Scott Adams is best known for creating the Dilbert character, the one that adorns his own comic strip, book series, and product line. God’s Debris is the first book to come from Adams that isn’t Dilbert-related. The book is designed to make you think. And I don’t mean sit around the house with a cup of coffee, pondering the meaning of grass growth. Thinly disguised as the story of a mailman, this “project” tackles literally everything. Science, religion, evolution, light, psychic phenomenon, probability… all is ripe topic of dissection. All of it is discussed in such a way to where it all makes perfect sense. Reading it gives the illusion of knowing and understanding everything.

The story begins with a common mail-worker (probably UPS or FedEx, or something of that sort) going on his merry way to deliver a box or two. He comes across an old house, in which nobody answers the door. It’s against policy to enter private property and leave packages, but does this man care? Not a bit. He commonly opens the door, drops the goods, and signs for it. It’s too time-consuming to return to certain houses just to see if the people are home. Upon entering, he admires the antique look of the house. Looking for some sign of life, he tours around. There is a feeling in the back of his head that maybe the old man that lived here might be sitting dead in a chair.

Mr. UPS locates the den and manages to find the old man, sitting alone in a rocking chair. The inclinations of his dead jumped out the window as the old man spoke. However, apart from the normal conversation that begins, the man starts speaking in riddles. As a younger man, the mail-carrier figures this as something old guys do to have some fun with kids. So, he plays along. Upon getting the answer completely wrong, this is when the fun begins. Soon enough, the two are starting to actually get intellectual. Every major question becomes fair game.

Of course, not everything they talk about is proven. Scott Adams has studied in great length the things he talks about. The topics of science and philosophy greatly interested him in school. In a bout of curiosity, he went online to read the work of crackpots and people with insane theories. Comparing the work of world-renowned geniuses and crackpots, he couldn’t tell the difference. Everything they wrote was very convincing, and if someone knew nothing on the topic, they could read the work of crackpots and be completely convinced that it was true.

This brought on God’s Debris. The book takes all the big questions, and looks for the simplest answer. This, in turn, makes everything sound believable. The trick of the book is figuring out which parts are conceivably true, and which parts are decidedly wrong. It also works as a message, that we as human beings really don’t know anything. It becomes hilarious at times, some of the things he says in the book, such as how scientists make up words for things they don’t understand, just to fill the gap. And eventually, these made up words combine with other made up words, to create entirely new theories about stuff that never really existed to begin with. “Infinity” is one of these words.

Many big-name scientists have declared the book as brilliant, which is funny in itself. Those who dedicate their lives to a certain field will be able to pick up on the stuff that’s obviously wrong. Yet, they feel pretty brain-fried after such a read. This book demands you to think and come up with opinions. It demands you to rationalize your world. And then once you do, you’ll feel like the smartest man alive who really knows nothing.

Since the topics are taken in new directions and some of them can be controversial, there is a small warning in the beginning. It isn’t for young, impressionable minds, and it’s not for old, stubborn minds. Someone between 20 and 30 is supposed to be the target readers, but knowing that age is subjective to maturity, he doesn’t neglect to mention that it’s all about how old you feel. Religion is one topic that is thrown in a wildly new direction. A stone-hardened Christian of fifty years old probably wouldn’t be able to get through the book without taking something personally. Even though nothing in it is meant to be taken as a serious truth, those with unbendable opinions can’t stand something that questions them.

It’s not designed to offend at all. There is no swearing, sex, violence, or irresponsible views anywhere. This is something they’d probably assign to college students, just to see if they can take the mental workout. Quite a lot of discussions can come from it too. You’ll even be questioning the stuff you were taught in science class since birth. Not that it will change what you believe or think, it will just challenge you to “make sure” you know what you’re talking about.

It’s a thinking-person’s buy. You buy it. You read it. You read it again X amount of times. The first time is the most exhilarating. Repeats resemble that of taking another spin on your favorite roller coaster. It’s short enough to go through again in an afternoon, and long enough to be satisfying. Some say the book is fiction. Some say it is non-fiction. Most bookstores just stick it Religion or Philosophy, since there’s no better place to put it. Adams contests that the book is fiction, since the characters and story aren’t real. The topics discussed may be non-fiction. Who’s to say?

The characters’ main topics start off with free will and probability. Then they get into some science. That moves on to brain function. Adding fuel to the fire, they question belief structure, and being able to discern genuine belief from delusion. That moves on to reincarnation, UFO’s, and God. As a first, they wonder what God might be thinking. What’s God’s motivation? If he is omnipotent, does he get bored? Would a God even be conscious? And even “Would God be suicidal?”

Then we get deeper. If humans have free will, does a penny? Does evolution seem correct? What makes a skeptic tick? ESP, curiosity, luck, willpower, relationships… they’re all here. How does light work? How does one achieve true happiness? How does it feel to know everything? Many readers may just get a taste of that, after reading such a book. Knowing everything makes you feel pretty interesting. False or not, everyone should be able to feel like a genius at some point.

And while I won’t give away the ending, I will say the main character is rewarded for having such a thought-provoking conversation with the old man. It’s neat how it comes right back around and plays on everything it has told you before. The more substantial the topic, the more fierce the characters become in elaborating on it. They connect things from earlier in the conversation to the current topic, and continually relate back and forth to form new theories. It’s like a couple of geniuses in constant debate.

I wouldn’t just call this a book. It’s just what the subtitle says; it is a thought experiment. Once I began reading, I felt unable to stop until I had finished every page. Scott Adams succeeded on every level to bring forth something that would seriously make any reader’s brain spin around in their head. And while the result does make you feel smarter, and playing the “find the fake” game with the theories presented is fun, the main point that comes across is that anything can sound true if shown to you correctly. This is a far cry from his Dilbert books, but the quality is still there. I’ve recommended this book to everyone I know. A certain pride can be taken when someone close to you can’t even comprehend such a rush of “knowledge”. When you aren’t mocking a friend for misunderstanding, you can have deep philosophical conversations with the ones that get it. Returning to a book randomly long after you read it and having that kind of mental octane coursing through your mind again makes the experience worth it another time.