Love in the Ruins — Walker Percy

Dr. Tom More has created a miraculous instrument -- the Ontological Lapsometer, a kind of stethoscope of the human spirit. With it, he plans to cure mankind's spiritual flu. Though scorned by the experts, Tom embarks on an outrageous odyssey to prove himself. Attempting to save the world from destruction, Tom ultimately begins to understand what he can never really know -- the quality and caprices of life and the uncontrollable vagaries of time and chance.