100 Places to See After You Die, A Travel Guide to the Afterlife by Ken Jennings was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. Not living under a rock, I had heard of Ken Jennings, the author, but I was unaware he wrote books. This book is a clever travel guide for the ages, giving a nutshell description of many places and things we have heard about of the years, such as Valhalla. I heard about Vallhallla often but never really remembered to look up what it was, now I have it in book format, clear and concise. I recommend everyone keep a copy of this book on hand so you can look things up or be the ultimate knowledgeable person of the cocktail club.

5 Stars

100 Places to See After You Die is a conundrum for me. One-quarter percentage of me thinks, "Holy moley, this is kind of disrespectful toward death." The other 3/4 of me laughed so hard I was snort laughing. When I read about Hieronymus Bosch's painting, The Last Judgement, I chortled so hard I started coughing and then fell over. I was lucky I didn't join the "choir invisible myself." I mean, how can a person not guffaw at a naked guy playing the flute with his anus, using sheet music printed on the buttocks of a man who has been squashed by a giant lute? Well, okay, maybe it wouldn't be funny if it was me playing the flute with my farts but it's a hoot in the painting. Or a toot, depending on how you want to look at it.

The author, Ken Jennings, covers every kind of afterlife from Medieval literature to modern TV shows. One thing that stands out is that the public is way more interested in Hell than in Heaven. He points out that good stories have conflict. Heaven has very little conflict and Hell is nothing but conflict, unless you like playing the flute with your butt.

Only one chapter isn't all that fun and that is the final one, the one about Dungeons and Dragons' afterlife. As the final chapter it should be a grande finale, not a sputter out.

Jennnings' book proves that learning can be fun! I picked up a lot about art, literature, films, and bad TV shows. My Mother the Car, anyone?

Thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for allowing me to read and review 100 Places to See After You Die. I have to go now. My flute lessons are waiting.

100 Places to See After You Die is a discussion of beliefs surrounding where our souls go after we die and how we spend our eternities. The book looks at all kinds of sources of theories surrounding the afterlife, including religions, poetry, books, TV shows, movies, and even video games. The discussions are just snippets of each kind of source.

The stories are interesting and enlightening. There are so many thoughts about what happens to us after we die that it is hard to keep track. Ken Jennings' knowledge is deep and wide and his comments add to the analysis. His sense of humor keeps the interest of the reader.

Anyone who wants to start a journey to places you can't see until you die will enjoy reading this book. It is interesting to see how many different perspectives there are on the topic and from so many different groups of people. There are definitely some places in the afterlife I would NOT like to see.

Does what it says on the tin — Ken Jennings (yes, that Ken Jennings of Jeopardy fame) takes the reader through brief 100 accounts of different versions of afterlife imagined through different major religions, mythology, books, movies, TV, theater and even music. So we get Nirvana and Gehenna, Valhalla and Hades, Dante’s Inferno and Matheson’s What Dreams May Come, Field of Dreams and Beetlejuice, Lost and Miracle Workers, Hieronymus Bosch paintings, Marvel and DC Comics and even Dungeons and Dragons.

It’s a quirky idea which I love, but I wish it went a big further than the light short vignettes. It’s a bit scattered trying to reach that 100 places, with very brief afterlife “visits”. I think focusing on fewer places - maybe 20 instead of a 100 - and going into more detail while developing the travel guide format a bit deeper would have helped, as a few longer entries that stuck more to the promised guide format were certainly more interesting while some shorter ones felt more like filler to reach the number goal.

As is, it’s suited for reading in quick short bursts rather than reading straight through.

I am actually curious though to look for other books by Ken Jennings. He’s clearly very intelligent and has a cheeky sense of humor.

3 stars.

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Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
I am a big fan of Ken Jennings circa Jeopardy and didn't realize he was such an accomplished author with so many books under his belt. The title of this book definitely made me want to read it. However, it's a hard book to read straight through. I see it more as a coffee table book that someone will pick up and read a couple of sections rather than zip through it in a straight line as I attempted to do. It has some humor, but is mostly a pretty straightforward telling of what people/civilizations around the world throughout time have come up with to explain what happens after we die.

This was cute. Creative, quirky, fun to read. Not great literature, but entertaining and light. Good for almost any audience. Contains a bit of ken jennings’ humor. Not really enough, in my opinion. I felt like it needed to be a bit more humorous to make it more readable. It was a little heavy for a trivia book. This seems like a good one to read or listen to with your kids on a trip. I will be able to recommend this one pretty easily.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

100 Places to See After You Die was a book unlike anything I’ve ever read, in the best possible way! Jennings manages the perfect balance between witty and informative. I loved getting to learn about afterlives I was familiar with, and about all the ones I hadn’t heard of. The blend of mythological/religious with the media afterlives kept the book entertaining the whole way through.

A book by Ken Jennings, now the host of Jeopardy and previously one of the top winners is immediately appealing. In this somewhat tongue-in-cheek book, Jennings writes a travel book about all the places that humans have come up with as an explanation of for what happens after you die. He goes thru ancient civilizations and their beliefs as well as the many books, films and television shows and their handling of this subject.
Made up of quite short chapters it is easy to read. However, it is not a book that you can't put down and perhaps should only be looked on as an entertainment book to set out for guests.

Not my favorite book ever, but the concept was quite interesting. I enjoyed the format of very short chapters for all the locations and the travel recommendations. I think it will find readers in our library, so I have preordered it.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I requested this book but it was so informative and I swear I heard a clue on Jeopardy and knew the answer from this book. The humorous takes on places really kept me engaged, it wasn't just your standard read.

