A Beginner's Guide to Immortality by Pickover, Clifford A. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Page Title Page Copyright Page Acknowledgments Introduction

A Celebration of Unusual Lives A Symphony for Chameleons Pop Culture A New Age for America The Butterfly Effect Truman Capote, John Cage, Jack Parsons, and Beyond

A Beginner’s Guide to Immortality

One Truman Capote and the Brain from Planet Arous

Alien Brains The Life of Truman Capote The Stigmata of Genius Polydactyl People and the Quest for Greatness Genius, Sexuality, and Offspring Genius, Precociousness, and Suicide

Two John Cage and the Zen of Music

Brain Symphony Chameleon Cage Eclipticalis with Winter Music Goethe’s Bones Silence

Three Gilgamesh, God, and the Language of Angels

Disembodied Brains Immortal Brains Adventures in Hell Gilgamesh and the Quest for Transcendence Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Maidanek Death Butterflies William James, John Nash, and Life After Death Emanuel Swedenborg The Doll People of the Popol Vuh

Four the Matrix, Quantum Resurrection, and the Quest for Transcendence

Questioning Reality Greg Egan’s Permutation City Are You Dreaming? We Are Simulations Where Is the Soul? The Mysterious Wachowski Brothers Brains Made of Bicycle Parts Why Simulate? Zombies, Peas, and Carrots Cosmic Reality Onion Bits, Brains, and the Transreality Diaspora Process Physics and the Birth of Reality Quantum Resurrection and Immortality Jell-O and Consciousness

Five Jesus and the Future of Mind-Altering Drugs

Jesus, Drugs, and 1950s Movies From 1950s Movies to LSD and Marijuana The Mystery and Utility of Mind-Altering Drugs Beyond Marijuana Difficulty for Research The Brain Is Its Own Drug Substitutes for Marijuana Cannabis Drug Potential Use Making Nirvana and Pain Relief Illegal What is Your Position?

Six Clockwork Butterflies and Eternity

The Angels of Rilke Nathaniel Hawthorne, Butterflies, 64 Obsession The Artist of the Beautiful

Seven Evolution, Ice Cream, and the Goddess of Chopped Liver

The Chopped-Liver Queen Liver and Legend Liver-Eating Johnston What is the Liver? Evolution: Fact or Fiction? Monkeys Typing The Bible Robert Ardrey and the Killer Ape The Religious Implications of Mosquitoes The Omphalosian View of Reality Arkansas Act 590 Who Is the Designer? God’s Laryngeal Nerve Humans and Aliens Will be Immortal Abortion Hepatoscopy and Beyond

Eight the Whispers of History

Wonders of the World Knowledge and Knots Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Jack Parsons: Rocket Man The Third Wave Serendipity The Mathematics of the Rapture The Phalanges of History

Conclusion Appendix: Cathedrals of the Mind

Introduction Chapter 1: Truman Capote and The Brain from Planet Arous Chapter 2: John Cage and the Zen of Music Chapter 3: Gilgamesh, God, and the Language of Angels Chapter 4: The Matrix, Quantum Resurrection, and the Quest for Transcendence Chapter 5: Jesus and the Future of Mind-Altering Drugs Chapter 6: Clockwork Butterflies and Eternity Chapter 7: Evolution, Ice Cream, and the Goddess of Chopped Liver Chapter 8: The Whispers of History Conclusion

Notes

Epigraph Page Introduction Chapter 1. Truman Capote and The Brain from Planet Arous Chapter 2. John Cage and The Zen of Music Chapter 3. Gilgamesh, God, and the Language of Angels Chapter 4. The Matrix, Quantum Resurrection, and the Quest for Transcendence Chapter 5. Jesus and the Future of Mind-Altering Drugs Chapter 6. Clockwork Butterflies and Eternity Chapter 7. Evolution, Ice Cream, and the Goddess of Chopped Liver Chapter 8. The Whispers of History Conclusion Cathedrals of the Mind References

References Index About the Author