Valis - Philip K. Dick

Dicking Around With a Cosmic Prankster

Advantages: Fast paced. Clearly written. Fairly short novel.
Disadvantages: None other than Dick is dead.

Hi. This is Steve. I am currently taking the reigns from Lori for a day or so. She wanted me to write an opinion on Philip K. Dick, and so here I am. Master of the Dystopian future landscape, (ala the movies, "BLADERUNNER" and "TOTAL RECALL" which were both based on Philip K. Dick stories) THE MAN WHO JAPED sees Philip K. Dick at his dark humoured best. Amongst the crowded urbanized landscape of a distant planet, in a now stellar wide commercial earth empire, THE MAN WHO JAPED sees the main protagonist cast as an almost Quizotic character tilting at the "windmills" of a sterile society that has taken politics of contemporary "gated communities" and set their petty restrictions in legislation. In a universe where, literally, personal space is a luxury that few can afford, apartments are now computer controlled to remodel ...

Coxecal 15.04.2003 · Read full review
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Review of The Man Who Japed - Philip K. Dick

Inside Dick's worldview

Advantages: Utterly readable and compelling
Disadvantages: You probably need to be interested in the author to enjoy it

This is a minority view, but in my opinion the posthumously published "Radio Free Albemuth" is Dick's best book. Although a first draft of the novel that eventually became "VALIS", this original version is very different, and to my mind preferable as it tells a more coherent story. The narrator is an sf writer called Philip K Dick. In the early seventies Dick underwent some experiences which he interpreted as religious. He became convinced he was being spoken to by God, but was unable to work out which God or why. "Radio Free Albemuth" was his first attempt to address these issues in a science fiction framework. He splits himself into two characters, Dick the writer and his friend Nicholas Brady, and pits them against the forces of darkness as personified by President Ferris F Freemont - a fictional version of Nixon. "Radio ...

NeilHudson 10.09.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Radio Free Albemuth - Philip K. Dick

Ubik Will Melt Open Your Mind

Advantages: Brilliant
Disadvantages: Outrageously Surreal, Complex

This book is an outstanding piece of surrealist science fiction unlike mostly anything else, ever. The language is terribly clever, but not unwieldy and certainly accessible. The characters are not terribly filled out, but that's really appropriate for Philip K. Dick's everyman style of writing. This reads something like "Death of a Salesman" if it were written by Sartre. It's one of my favorite books by Philip K. Dick, even if it's a little less directly applicable to my psychology and life than some of his other books. Actually, its very difficult to absorb the ideas Philip K. Dick puts into his stories, but they're super-saturated with oblique commentaries on the state of mankind and the human condition. I loaned this book out to my friends and family, and was surprised at how well-received it was among folk who don't read much ...

Dysaniak 21.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Ubik - Philip K. Dick