God's Debris


I am not the one who gets flared up with the talks of God, consciousness, free-will, scepticism. I heard about 'thought-experiments' from my friend. Albeit reluctant, I figured to give it a try. Google threw me a clean pdf of this book in the first search. Skimming through this, a 100 odd page book seemed quite appealing. After the foreword, there was no stopping. Will you believe if I point out that the author of "Dilbert", Scott Adams wrote this serious piece? Hold on, it aint serious. It aint humor either. In his very own words: "This is not a Dilbert book. It contains no humor. I call it a 132-page thought experiment wrapped in a fictional story".

It is a very fast read and it stimulates your rusty neurons, piques it right and shakes those thoughts. You will look at probability with a whole new light. If you wonder why a normal package delivery guy engages in such a though provoking discussion with a wise old man, I dont have an answer. But before you ask this, you would be so into this book and the trivial things seem all the more trivial. I was distraught when he elucidates 'God's debris'. I was dangling in between before I got fastened to this new belief system. We can cogitate about each topic in this book for hours. He covers a gamut of motifs and you go through elation and betrayal at the same time.

The best part about this book is his approach. He does not impose anything on you. It is not a new system. You wont change the way you are, although you might start questioning more. You can sail through gravity, physics, relativity without having prior knowledge. Play with your thoughts, create more, destroy some more and modify the remaining. The climax is even better. It is a light hearted thought provoking book. You say, oxymoron? Spend some time with this creation. I can vouch for it!

Excerpts-
Most people believe they have goals when, in fact, they only have wishes.

Have you ever had the experience where you hear a strange word for the first time, and then soon afterward you hear the same word again?

“Ideas are the only things that can change the world. The rest is details.


What more? This is exactly how I felt when I finished the last sentence.
The city had bright edges. Sound was crisp. Colors were vivid. Objects seemed more dimensional, as if I could see the sides and backs from any angle. I heard a phone call being made a block away and knew both sides of the conversation. I could feel every variation in airflow..

Courtesy: At times, tea-time conversation can lead to fruitful results

3 comments:

Rajlakshmi said...

I loved the excerpts you shared. They are very thoughful. Nice review

Priyanka said...

Thanks Rajlakshmi, glad you liked it! :)

Anonymous said...

I tried reading the book since one of my friends loved it and kinda pushed me into reading it. But I gave up after few pages. For some reason, I did not like it. But after reading the excerpts here, I am thinking about giving it a second try.
P.S: First time here. Nice to meet someone equally interested in science.

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