Rating: 
Summary: A Beautiful Thought Experiment
Review: Deep and Captivating. I was very impressed by this book. 5 stars to Scott Adams. This "experiment" was a true success. I have passed this book on to many friends. Great conversation material. Once again: Outstanding book!
Rating: 
Summary: Alright, but not a thought experiment.
Review: I felt that this book was a great idea when I read the synopsis inside the cover (I also noticed the reviews on the back were not credited to anyone; a little odd) and it was a good story but not what I had expected. I would agree that it was an average book but not worth the price. Buy a used copy or borrow it from someone. Some of the information contained in the work was also inaccurate. However, I believe in the begining of the book he stated some of it will be wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: Probability is life?
Review: Interesting, challenging, amusing because it's a short, contemporary read. I'd have preferred to have borrowed rather than purchased it; it isn't something that will have a lasting place on my bookshelf. "Life's a probability" sums up part of it. But, it has value in challenging a modern reader to ask themselves why they see the world and life the way they do; do we really believe what we say. The product, I'd guess, of a deep cynic. About an hour to read - and by the way, if you thought "Who Moved My Cheese" was a great book you want to recommend to friends, you'll hate this.
Rating: 
Summary: Scott Adams showcases his self-infatuation
Review: After buying and reading this book with high expectations based on the reviews here and those that I read, I am shocked that Scott Adams would even think to say that the 'philosophy' in this book would make anyone's head spin around. It's just a silly book. It wasn't challenging, there were no really new ideas expressed in it. It was a thorough, resounding disappointment. Scott Adams really should stick to what he's good at - Dilbert. Additionally - I was absolutely nonplussed at the audacity of the reviews that were put on the jacket cover. They weren't attributed to anyone, and after having read the book, I'm convinced he wrote them himself or his mom and dad and wife wrote them.
Rating:
Summary: B+ for effort, C- for content
Review: This book consists of a number of semi-Socratic dialogues between the narrator and a wise old man who purports to carry the secrets of the Universe. (This has been a popular form since the days of Socrates himself, and in fact a structurally similar, and absolutely dreadful, book about a dialogue between a man and a gorilla was a best seller in recent years.) Adams' wise old man presents the narroator with a number of arguments that baffle the narrator but (unfortunately for Adams) are mostly old arguments with simple refutations. Every imaginative college student who has completed a course in intro philosophy has found his or her thoughts turned to the sort of fantasy Adams has written, but not everyone has enough pull with a publisher to actually get it published. Adams has written an imaginative little story that would have been much better if he's read a few more philosphy books and realized that his novel ideas weren't terribly novel at all. Still, those who have never read any philosophy might find this book interesting and perhaps it might even stimulate them to read a bit deeper than the author has. If you found this book interesting- or "life changing", as some have intimated, I suggest you move on to a few more challanging books by authors whose education in philosophy goes beyond a few intro classes. As good a place as any to start might be Alain de Boton's "The Consolations of Philosophy".
Rating:
Summary: This book is probably stupid.
Review: I wanted to like this, I really did. I enjoy Dilbert, and I enjoy "thought experiments" that force me to think differently. However, as one of those said experiments, this book is a dismal failure. Its basic tenets are so ridiculous that it ceases to cultivate critical thought as it unravels them, and instead becomes an exercise in semantics and outright silliness. Probability, which is nothing more than a mathematical tool of sorts, necessitated by our own limits of perception, is in fact supposedly one of two main components of the universe. We're all the other component, and we're basically all pieces of a God who blew himself up because he was bored. Gravity supposedly also doesn't exist as a force and things don't "move", merely appear and disappear from one spot to another...so it is merely that the "probability" of you appearing successively closer to the Earth after jumping off a mountain is higher than "appearing" on Jupiter or something. And things don't "collide", they merely change their probability, so billiard players are not really careening balls off one another, merely altering their "probability" to appear closer (and eventually into) the table pockets. When you're running, you simply increase the probability that you'll appear further in that direction, instead of somewhere in Zimbabwe, and when you're sitting down reading this book, you merely are increasing the probability that you will keep appearing in your seat getting increasingly disappointed and bored instead of suddenly finding yourself appearing as some octopus in the Atlantic. Now if this kind of goofy, incredibly contrived "wisdom" is your idea of deep thinking, then knock yourself out...this book'll be a smorgasbord. Otherwise, decrease the probability that you'll buy/read it, and your probability of satisfaction (not to mention saved money and time) will increase drastically.
