Brad Feld

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God’s Debris

Jul 06, 2010
Category Books

On page 89, the book’s unnamed protagonist said “My brain hurts.”  I thought to myself, so does mine.

God’s Debris is Scott Adams’ first non-fiction book (yes, that Scott Adams, the father of Dilbert.)  Well – it might be fiction, it might be philosophy, or it might be a novella.  Or maybe it’s something else.  But it’s fascinating.  And challenging.  But short.  It was tonight’s book (although the night is still relatively young so I’ll get started on the next one in a few minutes.)

dilbertgod.jpg

This is not a religious book, nor is it a slam (or endorsement) of religion.  It is, in Adams’ words, a thought experiment.  One of the two characters is an old man who turns out to know everything.  He explains, through a series of short chapters on different subjects, all of the great mysteries of life.  While it’s easy to argue with some of his assertions, the old man (who turns out to be called The Avatar) explains things in a simple way that – while not bulletproof – is compelling.  Some of the chapter titles give you a quick feel for what is going to be covered: Free Will, Science, Where is Free Will Located?, Genuine Belief, Delusion Generator, Reincarnation, UFOs, and God, Free Will of a Penny, Evolution, Skeptics’ Disease, ESP and Luck, Light, Willpower, Holy Lands, and Relationships.

When I finished it, I hopped on Wikipedia and discovered that Scott Adams wrote a sequel called The Religion War.  I really want to read it on my Kindle but it’s only available in physical form so the atoms are now in the mail to me.