God's Debris

The central character, according to the introduction, knows "everything. Literally everything." Adams, whose knowledge is as incomplete as the next person, got around this by using the aforementioned "simplest explanation" for each concept raised in the book because, while "in this complicated world the simplest explanation is usually dead wrong", a more simple explanation often sounds more right and more convincing than anything complex.

This character, the Avatar, defines God as primordial matter (like quarks and leptons) and the law of probability. He offers recommendations on everything from an alternative theory for planetary motion to successful recipes for relationships under his system. He proposes that God is currently reassembling himself through the continuing formation of a collective intelligence in the form of the human race, modern examples of which include the development of the internet; this is related to the idea of the Omega Point.

However, in the introduction, Adams describes God's Debris as a thought experiment, challenging readers to differentiate its scientifically accepted theories from "creative baloney designed to sound true," and to "Try to figure out what's wrong with the simplest explanation."[2]

The book subscribes to the Lakoffian point of view, in that the mind is viewed as a "delusion generator" rather than a window to true understanding. As George Lakoff said: "Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature."

The particular philosophy espoused has been identified as a form of pandeism, the concept that a god created the universe by becoming the universe.[3]

Given Adams' fame as the author of the Dilbert comics, publishers were wary of publishing any book by Adams without Dilbert content. The book was therefore released initially as an e-book (with comparatively small "publishing" costs). Based on its rapid success, however, it was also quickly released in hard-cover format. The book can be found on-line (see external links below).

• The Religion War, the follow-up to God's Debris
• Brahman
• Advaita Vedanta
• The Footprints of God, novel written by author Greg Iles.
• Eureka: A Prose Poem, work by Edgar Allan Poe.
• The Last Question, short story by author Isaac Asimov.
• God becomes the Universe

• Information at Andrews McMeel Publishing
• Non-free online copy of the book from the publisher (might have been free in the past)