16. A brief detour to heaven

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Content ix
3. Introduction xi
4. Acknowledgements xiii
5. Part I. What kind of place is this?
6. 1. Who invented hell, and for god’s sake why? 1
7. 2. Hell-free zones 26
8. 3. Where the hell is it? 37
9. Part II. Who’s in charge?
10. 4. Hell’s executive suite 61
11. 5. Hell’s unruly boardroom fracas 87
12. 6. Can there really be romance in the heart of hell? 96
13. Part III. what’s the operating plan?
14. 7. Once you’re in, what’s it like? A survey of A-list hells 103
15. 8. Eternal torment: who does what to whom, and why 135
16. 9. The peculiar physics of hell: how long is forever? 155
17. Part IV. Eyewitnes s accounts
18. 10. The Watchers and the origin of hell 167
19. 11. Hell’s earliest tourists 176
20. 12. Some Buddhists go to hell for the damnedest reasons 199
21. 13. Hellish travellers in classical antiquity 213
22. 14. Inquisitive Christians go to hell 229
23. 15. The great poets as tour guides 243
24. 16. A brief detour to heaven 264
25. Epilogue 281
26. Notes 317
27. Bibliography 329
28. Index 337
29. A Note About the Type 353
30. About the Author 354