishing (he’d) thought of it first”. And it’s true! The frustration of great literature is seeing it flow so convincingly from somebody else – an imagination only warped and channeled by the loopiest brain, something so out of reach for you, even in your dizziest daydreams.

That said, it stands to reason that the author David Eagleman would know something of loopy brains, as a neuroscience at Stanford University. His writing will be left lingering in your thoughts hours after you set down the paperback on your bedside table.

Enlightening moral and surreal ideas that make you want to shuffle up your life and question your existence on this insignificant, or perhaps paramount, planet. Every story’s conclusion a new wormhole of thought to dwell an afternoon away on.

I cant help but rave about this book. Introducing it to my communal coffee table, taking turns with flatmates to read a tale to each other, discussing its meaning like an informal book club.

My little book’s made its way around a select few of my friends by now; well loved and thumbed though. Remaining at the top of my list for anyone seeking something a little different, empirical and illuminating. I recommend Sum to you.