God's Debris

A Thought Experiment

By: Scott Raymond Adams

Narrated by: D. C. Goode

Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

God's Debris isn't a conventional book. It is written on three separate levels by Scott Adams, better known as the creator of the Dilbert comic. What is less known about Adams is that he's a trained hypnotist.

God's Debris is what happens when creativity and hypnosis intersect. On the surface, God's Debris is a simple fictional story of a delivery man who encounters an Avatar who knows literally everything. The Avatar reveals the truth about God, reality, science, probability, human perception, and even social success. Adams uses a writing trick to make the Avatar's answers appear more persuasive than they should be.

The second level of the book involves arguing with your friends about what parts the Avatar got wrong. Some of what the Avatar says is consistent with science, and some of it is pure fiction. See if you can tell which is which. You and your friends will come to very different conclusions.The third level of the book is the most provocative, but it won't have the same effect on all listeners. The story is designed as a very subtle hypnotic induction, with the intent of giving some (but not all) listeners the sensation that the Avatar's words actually contain the wisdom of the universe.

For some listeners, especially those under 30, God's Debris can be a mind altering experience. Fair Warning: Because of the hypnotic writing style, listeners tend to have strong reactions to the work. If you are in the top 5% of the population in terms of scientific knowledge, or philosophical reading, there's a good chance you will have an angry reaction to God's Debris. But if you are more of a seeker than a know-it-all, your experience could be something special.

©2009 Scott Adams (P)2009 Scott Adams

God's Debris - A beautiful tale

Described by the author as "thought experiment" this short book discusses ages old philosophical problems and conundrums in a dialog between a common delivery man and an old "sage", calling himself Avatar.

Their dialog starts with a question: "If you toss a coin a thousand times, how often will it come up heads?", and, by and by, they enter into enchanting philosophical discussion about the eternal philosophical problems of humanity. Do we have free will? If we do, how it relates to brain? What are consequences of God's free will? Why there are so many religions? What is the true nature and cause of physical universe? What is the meaning of evolution? and so on ...
In the discussion, the delivery man thinks like common, media influenced, educated person, while Avatar speaks as the one who knows everything, as a sage.
In some sense the "God's Debris" illustrates a kind of collision of modern practical mind and ages old philosophical thought.

Many of the explanations given by the sage are just plain baloney. The concept of the universe as the God's Debris that came into existence after G-d "decided" to stop his existence, the concept of gravitation and inertia as probability, and many others are examples.

What is beautiful though, is that it just does not matter if these concepts are true or not - the essence is in bringing the common man higher in his awareness - moving him from level of scientific thinking to the "5th-level" where he recognizes that our mind is more delusion generator than "an engine" of truth...

The true virtue of the book lies in its atmosphere; atmosphere of realistic irrationality - is I could call it this way. The books ends in surprising, yet anticipated way - but I will try not to spoil it for its future readers...

Clever and Thought-provoking

This book was recommended by a friend and met the high standard of the review. Read with my son and it gave us hours of rich conversation.

mind-expanding

mind-expanding, not necessarily because it gives you new information but because it challenges you to examine your dogma

simply Wow!!!

you cannot predict how this book will turn your thoughts up side down. everyone that I have recommended it has done it too

Loved it, the narrator is amazing!

What did you love best about God's Debris?

The 2 voices done by the narrator are perfect.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The man who knows everything.

Have you listened to any of D. C. Goode’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I will now!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me think.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended!

thought provoking!!

loved the voices! am i gods debris? ...hmmm found out about this author from the Tim Ferriss podcast.

Wow, this is amazing.

An entire worldview in under 3 hours. While none of these ideas are new, this book has them put together in the best and most concise way possible. Though the author could have been better informed on a couple of occasions (nothing a reading of "The Selfish Gene" couldn't solve ;), it does not take away from the story and the idea. level up!

Free will, determinism, god and probability

Fantastic thought experiment. Ideas about free will and determinism I've only read in later books. The trick of persuasion is clever too

I'm lucky I found this book ;-)

Short and worth more than I paid for it in time and in money. It reminded me of Douglas Adams without the humor.

Excellent

A new perspective on religion, the approach was brilliant. I would recommend this to anyone who likes to keep a open mind.

If Dilbert had a God, this would be it

A great listen, consumed in one Sunday afternoon.
But so many pearls of wisdom in there that i hope to read it again and again.

Best book ever

I love this book and read it countless times. Puts a twist on what you think

Mind bending brilliance

Every Scott Adams book I read or listen to, alters my perceptions and opens my mind to new thoughts. God's Debris makes you chuckle at the 'know all' of the main character, because it makes you question theories you have little depth of understanding to. Enjoyable, and mind twisting fun.

Enjoyed the book but then I listened to the author

I found plenty in this book to make me think about the topics discussed. Surely that’s what a good read does, it leaves you thinking.

But since then I’ve listened to some of Scott Adams’ pro Trump ramblings and I feel like maybe I was intellectually mugged. While I get that it should be possible to disagree with someone on one topic but agree with them on another I can’t see how I can reconcile myself with someone who can make a logical argument for Trumpism.

Really enjoyed it

Really enjoyed this book. Thought provoking and enjoyable, go into it with an open mind. and it will surprise you. Thanks Scott Adams.

excellent read

the probability you will like this book is linked to how open your mind is to new concepts. If you like Scott Adams book HOW TO FAIL AT ALMOST EVERYTHING AND STILL WIN BIG, then this is a much read.

good stuff

Reminded me of conversations I had as a student. I do think the world's smartest man is much better at talking philosophy than he is psychology. Fortunately the latter is only discussed a little bit towards the end (relationships and gender differences, *cringe...).

The voices on this are among the best I have heard on an audible product, which certainly contributed to my enjoyment of the product.

god's debris

Mildly interesting in one or two places and made more enjoyable than it really has any right to be by virtue of the excellent voice-acting, particularly on the part of the Avatar/old man (although it's a long way from being 'hypnotic'). For some of the younger audience members, part of the enjoyment might come from identifying the accepted scientific facts vs the authors liberal use of imagination and hypothesizing, and which parts of this have tentative links with the former. Overall, it's worth the low asking price of ?2.99, but before buying I'd suggest that you replace the age of "30" with "13" in the authors blurb in order to avoid any potential disappointment.