God's Debris

[skip]

Anybody read this before?

http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/godsdebris/

Looks interesting. I'm still in the midsts of reading this.

Here's an excerpt from the book:

He continued, "Let me ask you a simple question: Did you deliver the package or did the package deliver you?"
...
"I delivered the package," I answered. That seemed obvious enough.
"If the package had no address, would you have delivered it here?"
I said no.
"Then you would agree that delivering the package required the participation of the package. The package told you where to go."
"I suppose that's true, in a way. But it's the least important part of the delivery. I did the driving and lifting and moving. That's the important part."
"How can one part be more important if each part is completely necessary?" he asked.
"Look," I said, "I'm holding the package and I'm walking with it. That's delivering. I'm delivering the package. That's what I do. I'm a package-delivery guy."
"That's one way to look at it. Another way is that both you and the package got here at the same time. And that both of you were necessary. I say the package delivered you."

[MyndFyre]

My favorite quote:

Every generation of humans believed it had all the answers it needed, except for a few mysteries they assumed would be solved at any moment. And they all believed their ancestors were simplistic and deluded. What are the odds that you are the first generation of humans who will understand reality?

[Blaze]

Wow.

[Explicit]

The eBook was one of the best things I've read in awhile.  But then again, I don't read much...

[iago]

In that quote, I think that they're subtly trying to change the meaning of "deliver". 

Deliver means, "To bring or transport to the proper place".  I think it's obvious that the man is bringing the letter to the proper place.  If one is to argue that the letter is bringing the person to a particular place, then we have a problem with the word "deliver".  If a letter delivers a person while a person delivers a letter, than any use of the word "deliver" would have to be reciprocal.  A man delivers milk, and the milk brings the man there.  A man delivers a pizza, and the pizza delivers a man. 

I think that there is a dilemma where only two resolutions are possible:
a) the word "deliver" is always reciprocal
b) the word "deliver" is never recirpocal (and the quote is mistaken)

I prefer (b), myself, but I'd be interested in how the obvious third option can be arranged.

[MyndFyre]

@iago:

Pretty much at that point in the e-book (which you should definitely read, it's about 4 hours of amazing reading) he's setting you up for a very simply-put idea that every notion you've ever had is about to be challenged.  It may be silly but you'll be challenged nonetheless.

Whether the person delivered or was delivered is really ancillary.  It's just getting you in the mood for the rest.