God's Debris: A Thought Experiment (Hardcover)

by Scott Adams (Author) "The rain made everything sound different-the engine of my delivery van, the traffic as it rolled by on a film of fallen clouds, the occasional..." (more)
Key Phrases: Zeno's Paradox

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Scott Adams, creator of the popular comic strip "Dilbert," has written a modern-day parable about a young man and an unlikely mentor. God's Debris starts with a young deliveryman trying to hand over a package to a man with a San Francisco address. But delivering the package to this old man proves to be as difficult as trying to understand the meaning of God.

"It's for you," the old man tells the narrator, gesturing to the package.

"What's in the package?" the narrator asks.

"It's the answer to your question."

"I wasn't expecting any answers,"

the deliveryman admits. About this time, the narrator begins to realize that he's not dealing with a feeble-minded old man; he's dealing with a situation that could alter his life. The sincerity and metaphysical complexity of this fable will surprise those who expect comedy, but Adams is following a tradition set by such writers as Dan Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior) and Richard Bach (Illusions). As in many parables that have come before, the deliveryman learns the meaning of life from an illusive mentor who seems to arise from a wrinkle in time. The cleverness of the God's Debris concept is original and bound to leave readers pondering some altered definitions of God, the universe, and just about everything else. --Gail Hudson

Product Description
Andrews McMeel Publishing and Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strips and #1 best-selling author of Dilbert humor books, have agreed to publish Mr. Adams' new project called God's Debris: A Thought Experiment. God's Debris is Scott's first non-Dilbert, non-humor effort. The author describes the book as "a thought experiment wrapped in a story. It's designed to make your brain spin around inside your skull." Some content of the book is nonfiction because the opinions and philosophies of the characters might have lasting impact on the reader. Others believe it is fiction because the characters don't exist.

Imagine that you meet a very old man who -- you eventually realize -- knows literally everything. Imagine that he explains for you the great mysteries of life: quantum physics, evolution, God, gravity, light, psychic phenomenon, and probability -- in a way so simple, so novel and so compelling that it all fits together and makes perfect sense. What does it feel like to suddenly understand everything? God's Debris isn't the final answer to the Big Questions. But it might be the most compelling vision of reality you will ever read. The thought experiment is this: Try to figure out what's wrong with the old man's explanation of reality. Share the book with your smart friends then discuss it later while enjoying a beverage.

The book was initially offered to the public as an e-book, and the book has since become the #1 best-selling e-book on the planet. Because of the e-book offering, the Internet is buzzing with comments from the book's fans.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (September 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740721909
• ISBN-13: 978-0740721908
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (185 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #194,519 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

117 of 126 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Decipher Factual Errors, Specious Arguments, and Conjecture!, September 25, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

For those who love Dilbert, please realize that this book has nothing to do with that enjoyable character. There's also no humor here. Instead, you will find a fable that presents a unified theory of cosmology, religion, and knowledge. Before you get excited about all that you can learn, realize that this unified theory is deliberately flawed by Mr. Adams to provide you with a thought experiment to locate what is wrong with the argument. So the book is actually a brain teaser in its primary intent. It is a brain teaser that most people will find exceeds their knowledge of probability, physics, religion, philosophy, evolution, psychology and logic. So, to pick it apart you will probably need to assemble a team of people with deep knowledge in those areas. As a result, God's Debris is perfect for a serious book club. After understanding what's wrong with the arguments in the book, many will probably begin to see more unity in everything that happens based on a better platform of knowledge. That's well worthwhile.

I found this book fascinating as a puzzle, and enjoyed picking the arguments and misstatements apart. It reminded me of a question on the bar exam from many years ago where I had to write about what the law was in regard to a will written by an illiterate person. Great fun!

Mr. Adams warns that this book is for "people who enjoy having their brains spun around inside their skulls." He also says that it is "a view about God that you've probably never heard before." I certainly agree with both of those points. He also warns that what's in the book "isn't true . . . but it's oddly compelling." He also notes that people under the age of 14 should not read it. Although he doesn't say why, anyone who reads this book without a foundation in the subjects described may actually believe what's proposed by the Avatar. The world has enough false beliefs in it. I applaud Mr. Adams for helping to avoid creating any more.

After this book has honed your knowledge and critical thinking skills, I suggest that you take arguments that you read in other books and practice seeing what is wrong with them. All nonfiction books provide thought experiments of that sort!

I do hope Mr. Adams will write another of these thought experiments.

Overcome the appeal of simplicity to see through to the dynamic reality!

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very fun and challenging experiment!, February 19, 2002

By	Steve McCardell (Rochester, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you think that Scott Adams can only write comic strips (you know, Dilbert), you'll be as surprised as I was. Adams has tackled what many are tackling these days - basically a spiritual philosophy - but that few are succeeding at quite this well. I am telling you, this funny cartoonist is about as deep, thoughtful, and intriguing a writer as I've come across. Not complex, mind you, but deep.

