God's Debris: A Thought Experiment (Re-read)

Book #28 in 2009

God's Debris

by Scott Adams

"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."

July 23rd (about 12:30 AM to about 8:10 PM) - 1 day - 132 pages

88 books read total (re-reads, audiobooks, etc. (since 2007))

The Religion War

Book #60
Book #2 in 2009

The Religion War
by Scott Adams

"In the year 2007, a brilliant and charismatic leader named al-Zee began his rise to power in the Palestinian territories. He was the architect of the Twenty-Year Plan for eliminating Israel, the success of which started a domino effect in the Middle East, as one Arab dictatorship after another fell, and their territories rolled into the Great Caliphate. Al-Zee's subjects, heady from an unbroken string of victories, demanded the spread of Islam to the rest of the world. Al-Zee understood that this was neither practical nor desirable, but to satisfy the appetite of his people he began an unending war of minor terror against the Christian-dominated world. The attacks were calculated to be large enough to look like progress, yet small enough to avoid provoking all-out war. Publicly he blamed renegade groups for the attacks.The Christian-dominated countries knew al-Zee was behind the bombings, but they depended on him for their oil, and wanted to avoid a larger war that would cripple their economies, and in all likelihood increase the number of bombings.

Terror weapons improved dramatically during al-Zee's rule. Anyone with a few hundred dollars could buy a satellite-guided model airplane capable of flying a hundred miles to deliver explosives to a precise target.Terrorists no longer needed to commit suicide, so the pool of volunteers was unlimited. Al-Zee was careful to avoid killing anyone important or destroying anything irreplaceable. It was a difficult balancing act, trying to wage small- scale war without provoking total war.The strategy worked, until 2040, when General Horatio Cruz came to power in the Christian Alliance. "

January 11th to Januray 14th - 3 days - 179 pages

God's Debris: A Thought Experiment

Book #56

God's Debris
by Scott Adams

"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."

November 13th to November 14th - 1 1/2 days - 132 pages