Rating:
Summary: Might better be titled "Thought Debris"
Review: This little volume is a surprisingly engaging read. It offers vingettes of everything from cosmology to classic philosophy of religion. Not that there is much in the way of analysis into the issues but it will hopefully stimulate some into further reading. Lets see, we've got biochemistry, math, quantum stuff, mind-body dualism, and, oh, yes, the age old Augustinian issue of free will versus hard determinism. If God knows everything ahead of time how can we be free? A very formal and compartmentalized philosophy that has plenty of logical solutions if Adams would only take the time. The science involved is highly controversial to say the least. The angle regarding evolution is appreciated because it illustrates, as Ken Wilber cogently describes in "A Brief History of Everything" the utter ludicrousness of neo-Darwinian dogma. Only problem is, this view is equally bad, as is Wilbers. Everybody wants hopeful monsters. Another issue is the assertion that probability is a power. It is nothing - only a description of interpreting phenomena. If you want that which is probable, then nothing should exist in the universe in the first place. We see the exercise of Pure Faith that matter can turn into consciousness, a la Anthropic Principle or mother goddess universe or whatever. The mystics of our age embrace this impossible state of affairs with open arms and a defiance of western secularized indications that all there is is a purposeless accident. The science is sure to change over time, but a personal God who is responsible will continue to be the only sensible way to account for order and energy and minds and most especially, wills. That thing in each human being that asserts or denies according to his liking how things are. Or should be. Or will be. The volitional will, my friend, has a source outside of your chemistry. Disagree and you are only asserting your will! Yea, yea, too simplistic you say? Lets see if and when Adams with his red plaid blanket becomes one with the ALL and has achieved avatar status, that the next book he writes will show a true reckoning in his playful world of thoughts.
Rating:
Summary: Don't read this in your cubicle
Review: I must admit I was intrigued by the original premise of this book, a delivery person whose everyday assumptions are unexpectedly challenged by a mysterious sage. Unfortunately, the book loses all credibility as serious thought experiment when one reads the section on evolution. There is a lot that could be said about the specifics in this section, but the core of the problem lies in the know-it-all sage's (Avatar) misconception that evolution bumps along on a basis of improbable mutations and sudden appearances of fully formed, new species. In the introduction the author Adams declares, "The central character (Avatar) states a number of scientific "facts." Some of his weirdest statements are consistent with what scientists generally believe. Some of what he says is creative baloney designed to sound true." I wondered briefly if Avatar's statements about evolution fit either of these categories but I don't think so. I believe that they are Adams' own naive view of evolution. This view, that evolution is driven by sudden, gross mutations, is common among those who have only a superficial acquaintance with evolution but most who fit this category would not attempt to explain it in a public forum.
Rating: 
Summary: What others are saying
Review: I have read over half this book now and must say it's very good. I am upset about some of the negative reviews. It seems to me they open the book to a random page read that page and wrote their review. One person complained about how probability was perceived. If this person would have read on, the book was saying the same thing he was. A lot of people are saying this book in nonsense that should not be followed. Scott Adams says in the preface that this is only to give your mind something to think about and not to be taken seriously. Too many people are thinking Adams was trying to be the founder of a new religion with this book. That's not what this book is about. He wasn't trying to answer any questions about life. I would recommend this book to any one who likes to think about those unanswerable questions, and paradoxes.
Also I you did not already know this is not a humor book. It has nothing to do with Dilbert.
Rating:
Summary: There are lot's of Flaws
Review: Don't waste your money. Don't waste your time.
I couldn't get pass the page where Mr. Avatar says "probability" is a major force driving the universe. As any mathematician can tell you there is no such thing as probability. Probability Theory is merely a tool to help our limited understanding of complex phenomena.
If there is something of value within these pages it is probably the urge to ask Big Questions; something you can get almost everywhere else. Reading Asimov's fiction or any philosophy book would be better.
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