Here are 100 books that 100 Places to See After You Die fans have personally recommended if you like
100 Places to See After You Die.
Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I became a science journalist because I’ve been fascinated by the natural world around me for as long as I can remember. I also always loved imagining another world or realm, ever since I first read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Wizard of Oz series as a child. So when I was writing my blog, Gory Details, at National Geographic, I naturally started to get curious about places around the world that are linked to legends of otherworldly realms. Now, as an author, I’ve had the chance to explore these places for myself, and I hope readers will enjoy going on the journey with me!
I was astonished when I opened this book and saw all the gorgeous art depicting heavens, hells, and afterlives from around the world. The colors and printing are lush, and it’s incredible to see everything from brightly colored Islamic art showing magnificent gardens of paradise to ancient illustrated manuscripts of Valhalla and mind-bending medieval portraits of Christian hell.
I also love the full, yet concise, descriptions of every hell, underworld, purgatory, and heaven that humans around the world and throughout history have imagined. I learned so much about the different cultures and religions through their visions of the afterlife, and all alongside the art depicting it. I feel like I got an art history class as a bonus!
Packed with strange stories and spectacular illustrations, The Devil's Atlas leads you on an adventure through the afterlife, exploring the supernatural worlds of global cultures to form a fascinating traveler's guide quite unlike any other.
From the author of the critically acclaimed bestsellers The Phantom Atlas, The Sky Atlas, and The Madman's Library comes a unique and beautifully illustrated guide to the heavens, hells, and lands of the dead as imagined throughout history by cultures and religions around the world. Packed with colorful maps, paintings, and captivating stories, The Devil's Atlas is a compelling tour of the geography, history, and…
The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.
On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…
I became a science journalist because I’ve been fascinated by the natural world around me for as long as I can remember. I also always loved imagining another world or realm, ever since I first read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Wizard of Oz series as a child. So when I was writing my blog, Gory Details, at National Geographic, I naturally started to get curious about places around the world that are linked to legends of otherworldly realms. Now, as an author, I’ve had the chance to explore these places for myself, and I hope readers will enjoy going on the journey with me!
I was so surprised to learn from this book how little the Bible actually focuses on heaven and hell, given how much emphasis I heard about them growing up. This book is written by a historian and scholar of early Christianity, and I found his analysis of the history of thought on heaven and hell and modern ideas about the afterlife to be thoughtful and thorough.
This book really made me think about the Christian ideas of heaven and hell in a new way.
A New York Times bestselling historian of early Christianity takes on two of the most gripping questions of human existence: where did the ideas of heaven and hell come from and why do they endure?
What happens when we die? A recent Pew Research poll showed that 72% of Americans believe in a literal heaven and 58% believe in a literal hell. Most people who hold these beliefs are Christian and assume they are the age-old teachings of the Bible. But eternal rewards and punishments are found nowhere in the Old Testament and are not what Jesus or his disciples…
I became a science journalist because I’ve been fascinated by the natural world around me for as long as I can remember. I also always loved imagining another world or realm, ever since I first read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Wizard of Oz series as a child. So when I was writing my blog, Gory Details, at National Geographic, I naturally started to get curious about places around the world that are linked to legends of otherworldly realms. Now, as an author, I’ve had the chance to explore these places for myself, and I hope readers will enjoy going on the journey with me!
I love the originality of this book—who ever would have thought to write about the geology of hell but a geologist? As a big-time nerd, I loved the deep dive into science, mixed with the stories and legends of people around the world.
I also enjoyed the author’s personal stories about visiting many of the places in the book, from the oilfields of Azerbaijan (and accompanying legends of the Zoroastrians) to the famed Greek river Acheron, said to carry the dead to the underworld.
When Annie Thornton, midwife and apprentice witch, falls through time to a 15th-century Yorkshire village with her telepathic cat, Rosamund, she befriends Will and Jack, two soldiers returning from the French Wars. Mistress Meg, Annie’s ancestral aunt living in the 15th century, is…
I became a science journalist because I’ve been fascinated by the natural world around me for as long as I can remember. I also always loved imagining another world or realm, ever since I first read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Wizard of Oz series as a child. So when I was writing my blog, Gory Details, at National Geographic, I naturally started to get curious about places around the world that are linked to legends of otherworldly realms. Now, as an author, I’ve had the chance to explore these places for myself, and I hope readers will enjoy going on the journey with me!
When I needed a concise overview of the history of hell, from Egyptian Duat to modern-day versions of Christian hell and all the many other versions around the world, this book gave me just what I needed. The tone and language are lighthearted, which keeps the subject interesting without getting too dark or depressing.
I liked how the authors break down hell into its common components, asking questions like “Where is hell?” and “Who’s in charge?” and giving a sense of how people have answered these questions in different places and times. I walked away feeling like we were all connected through this shared history of curiosity about the afterlife.
I grew up with the cartoon Beetlejuice, fascinated by the composed Lydia running around a bright and insane afterlife. Any cheerfully gothic story I would latch on with glee. Perhaps this is why fantasy has always been my favourite genre, and why I cannot help but mix dark and light, and why my first novel naturally took place in the afterlife. I wrote my first book for my brother, because he was as interested as me in all the weird in the world, but unlike me, he had dyslexia and hated reading. He received the story in instalments and to my amazement and pride, he just gobbled them up.
