Christine's Philosophical Journey to San Diego describes a young woman seeking understanding but also fleeing a troubled past. Guilt drives her from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to San Diego. There, she discovers love, death, and an old pier fisherman who philosophizes with a hammer made from religion, philosophy, science, and a lifetime of experience. He uses the hammer to shatter old ideas unable to withstand the test of rational scrutiny and to forge new ideas that can.