Heavens on Earth
The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia
by Michael Shermer
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Pub Date Jan 09 2018 | Archive Date Jan 09 2018
Henry Holt & Company | Henry Holt and Co.
Description
A scientific exploration into humanity’s obsession with the afterlife and quest for immortality from the bestselling author and skeptic Michael Shermer
In his most ambitious work yet, Shermer sets out to discover what drives humans’ belief in life after death, focusing on recent scientific attempts to achieve immortality along with utopian attempts to create heaven on earth.
For millennia, religions have concocted numerous manifestations of heaven and the afterlife, and though no one has ever returned from such a place to report what it is really like—or that it even exists—today science and technology are being used to try to make it happen in our lifetime. From radical life extension to cryonic suspension to mind uploading, Shermer considers how realistic these attempts are from a proper skeptical perspective.
Heavens on Earth concludes with an uplifting paean to purpose and progress and how we can live well in the here-and-now, whether or not there is a hereafter.
Advance Praise
“This book’s theme is the one of greatest practical importance to all of us: does some heaven or afterlife await us after we die? Most Americans, and even many atheists, believe that the answer is ‘yes.’ If there is no heaven, how can we find purpose in life? Michael Shermer explores these big questions with the delightful, powerful style that made his previous books so successful—but this is his best book.”
—Jared Diamond, professor of geography at UCLA and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and other books
“Thank goodness for Michael Shermer’s sound and inspired mindfulness and for this importantly useful volume. Truly a delicious read. Ten Goldblums out of a possible ten Goldblums!”
—Jeff Goldblum, actor
“Heavens on Earth is absolutely brilliant, filled with profundity, startling facts, and mind-expanding ideas. Michael Shermer somehow manages to be entertaining and scientifically erudite at the same time. He also brings some of history’s greatest thinkers to life and makes their ideas accessible. This is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in a long time.”
—Amy Chua, Yale Law professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and The Triple Package
“I appreciate every evolutionary step skepticism takes toward openness. Heavens on Earth is an affirmation that other world views deserve respect and understanding. In this book science may actually be catching up with the world’s wisdom traditions.”
—Deepak Chopra, M.D., author War of the Worldviews and You Are the Universe
“Michael Shermer is a beacon of reason in an ocean of irrationality.”
—Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, host of Cosmos and StarTalk, and author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781627798570 |
| PRICE | $30.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 320 |