Like all of Neil Gaiman’s works, this comic book is haunting and meaningful. Laced with DC references, philosophy, and nightmares, we lose ourselves in its strange world, or should I say, worlds? We follow Tim, a 13-year-old on the brink of becoming one of the greatest magic wielders of all time. But magic comes at a cost, and perhaps he should know that, or at least that’s what the four unlikely guides of our hero believe. And here starts the trip into magic and its many worlds, including a great meeting with Death herself in the afterlife.
This must be my favourite personification of Death ever, managing to be both fun and kind. This is a great meaty adventure comic that really makes you travel and gives you an experience like no other. Don’t expect childishness here, and don’t put it in the hands of too young an audience as…
What do two dead boys and a normal 13-year-old have in common? The ability to save the world. Charles and Edwin are dead. They re also detectives. Tim Hunter is alive. He could be the world s greatest mage once he masters magic. And that s just the beginning. Readers can now enjoy The Books of Magic #1-32, The Children s Crusade #1-2, Vertigo Gallery: Dreams and Nightmares #1, Vertigo Preview #1, Vertigo Visions - Doctor Occult #1, Who s Who #15, Arcana Annual #1, Mister E #1-4, and The Books of Faerie: Auberon s Tale #1-3 all in one…
Ever since I was a young girl, I always turned to writing to work through anything that was happening in my life, ranging from the first time I experienced loss to my parents’ divorce. I have since published three children’s books on tough topics as I have aimed to provide parents, children, and teachers with tools to discuss loss and change. My most recent book, Goodbye, Gus is specifically about the loss of a pet. My dad died when I was 21, and that was the first death (other than my dogs) that I ever experienced. I was able to experience first-hand the fact that the loss of my pets helped prepare me to cope with grief, and I also learned that we can all focus on what we did have and hang on to those memories forever.
I chose this comforting, spiritual book, which is about a concept that I wonder about myself — an afterlife. The idea that those we love can still connect with us after they exit this life is something I want to believe and is something that certainly provides me with comfort. The stories that this author shares offer so much help and enable us to feel closer to our pets who we have sadly lost. Ever since reading this book, I have seen more signs that enable me to believe that the bond I have with dogs I have lost can still be as strong as ever today.
#1 Bestseller & Winner of 16 National and International Literary Awards
If you are grieving the loss of your beloved pet the uplifting and insightful stories within these chapters will help you break through your grief so you can begin healing. Included are actual messages from departed animals who share details about what they experienced as their life ended and from beyond the veil of the afterlife.
You will discover how pets feel about dying, euthanasia, cremation, reincarnation and so much more.
Award-winning Animal Communicator and Afterlife Expert, Karen Anderson, reveals tantalizing evidence that our pets communicate with us throughout…
Chasing Light is a lyrical meditation on grief, memory, and the fragile beauty of everyday life. At its core, it is a story of resilience, forgiveness, and the transformational power of human connection. It sheds light on the overlooked realities of homelessness and addiction, while emphasizing the importance of compassion…
As a kid, I loved fantasy; it was my escape from real life. Portal Fantasy is one of the oldest sub-genres in that regard, with works such as Wizard of Oz, Through the Looking Glass, and Chronicles of Narnia, to name a few. LitRPG is a newer genre, though its roots extend back to the 80s. Fantasy is full of magical worlds that embrace the reader’s mind, allowing them to live beyond their own life. I have experienced what it is like to fall in love countless times, to fly a ship through the sky using magic and swordfight, and to die and be reborn. Through these stories, I have lived.
James Haddock is another author whose writing style I have enjoyed for a while now. His books are entertaining, though his grammar tends to be all over the place. This was either the first story of his I read or one of the first. I can’t remember which.
There is something about the way he describes magic and uses it in his books that I simply enjoy. The MC in this one is dying and finds himself brought over into a new land with magic, wherein his adventure promptly begins with a knife struggle.
The magic, though…it’s different from how others usually describe their magic systems. It would be so easy to abuse, and while he does grow powerful, Haddock never has him abusing it like another author would.
A routine physical shows Captain Ross Mitchell has a flesh-eating virus that specifically targets the brain. Prognosis says he'll be a vegetable by week's end. Having survived numerous incursions in combat around the world, Ross decides he's not going out like that. He drives a rented corvette into a cliff face at over 200 MPH. The fiery impact catapults him toward the afterlife. Instead of finding the afterlife, he finds himself in a different body with an old man stabbing him in his chest. He fights free, killing the old man before passing out. He wakes to find he's now…
I’m an award-winning author of three books on near-death experiences across cultures and throughout history. I’ve had a lifelong interest in the ancient world, anthropology, myth, religions – and extraordinary phenomena such as near-death experiences. So it was natural to combine these interests, which I first did while studying Egyptology. While reading the ancient texts describing otherworld journeys after death, I was reminded of NDEs and their counterparts in medieval visionary literature. This sent me on a decades-long “otherworld journey” of my own, earning various degrees, fellowships, and awards. In addition to my other books, I’m now embarking on a second PhD project, on NDEs in Classical antiquity.
