Center for Latter-day Saint Arts

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100 Places to See After You Die

Riffing on the title of the travel bible, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, the latest book by bestselling author and quiz show mogul, Ken Jennings is titled, 100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife. This new book is certainly on brand for the LDS quizmaster. Is it just us, or has the new Jeopardy! host covertly been sneaking more religious clues into the nightly broadcast games? This book adds fire to that conspiracy theory. In the introduction, Jennings writes, “A 2016 study of religious participation and belief found that, even though the number of Americans who believe in God, pray, or attend religious services has declined steeply since the 1970s, the number of us who believe in the afterlife has actually risen slightly over the same time.” But this book is not about testimonies; it’s about mashing up as many sources about the afterlife as possible into one entertaining volume: from mythology and literature, to the pop culture of South Park and The Good Place. It is a phantasmagoria of allusions linked with charm, wit, and (shhh!) insight. Who knows what vast encyclopedia resides in this author’s mind? Just try not to imagine that he sat down and wrote the entire book without looking anything up. (Published by Schuster, now available in bookstores)