
For meditation number fifteen we have a reading from David Eagleman's book Sum. It's a vision of the after life that's both playful and... horrifying. Sum is read by actor Jeffrey Tambor.
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Radiolab Producer
Hmm, that's music to my ears.
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I can only talk.
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Jad Abumrad
Oh, wait, you're listening. Okay. All right. Okay. All right.
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You're listening to Radiolab.
Radiolab Producer
Radiolab, Sharks from WNYC.
Radio Announcer
And npr.
Jad Abumrad
Hey, I'm Jad Abumrad.
Robert Krulwich
And I'm Robert Krulwich.
Jad Abumrad
This is Radiolab, the podcast. We're up to number 15 now. As you can tell, the last few days we've been extending our afterlife show.
Robert Krulwich
Just the apres or the after afterlife. Exactly.
Jad Abumrad
And for number 15, we have a reading from David Eagleman's book Some, A story called Some, which is in fact the story that got us interested in doing the entire afterlife show to begin with.
Robert Krulwich
Yeah, because it is so. It's so summery, actually, in the S u m m a r y sense.
Jad Abumrad
Right? And it's read for us again by actor Jeffrey Tambor.
Radiolab Producer
Alright, Ty, take two. In the afterlife, you relive all your experiences. But this time, with the events reshuffled into a new order, you see all the moments that share equality are grouped together. For instance, you spend two months driving the street in front of your house. Seven months having sex. You sleep for 30 years without opening your eyes. For five months straight, you flip through magazines while sitting on a toilet. You take all your pain at once. All 27 intense hours of it. Bones break, cars crash, skin is cut, babies are born. But once you make it through, it's agony free for the rest of your afterlife. That doesn't always mean it's pleasant. I mean, you spend six days clipping your nails. 15 months looking for lost items. 18 months waiting in line. Two years of boredom staring out a bus window, sitting in an airport terminal, waiting online. One year reading books. Your eyes hurt, though. And you itch because you can't take a shower until it your Time to take your marathon 200 day shower. 2 weeks wondering what happens when you die. 1 minute realizing your body's falling. 77 hours of confusion. 1 hour realizing you've forgotten someone's name. 3 weeks realizing you're wrong. 2 days lying. 6 weeks waiting for a green light. 7 hours vomiting. 14 minutes experiencing pure joy. 3 months doing laundry. 15 hours writing your signature. 2 days tying cheap shoelaces. 67 days of heartbreak. 5 weeks driving loss. 3 days calculating restaurant tips. 51 days deciding what to wear. 9 days pretending you know what is being talked about. 2 weeks counting money. 18 hours staring into the refrigerator. 34 days longing. 6 months watching commercials. 4 weeks sitting in thought, wondering if there's something better I could be doing with my time. Three years swallowing food. Five days working buttons and zippers. Four minutes wondering what your life would be like if you reshuffled the order of events. In this part of the afterlife. You imagine something analogous to your earthly life. And the thought is blissful. A life where episodes are split into tiny swallowable pieces. Moments do not endure where one experiences the joy of jumping from one event to the next, like a child hopping from spot to spot on the burning sand.
Jad Abumrad
That was actor Jeffrey Tambor reading a story from David Eagleman's book Some. And the story was called Some.
Robert Krulwich
Yeah, so before we. We have some time left.
Jad Abumrad
Some.
Robert Krulwich
I just want to mention what's coming up tomorrow because this is like a little sort of spectacular celebration of death that we've been doing all week, but now we're gonna switch on Friday. That is the fif of this sequence.
Jad Abumrad
Number 16.
Robert Krulwich
Number 16. We are going to go the other direction. We're going to celebrate the things that death ends. We're going to talk about the gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous business of being alive.
Jad Abumrad
Actually, there's no talking in this one.
Robert Krulwich
No, we're not. Yes, we're gonna ask you to look at something.
Jad Abumrad
A video by a guy named Will Hoffman. Really talented, dude.
Robert Krulwich
We are so proud of it.
Jad Abumrad
Yeah, so that's coming up tomorrow, I guess. For the moment, though, we have to go. I'm Jad Abumrad.
Robert Krulwich
And I'm Robert Krulwich.
Jad Abumrad
Radiolab is funded in part by the Sloan foundation, the Corporation for Broadcasting, and the National Science Foundation.
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This episode of Radiolab, hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, centers on a profound and imaginative meditation on the afterlife, inspired by David Eagleman’s piece “Sum.” The focus is a dramatic reading of the titular story by actor Jeffrey Tambor, which reframes the afterlife as a reshuffling of earthly moments, grouping them by experience rather than chronology. The episode is introspective, playful, and laden with existential curiosity—a hallmark of Radiolab’s distinctive style.
The tone of the episode is contemplative yet playful, blending philosophical musings with Radiolab’s signature curiosity and sound design. Jeffrey Tambor’s reading is calm, matter-of-fact, and gently humorous even as it probes profound questions about the substance of life and the nature of memory.
"Sum" explores the evocative question: What if the afterlife is simply our earthly life, but reordered and reorganized? This playful yet philosophical narrative, delivered by Tambor and framed by the hosts, invites listeners to consider the value of the linear, unpredictable messiness of real life. The episode stands as both a meditation on mortality and a gentle celebration of the ordinary moments that, together, form a life.