Pocket Guide to the Afterlife
Jossey-Bass, 2009
191 pages

The death rate for humans is around 100 percent.
What happens afterward? Not quite as certain.

Seeing how we're mortal and everything, the afterlife has always been of particular interest to us. Thankfully, we have religious traditions to shed gauzy, soft-focus light on the Great Beyond. And most of them -- from Aztec mythology to Zoroastrianism, from the ancient Egyptians to contemporary Mormons -- have some notion that death isn't the end. But these traditions can't agree on what that means, or where we go, or how long it will last, or whether or not a demon will be present to devour our soul (shout-out: Egyptian death goddess Ammut!).

Pocket Guide to the Afterlife is your personal tour guide to the everlasting unknown, whether you end up in Heaven, Hell, or on the Chinvat Bridge. Inside it, you'll find:

1. The Cosmic Lexicon (A Glossary of the Hereafter)

2. Great Moments in Eternity, Part 1 (A Timeline: 2000 BCE to 1563)

3. Great Moments in Eternity, Part 2 (A Timeline: 1743 to Present Day)

4. Geography of the Beyond (Where You Might Go)

5. The Bible on Heaven (A Scriptural Tour of Glory)

6. The Bible on Hell (A Holy Trek through the Fiery Pit)

7. The Afterlists (Cataloging Kingdom Come)