Free ebook "Gods Debris" by Scott Adams

gorilla · 17 February 2006 at 12:15PM

Get your free—no strings attached—e-book version of God’s Debris in pdf format. Enjoy it yourself or e-mail it to friends. The only restriction is that you enjoy it personally without any commercial use.
Why is it Free?

Frankly, this is the hardest book in the world to market. When it first came out in hardcover, booksellers couldn’t decide if it was fiction or nonfiction. Was it philosophy or religion? It’s a religion/science book written by a cartoonist, using hypnosis techniques in the writing. It’s a thought experiment. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever read. How do you sell something that can’t be explained?

Nonetheless, the hardcover version of God's Debris was a solid success. I lost count of how many people e-mailed me to say it was the best book they’ve ever read. By way of comparison, I’ve published over thirty Dilbert™ books, two of them number-one New York Times best-sellers, but I’ve never gotten the kind of excited responses that I did from readers of God's Debris.

Still, God's Debris is emphatically not for everyone. Although there’s no sex or violence, I don’t recommend it for readers under fourteen unless a parent has screened it. And if you don’t like to have your perceptions challenged, this book isn’t for you. However, if you like a good book-induced buzz now and then, I think you’ll agree that the price was right.

It’s free because it’s designed to be discussed with people who have also read it. I’m confident that some percentage of the free e-book readers will be inspired to buy a physical book for friends or for their own collection. And if you like it, you might want to try the sequel, The Religion War, available only in hardcover. At the end of the e-book you’ll find some links to Amazon.com for your impulse-buying pleasure.

Synopsis

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.

RufusA · 17 February 2006 at 12:51PM

This has been posted before, with a tumble-weed like response:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=115093

However IMHO a good book to read if you treat it with the right frame of mind (i.e. you read the forward and treat it like a puzzle in spotting the errors / reasoning flaws, and use it as a springboard for your own philosophy). Probably not a good book to read unless you have the time to make it thought provoking!

Rufus.

doogie · 17 February 2006 at 2:15PM

Coolies, thanks, I did actually think about buying that when it first came out as I love Dilbert, especially the text-based (non cartoon) books by Scott, and I know it's a departure from that, but for free you can't grumble at the price!

Cheers

gorilla · 17 February 2006 at 5:33PM

I did try finding it but alas my searching ability of this thread is not that good. I'm looking forward to reading it.

MattLG · 22 February 2006 at 2:56PM

I've read the book before. It's pants. No, that's unfair. It's a good read and is probably quite informative if you've never read a philosophy book before or even thought about philosophy on your own. But it doesn't put forward any new or original ideas. This was probably one of the reason why it never sold very well.

I find the author's glib get out clause that he only wrote it to encourage thought into the subject merely shows his own lack of understanding of philosophy and psychology. It's a shame cos I like Dilbert, his other creation, and this book has only served to lower my opinion of him.

In summary, it's a half-hearted attempt at philosophy, clearly demonstrating that he's only recently entered into the subject and has come to conclusions before exploring enough of the subject.

MattLG

madnis7 · 22 February 2006 at 3:23PM

I don't necessarily think it shows any lack of understanding. He didn't need to put a disclaimer at the start, but he did and in a way it helped me understand it better and feel easier with reading and thinking about the questions put forth in the book.

I also liked DIlbert but liked this more. I don't see how anyone can understand Philosophy or Psychology fully anyway. Surely a lot of it is subjective and can never be fully understood. To this degree this book works wonderfully well, through not being elitest or condasending. It presents philosophical and psychological questions in Lay-man's term. Never really answering but giving the reader an opportunity to think through their own ideas, as for a lot of questions there really is no answer.

I felt it was a wonderful book, that stimulates the mind and really makes you think. I thouroughly enjoyed it and have since recommended and discussed it with a few of my friends.

Chatterbox_3 · 22 February 2006 at 8:06PM

Was the recent film, 'What the **** Do We Know?' based on this book?

Free ebook "Gods Debris" by Scott Adams

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