Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart


I am not sure what to think of this book. On the one hand, the premise is fascinating: in an attempt to deconstruct the human personality, and create a totally random person, a psychiatrist decides to base his life decisions on chance by throwing dice, and then following – without exception – the orders that the dice dictates. On the other hand, the character (and author?) is such a selfish, self-obsessed asshole, that his clever insights seem like mere parlour tricks rather than scientific insight.
So we are faced with this question: If a potential genius is, at the end of the day, an insufferable jerk, does that still make him a genius, or can we ignore his "wisdom" on the grounds that his experiment is not a path to knowledge, but rather an excuse to forego all responsibility? Not sure what the answer is, but this question fills the pages of this book.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars