Pocket Guide to the Afterlife: Heaven, Hell, and Other Ultimate Destinations (Pocket Guides (Jossey-Bass)) [Paperback]

Jason Boyett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0470373113 | ISBN-13: 978-0470373118 | Edition: 1

Heaven, Hell, and Other Ultimate Destinations

A concise and often humor-filled guide to the afterlife–the interesting, unknown, unusual, apocalyptic, and the downright strange.

Jason Boyett (Amarillo, TX) is a former copywriter and creative director in the advertising/marketing industry whose work regularly appears in publications like Relevant magazine, Christian Single, and TrueU.org. He has written for Salon.com, Paste, ChristianityToday.com, Ministries Today, and other national publications. He has been featured on international programs airing on the National Geographic Channel and the History Channel, including its recent broadcast of Mysteries of the Garden of Eden.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Who says death can't be funny? Boyett, the author of two other Pocket Guides (toSainthood and to the Bible), has a gift for irreverent, humorous prose that is also quite informative. This guide is a hodge-podge mix of factoids, kitsch and jokes about what various religions teach regarding what happens after we die. The author covers a wide swath of material, from Mayan and Aztec religions to the invention of the defibrillator and its connection to increased near-death experiences. Boyett also takes a walk through the Bible to highlight what it states about heaven and hell and who is likely to end up in each. The Lettermanesque Afterlists are quite amusing—such as 18 symbols of death throughout the ages and 11 highly attractive synonyms for heaven. The author should be commended for the user-friendly layout and for laboring to explicate non-Western religious traditions to a largely Western audience. Here's hoping this pocket guide series does not die off anytime soon. (Aug.)
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Review

Who says death can't be funny? Boyett, the author of two other Pocket Guides (to Sainthood and to the Bible), has a gift for irreverent, humorous prose that is also quite informative. This guide is a hodge-podge mix of factoids, kitsch and jokes about what various religions teach regarding what happens after we die. The author covers a wide swath of material, from Mayan and Aztec religions to the invention of the defibrillator and its connection to increased near-death experiences. Boyett also takes a walk through the Bible to highlight what it states about heaven and hell and who is likely to end up in each. The Lettermanesque “Afterlists” are quite amusing—such as “18 symbols of death throughout the ages” and “11 highly attractive synonyms for heaven.” The author should be commended for the user-friendly layout and for laboring to explicate non-Western religious traditions to a largely Western audience. Here's hoping this pocket guide series does not die off anytime soon. (Aug.) (Publishers Weekly, June 8, 2009)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (August 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470373113
• ISBN-13: 978-0470373118
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,049,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jason Boyett is the author of several books, the most recent of which is the Kindle e-book Pocket Guide to 2012. It joins several other books in his Pocket Guide series of titles (Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse, Pocket Guide to the Afterlife, etc.). Jason is also the author of O Me of Little Faith: True Confessions of a Spiritual Weakling (Zondervan). His writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including Salon, Paste, the Daily Beast, and Relevant. He blogs at jasonboyett.com and tweets at twitter.com/jasonboyett.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A light touch on a "heavy" subject, October 13, 2009

By 

W. V. Buckley (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pocket Guide to the Afterlife: Heaven, Hell, and Other Ultimate Destinations (Pocket Guides (Jossey-Bass)) (Kindle Edition)

Back in college I took an elective course called Death and the Concept of the Afterlife because it sounded interesting. Between the droning lectures and the dry readings, I quickly learned that just because a class sounded interesting was no reason to assume it actually was interesting. (By midterm there were plenty of us in the class who were convinced that we were trapped in the class as a form of eternal punishment ... but that's another story.)

Oh but if this Pocket Guide to the Afterlife had only been around then I'm sure the class would have been infinitely more lively! Can a book this light-hearted and fun to read be considered a reference book? Definitely! Even with Boyett's sometimes over-the-top asides and the wit that he puts into the various entries, readers of all faiths (or even none) will actually learn things along the way. If learning was always this fun!

Thank you, Mr. Boyett, for the laughs, the thoughts and the insights this book has provided me.

5.0 out of 5 stars Is That a Pocket Guide in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Happy to See Me?, October 1, 2009

By 

Damon Kersh "Book Dude" (Plano, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pocket Guide to the Afterlife: Heaven, Hell, and Other Ultimate Destinations (Pocket Guides (Jossey-Bass)) (Paperback)

Boyett has done it again! He has managed to take a controversial topic like religion and the afterlife, and present it in a humorous/sarcastic/fair manner. Jason takes the reader on a roller coaster ride through the various afterlife of every major (and minor) religion. You go through heaven, hell, limbo, nirvana, and many more. And before you know it, the ride is over, and you need to change your pants.
Boyett is one of the few authors who can literally make me laugh out loud. This book will tickle your brain and steal your funny bone. Other than being humorous, this book gives you goals. For instance, my new goal in life is to rest for an eternity under the Tree of Breasts. (Oh my god, I can just see it now!)
Great Job Jason! You have truly outdone yourself. This book is a must read.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Heavenly Learned Book & Hell of a lot of Fun, September 25, 2009

By 

B. Centre (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pocket Guide to the Afterlife: Heaven, Hell, and Other Ultimate Destinations (Pocket Guides (Jossey-Bass)) (Paperback)

I used to think that with all my studies on comparative religion, my knowledge of scripture, and all the money spent on books by Biblical scholars, that I'm a veritable religious know-it-all. Well, Jason Boyett's "Pocket Guide to the Afterlife" cured me of that delusion.

This is the second Boyett "pocket guide" I've read and I expected great things from it -- it delivered. Everything you'd ever want to know about the plethora of religions' perspectives, descriptions, and consequences of life after death is crammed into this absolutely delightful volume. The style is classic Boyett -- disarmingly witty, as irreverent as a believer could possibly be, laid out in a style that makes it a joy to read; it's fact based rock solid book learning but peppered with so many amusing observations and commentaries that it goes down easy and stays with you.

Whether you're a believer or a god-less heathen like me, if you are only going to read one book about the concept of afterlife from a variety of cultures and belief systems then this is the one to read. Nothing beats laughing while learning.