Kurt Vonnegut, honorary president of the AHA and my own favorite author, has done it again. He has published a short book where he visits with 21 dead people. He is able to accomplish this feat with the help of Dr. Jack Kevorkian and the staff at the state-of-the-art lethal injection execution facility at Huntsville, Texas. They transport Kurt down the "blue tunnel to the Pearly Gates" where he meets with the past luminaries for a short chat. Of course he doesn't actually pass through the Gates, because once through, there can be no return.

Of interest to humanists is the forward section of the book: Vonnegut notes that he is a humanist who believes in neither heaven nor hell. He also offers several short definitions of humanism: "I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishment after I'm dead." Again, "'humanist' is nothing more supernatural than a handy synonym for 'good citizenship and common decency.'" And "humanists, having received no credible information about any sort of God, are content to serve as well as they can, the only abstraction with which they have some familiarity: their communities."

The vignettes take the form of a reporter for a New York public radio station who visits with historical people including: Clarence Darrow, John Brown, Adolf Hitler, Isaac Newton, James Earl Ray, William Shakespeare, Isaac Asimov, Kilgore Trout (who isn't actually dead yet, but then he has lived only in Vonnegut's pages), and others. The reports were designed to fit 90-second interludes on WNYC.

The 79-page book is a joyous treat, humor and thought provoking prose from one of the 20th Century's greatest fiction writers. I encourage you to get a copy and enjoy it!

--Wayne Wilson