That’s a strange title, isn’t it? And the subtitle is almost as strange. But this book by Ken Jennings — yes, that Ken Jennings — is perfectly normal if you’re looking for some Jeopardy fodder concerning the afterlife according to a variety of religions, books, movies, and TV shows. If you aren’t looking for that, you may still find it informative and amusing, as I did.
There’s no need to read all 100 of the chapters. Fortunately they average less than three pages, so you’re not making a major time commitment if you read one that turns out to be uninteresting. Since my popular culture knowledge is, shall we say, somewhat lacking, I found the chapters on movies and TV shows mostly irrelevant and eminently skippable, especially the ones I skipped. But YMMV of course.
Although a majority (57%) of the reader reviews on Amazon give the book five stars, there are still some who give it only one or two. For example, one reviewer who calls herself Deb King (perhaps her real name — who knows?) has the following complaints:
this borders on mockery of belief systems, and is insensitive at best… If one was a jeopardy [sic] contestant or a trivia buff preparing for questions on categorical content on the afterlife, this is the book for you. If you are a spiritual seeker who may be more interested in a historical overview of thousands of years of diverse afterlife ponderings instead of “which circles of Dante’s Inferno have the nicest accomodations [sic], or “how to avoid the flesh-eating river servants in the Klingon afterlife,” move on quickly.
In contrast to the soidisant Deb King, I enjoyed it. You may or may not.
Learning Strategies 