This long-lost early book on near-death experiences was written around the same time as Raymond Moody’s classic Life After Life, but totally independent of any knowledge of that more famous work.
Hampe was a German philosopher, and while the book made a huge splash in Germany it’s practically unknown to the English-speaking world, even though an excellent translation was published in the 1970s (finally now reprinted).
Hampe is a deep thinker though has a very engaging style. Knowing that he had his own NDE makes the book poignant and moving to read. What I find most interesting about it is the very different approach he took compared to Moody.
Rather than looking at the phenomenon as a scientific puzzle and focusing on the possibility that NDEs are evidence for an afterlife, Hampe was interested in their metaphysical implications.
"If dying is not oppression, my knowledge that I am going to die will no longer oppress me. Instead of making me feel melancholy it will expand and deepen me."
Simultaneous with Raymond Moody's landmark book Life After Life, Johann Christoph Hampe independently "discovered" near-death experiences in the 1970s. Though both authors explored the phenomenon as possible evidence for life after death, Hampe took a very different approach and produced a profound, thoughtful, meditative exploration of "dying before we die." Hampe wrote To Die is Gain after he himself recovered from temporary clinical death caused by a serious illness and…
I’m an award-winning author of three books on near-death experiences across cultures and throughout history. I’ve had a lifelong interest in the ancient world, anthropology, myth, religions – and extraordinary phenomena such as near-death experiences. So it was natural to combine these interests, which I first did while studying Egyptology. While reading the ancient texts describing otherworld journeys after death, I was reminded of NDEs and their counterparts in medieval visionary literature. This sent me on a decades-long “otherworld journey” of my own, earning various degrees, fellowships, and awards. In addition to my other books, I’m now embarking on a second PhD project, on NDEs in Classical antiquity.
This is the most comprehensive book on Native American afterlife beliefs ever written.
What makes it especially interesting is that the author focuses on myths and legends of afterlife journeys – what he called “Orpheus myths.” He looks at them from many perspectives – historical and cultural – but most importantly experiential.
Writing almost 20 years before the popularization of near-death experiences in the Western world, Hultkrantz identified NDEs as a different type of experience from dreams or shamanic visions – and found that indigenous people did, too.
He also suggested that such experiences contributed to afterlife beliefs – that is, that they weren’t simply culturally created “stories” or hallucinations. Readable and entertaining as well as scholarly, it’s wonderful that this book is back in print after languishing in obscurity for decades!
"Visionaries who have made their way to the realm of the dead and then returned have told of its secrets."
In this scholarly but highly readable book, the famed anthropologist and historian of religions Åke Hultkrantz takes us on an in-depth exploration of Native American afterlife journey myths and shamanism. Anticipating the western "discovery" of near-death experiences by nearly 20 years, Hultkrantz recognized them as phenomena distinct from other extraordinary experiences such as dreams and vision quests. Equally remarkable, Hultkrantz found that Native American afterlife myths were actually influenced by NDEs and shamanic otherworld journeys. Weaving this discovery together with…
Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman
by
Alexis Krasilovsky,
Kate from Jules et Jim meets I Love Dick.
A young woman filmmaker’s journey of self-discovery, set against a backdrop of the sexual liberation movement of the 1970s and 1980s. In Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman, we follow Ana Fried as she faces the ultimate…
Gamelit’s a big focus and passion of mine because it is the genre I didn’t know existed nor that I needed when I got started as a writer. I was always a sci-fi and fantasy guy and the most GameLit thing I experienced prior were anime like Sword Art Online or So I’m a Spider So What. Once I found gems like Dungeon Crawler Carl, Cradle, and others, I was reading everything I could in the genre. Not only that, but I’m writing in the space too, with six books out under my name, another five under a pen name, and many more to come.
Savage Dominion is just plain fun and worth the read. But you know how it’s even better? On audio, narrated by Luke Daniels. Seriously, pick up the audio if you can. Luke’s narration alone is worth every penny.
Here we have a big, dumb nerd who honestly wasn’t hero material but when a wolf shows up to ruin his already bad date, our man sacrifices himself. This doesn’t go unnoticed and he is given the chance to become an eternal, basically a demi-god. Only he ends up being one for the “baddies” according to the solar court.
So Maulkin has to overcome everyone thinking he’s the devil, learn how this new world of his works, and all of that while being more brawns than brains in one of the funniest characters I’ve read in a good long while.
Maulkin didn't know dying would mean a new eternity of dungeon delving, monster slaying, and glory hunting. If he had, he wouldn't have been so worried about kicking the bucket on a date gone even more wrong than usual.
Reborn in the wild world of Amaranth, Maulkin finds himself in a hulking demi-human body with a sword of a size to match. Marked as an Eternal, a fledging immortal of boundless potential, Maulkin soon discovers he's been given a mission by the elder pantheon of this new realm:
Grow stronger. Ascend to godhood. Spread chaos in their name.
