God's Debris: A Thought Experiment (Scott Adams, 2004)
Two things help this book not be a disaster. One it is short. Two it is an experiment. If it was longer and more traditional, it would have been pretentious and annoying to read.
This is the “story”: The narrator delivers a package to an old man, and they start a conversation. That’s it. The old man asks philosophical questions and brings forward new ideas that confuse, interest, and ultimately, enlighten me.
Scott Adams, in his introduction, tells us the book will be of most interest to a 23 year old. It is true. It will be. And I’m late by two years, and it shows. The book usually brings forward philosophical thoughts that I am already familiar with, but in brief, so I do not see it in a new light. On rare occasions, it does bring new ideas, which is why the book is at times a lot of fun to read. My favorite is the central idea. If God is omnipotent and omniscience, that nothing challenges him, so he does not do anything. Well, except the challenge of ceasing to exist. So, God destroys himself, and this causes the Big Bang.
Yeah, I know, its stupid in a way, but it is still one of those philosophical thoughts that is fun to think about.
Unfortunately, the book is also filled with ideas that are JUST WRONG. Two ones I remember now is one where he talks about evolution and the other is metabolism. On evolution, if it is true, why is not currently happening? On metabolism, if it is true, why are starving people never fat? Both are frankly moronic, and it is like how people argue against Global Warming by saying, “It is colder this year, so Global Warming does not exist.” And because the book is only a dialogue between the enlightened old man and the curious younger man, we can’t put these ideas as the ideas of the characters in a non-fiction. Even though Scott Adams does say the opinions in this book are not necessarily his, but when the book is not surrounded by story or characters, its hard to forgive him for it.
Still recommended, because it is a quick read. You’re bound to take at least something out of it, even if it is not useful, it will at least exercise your brain.
3/5
