Arrgh maties. I'm hijacking this thread, with its perfectly good title.
I can't remember the title (nor author) of a novel that I had read in something like the mid-'80s. One scene I do recall is that the protagonist goes into a church or shrine of some sort in a not-too-distant-future urban setting. He goes in and builds a chair (or some such common piece of furniture) out of wood using ordinary hand tools (supplied by the church/shrine). Just before he leaves the shrine, he destroys the chair and throws it on the scrap heap with the other demolished carpentry projects. That's what they do there. Build a project, and then destroy it, as some sort of Zen meditative activity. Our hero emerges with the solution, or is filled with resolve, or something that gets the narrative going again.
It might be by Philip K. Dick, or possibly John Brunner. I was thinking it might be Ubik, since that is around when I read that novel, but I've lost my copy. It might also have been one work in a compilation of short stories by a single author.
Does it sound familiar?
« Last Edit: March 24, 2008, 06:14:57 PM by Planish »
I feed The Pod.
("planish" rhymes with "vanish")