Pulling from Norse mythology to the iconic film "Field of Dreams" and everything in between, Ken Jennings takes the reader through 100 different possible "afterlives" go visit in his newest book, which is as informative as it is funny. It is abundantly clear the sheer magnitude of research that went into creating this book, and Jennings lays it all out for the "still living" in ways that are easily understandable and make you want to keep reading.

This was an absolute joy to read (not someone one usually says about death!) and could easily be updated and expanded as time continues its never ending march forward. I would absolutely recommend this book to others - you'll be shocked by how much you learn without realizing it! (I've had many of Ken's books on my TBR for quite a while, but this was my first to cross off the list. I'm very excited to continue through his catalog of seemingly unending knowledge.)

Different, fun, and educational. Reminiscent of AJ Jacobs in a weird way but not quite as funny. A good gag gift for a history buff.

Ken Jennings "100 Places to See After You Die" is a pithy, fast review of the afterlife through multiple lenses. Written in quick snippets, seemingly appealing to the attention-challenged, Jennings provides the reader with brief takes on what might happen after you die from the view of religion, film, TV, etc. There are some interesting takes and reads best when Jennings isn't trying to be funny. It's a harmless read. Thank you to #NetGallley and #Scribner for the change to preview this book.

As some one fascinated with death practices and culture this was a fun and interesting book. Each section focuses on a different description of the afterlife from religion, mythology, books, music, etc. This is by no means all inclusive, but it shows the highlights and the humorous narrative style keeps it fun (without dropping into disrespectful). I appreciated the broad range of cultures that are highlighted (not just Western or religious examples) and there are many that I bookmarked to learn more about.

I think this is a great book for anyone interested in death culture and a great conversation starter (as a coffee table book for even for a book club).

Such a unique concept! Hilariously engaging, instantly likable, bite-sized chapters you can easily come back to. I highly recommend this book as a gift as well!

I like Jennings. He’s by far my favorite Jeopardy GOAT which to the uninitiated is Greatest of All Time. He’s also a fun writer, and I’ve enjoyed his books over the years, so I immediately requested the ARC of his latest when it popped up on Netgalley.
The concept here is charmingly simple…the book is essentially a compendium of afterlife as it is depicted in mythology, religion, books, movies, arts, etc. There are sections on each with alphabetically arranged entries. But, of course, Jennings ad libs. The idea here is to stick to the facts but give them a humorous spin, turning this into something of travelogue, albeit to destinations perhaps best left alone, speculative or otherwise.
So do you want Jennings as your Virgil for touring the underworld? Well, sure, he’s a fun guy. So this book is on lighter side for such a heavy topic. But then it’s also lite as it lightweight in a way. Like Jennings deliberately holds back his famous snark and sarcasm it seems to appease the general public. Must be all that Jeopardy host training.
He’s a smart, funny, erudite guy with sweeping knowledge of random facts and pop culture and he utilizes it all well, but…mildly? Like holding most of his opinions to himself. Which is a shame, says this reader, because nonfiction if often best when it is presented by an opinionated author.
So basically don’t go in expecting too much meditation on the subject or comparative studies or things like that. You will learn some things, especially in the first two sections of religion and mythology. The rest are basically Jennings rehashing plots of famous books, movies, etc. Which is entertaining but only so much. And reader beware, he does give away the plot. Every single time. The ending and all.
So overall, somewhat educational, plenty entertaining, leaves something to be desired. Worth a read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

I received an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

This book was quite a bit of fun and I definitely recommend it to any fans of humor, satire, or history. The Jeopardy star writes an enjoyable work of satire as he creates his own travel guide through historical events of the past.

Many thanks to Scribner and Net Galley for the eARC. This book is set to publish in June of 2023.

Wow, what an enjoyable read! This text is both informative and clever, borrowing extensively from research while condensing information from some massive reservoirs of information into manageable chunks. We used to do a short unit in my class on creation myths, but I found this study on the afterlife across cultural mediums much more fascinating. It rang true once more than archetypally across generations, views on the experiences of the soul and the afterlife are not all that different. I found this a wonderful reference source that I'll be borrowing from for my classes. It's a very handy text to have on hand.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of 100 Places to See After You Die.

This was a hilarious, tongue in cheek book about the various kinds of afterlives found in literature, music, mythology, and television and movies.

I liked the author's funny comments and travel tips about what to expect, what to avoid, and how to traverse some of the fascinating, gruesome, and frightening afterlives found in various cultures.

I also learned so much! I knew about Valhalla and the Tibetan Book of the Dead but there were so much more about afterlives I didn't know about in so many diverse cultures.

It was both intriguing and disturbing to know more about how other cultures understand and approach death and the afterlife.

A big thumbs up to the author and his team of researchers; each afterlife is described in detail in straightforward terms, no flowery language, and I love the sidebars on trivia and fun facts, some of which were dark and creepy.

This isn't for everyone but if you're looking for something different to read, something funny and amusing and also want to learn something, this is for you.

This is a humorous take on a travel guide. It is all places in which you coud go to visit after you have died. It takes beliefs from different cultures and religions, along with what authors have created throught their art forms, and discusses what it would be like to visit. The book is divided into sections of Mythology, Religion, Books, Movies, Television, Music and Theater, and Miscellaneous. Each section has multiple places to visit that would fall under that category. For each location is a description of what it looks like and things/people that you may encounter while there.

This book was interesting, but a slow read. It's not "laugh out loud" humor, it's just humorous in concept. A lot of the places I haven't heard of as I haven't seen the movie, read the book, or learned about a particular culture. So, this book can be enjoyable for two types of people: those who have a broad knowledge of history and/or those who are interested in learning more.

While I liked this book, I didn't love it. It's very much geared toward those who appreciate dry humor.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an eARC of #100PlacestoSeeAfterYouDie by #KenJennings
- 3 stars