Major Themes
The central motif of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Many details may appear superfluous, but turn out to be integral to the plot (such as a sofa that Richard ordered which has somehow become trapped on his staircase in a position where it not only cannot be removed, but could not apparently have arrived in the first place; this is explained by the time machine having appeared in the staircase wall while the removal men were bringing it in, Dirk opening the door to help them get it up the stairs before the machine departed). Chaos theory, in its accessible form popularised by writers such as James Gleick, is therefore an appropriate context for this novel.
The novel's title mentions the idea of holism. There are quantum mechanics references as well; phenomena of non-locality, as in the EPR paradox, make appearances, and the concept of Schrödinger's Cat plays a part in helping Dirk determine Richard's mental state, Richard producing clear and rational arguments for why the experiment proposed in the theory cannot be carried out in reality.
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