As I entered into his new book, God's Debris (just wait till you find out what the title means!), I was delighted to learn that he uses the language very well - especially for a philosophical piece like this, which, at its best, really only pretends at fiction. (It is primarily a philosophical dialogue between two men.) When the narrator steps into a room and sees a little old man sitting, I actually laughed to picture it as Adams described: "Something moved and I noticed, on the far side of the fireplace, in a wooden rocker, a smallish form in a red plaid blanket, looking like a hastily rolled cigar." The narrator later tosses an extra log onto a dying fire, and we read that "the retiring embers celebrated its arrival." Now, these points are not by any stretch the meat of the book - but it's important to know, this is not just some comic stab at writing.

Nor is it a comic stab at philosophy. Adams examines really the core of who we are, and who God is, as well as numerous details of life, always conforming to certain central themes. His approach? Really a Socratic exercise, not necessarily answering the questions of the world, but certainly asking them. As for answers, these abound as well ... but Adams does not take himself so seriously as to insist on their accuracy. Rather, he wisely notes how intriguing many of the answers are, and challenges the reader to consider them too.

I can tell you how I consider them: they are among the most convincing answers I have yet come across (for me, very much like What is Man? by Mark Twain - another comic with tremendous depth to his philosophy).

Along the way, Adams certainly pokes and prods his readers, forcing questions that must make them squirm. "If people believed in God," he points out, "they would live every minute of their lives in support of that belief. Rich people would give their wealth to the needy. Everyone would be frantic to determine which religion was the true one. No one could be comfortable in the thought that they might have picked the wrong religion and blundered into eternal damnation, or bad reincarnation, or some other unthinkable consequence. People would dedicate their lives to converting others to their religions." He adds: "If you believe a truck is coming toward you, you will jump out of the way. That is belief in the reality of the truck. If you tell people you fear the truck but do nothing to get out of the way, that is not belief in the truck." Now, do you believe in God?

That example is a mere detail, though, and there is a much more important thread and theme running through this, dealing with the deepest questions of all. In its effort, it supports much of its philosophy with tantalizing scientific proofs, and with areas where science has fallen down. The philosophical portion thoroughly discusses who God is, what our relationship is to God, the nature of good and evil within these definitions, and other potent topics. I admit, I was sure at one point that the book was roaming randomly. But enough chapters passed by, and I was convinced that Adams was tying everything together. In the end, it's an experience!

There are so many parts of this book that I'd like to share, but it would spoil the surprise. If you want a good challenge based in both science and philosophy for what God is, for what we are, for just what the heck we're doing here ... take a peek, and find yourself wondering about things, and probably - just probably - in brand new ways.

102 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mental teaser designed to make you question your beliefs, January 21, 2002

By	Robert Anderson (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the Introduction, Adams states that some of the "facts" presented in the forthcoming view of the universe are consistent with prevailing scientific thought and others are "creative baloney designed to sound true". He also states that this book is a "thought experiment" - i.e. the purpose is to get you thinking - it's not meant as a serious attempt to explain the universe and God.

That said, - those folks out here who have panned this book because its assertions are not scientifically sound are [people] who missed the point and need to go back and read the introduction again. And those folks who dismissed the book out of hand as rehashed metaphysical stuff that they already know - well, they failed the thought experiment because they didn't use the book as a springboard to thought.

Both of the types of people above actually prove one of the points in the book - that they are totally wrapped up in either arrogance or delusion. In fact, they probably didn't even realize that Adams was poking fun at them - oh, well.

Anyway, in this book Adams' character presents, in somewhat herky jerky fashion, an odd view of the universe. Although the theory itself could probably be torn to shreds by an undergraduate philosphy class, the purpose is to get the reader to recognize the folly of thinking that we know the answers and to open themselves to the possibility that everything we think we know (religion and science) is a wrong, albeit useful construct - and in fact that we humans are intellectually incapable of fathoming reality.

If you ponder metaphysics/spirituality a lot then you might not find that this book breaks any new ground for you - given that you are already open to thinking strange thoughts.

If you're an unflinching religious zealot you'll find the book somewhat sacreligeous and, unwittingly proving his point, you'll either pray for him or send him an email informing him that he's going to hell.

If you're a sober, stuffy scientific sort you'll pick the specifics of the theory apart with righteous and snooty "I'm smarter than you" arrogance and in doing so, miss the whole point of the book.

But, if you enjoy mental exercises and realize that sacred cows make the best steaks, then you'll enjoy mulling over the ideas discussed in this book.

It's short and a bit rough, but I gave it five stars simply becuase it earnestly attempts to give the reader's brain a good kick in the arse (if a brain can have an arse), and because it tries to slap some sense into prevailing scientific and religious cultures which have raised "believing one's own hype" to an artform.