The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul

      I spent a fair amount of time reading this book. That's not to suggest that I did not like it. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I'll be damned if I don't make at least one solid blog post out of it.

     As I mentioned, I really liked this book. It was "delightfully weird", to steal a thought from The Boston Sunday Herald's thoughts on this work. I thought that the zaniness and absurdity were great. In my opinion, it is hard to overdose on either of these things. The scene where Dirk steals the mechanic's tow truck in order to provide the man with an incentive to repair the detective's old Jaguar was one of my favorites. I also quite liked the image of an aggravated eagle instantaneously transforming into a fighter jet and exploding through the front door of house. Events like this, as preposterous as they may seem, are commonplace throughout the story.

      Once the reader has adjusted their mind to be more in line with the world Douglas Adams has created, the story is rather easy to follow. On a surface level, this book is about a family feud. Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, gets frustrated with an airline employee, so he does what any Thunder God would do. He forces the check in desk to spontaneously combust and turns the aforementioned employee into a Coke machine. This is all bad behavior, especially for a God. Thor's father Odin decides that Thor must be disciplined, and so he arranges for Thor to be glued to the floor. As one can imagine, Thor's pride is severely injured when he wakes to find that he not only passed out on the floor, but was also physically attached to it. Queue the feuding.

      The story was both fun and funny, but I do not think that that was what this book is really about. Recall how I mentioned that the family feud occurs on the surface level. Here's what I took away from Mr Adams' tale.

      Everything really is connected. Okay, so I don't think that a butterfly beating it's wings in Asia will effect the course of a hurricane in the Atlantic, but the idea of fundamental interconnectedness is more real than most people give it credit for. In fact, I would venture to say that it is much more real than most people give it credit for, as I do not think that most people give any credit to this idea at all. Here's an example. Humans are creatures of habit. The habits that I am forming in University, despite an apparent lack of empirical evidence, may very well have a dramatic effect on my future successes and failures. Here's to hoping that these blog posts are a good habit.

      "Think beyond the next pig." Of all the ideas in this book, this passage resonated most with me. The scene takes place in Valhalla. The gods have gathered and are feasting as they await Thor's arrival. Thor has called Odin for a public confrontation of some sorts, which is evidently a regular occurrence in the alternate dimension that these gods inhabit. Roasted pig is a main attraction at these events. 

      "It's no secret that the gods have fallen on hard times," said the old man grimly. "That's clear for all to see, even for the ones who only care about the pigs, which is most of 'em. And when you feel you're not needed any more it can be hard to think beyond the next pig, even if you used to have the whole world there with you."

      Hot damn, that is a good passage! In fact, it is so good, I'm going to just go ahead and say it. I will, at a later time, write an entire blog post about this scene and particular passage, and it will kick ass. Mark my words. There is just so much in this topic that is begging to be written about, especially as it relates towards our previous reading and writing assignments, architecture, and life as a whole. I can barely contain myself from writing about it now, but it's getting late, and more importantly, my laptop battery is getting low, and I seemed to have misplaced my charger (Langford Architecture Center, Geren Auditorium, balcony level, middle row, one seat from the left). Perhaps this is just a sign that I was meant to expand upon this idea later. Losing my laptop charger may prove to be an advantageous twist of fate, rather than a temporary inconvenience. Everything is connected.

      How and Why. Forget Who, What, Where and When. They aren't as important as How or Why. These are questions that Dirk Bently asks again and again, both of himself and the world around him. I don't think it is a coincidence that these seem to be every design studio professor's favorite questions. I think that they are the most important questions in the realm of architecture, and possibly the world as well. How and Why? They lie at the true center of knowledge and understanding, and we must continue to ask them.