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Mr. Spaceship
A human brain-controlled spacecraft would mean mechanical perfection. This was accomplished, and something a strange entity called . . . Mr. Spaceship
25 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1953
156 people are currently reading
1053 people want to read
About the author
Philip K. Dick
2,008 books22.5k followersPhilip Kindred Dick was a prolific American science fiction author whose work has had a lasting impact on literature, cinema, and popular culture. Known for his imaginative narratives and profound philosophical themes, Dick explored the nature of reality, the boundaries of human identity, and the impact of technology and authoritarianism on society. His stories often blurred the line between the real and the artificial, challenging readers to question their perceptions and beliefs.
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
August 9, 2019
Seven years before the coining of the word "cyborg," eight years before the publication of Anne McCaffrey's short story "The Ship Who Sang," Philip K. Dick published "Mr. Spaceship" in the magazine Imagination (1953). It tells the story of how, during a war with the planet of the "Yuks", a people who use highly sophisticated life-forms as weapons, a research team headed by engineer Philip Kramer attempts to craft a spaceship capable of comparable subtlety and maneuverability, a spaceship united with a human brain. And the donor chosen to provide that brain? Kramer's kindly old mathematics professor Dr. Michael Thomas (who, it turns out, has some interesting ideas of his own).
This is a straightforward science fiction tale, with a sprinkling of romance fiction thrown in for good measure. It is far from Dick's weirdest, and a good way from his best, but it is also a thoroughly enjoyable professional entertainment.
July 7, 2020
“Perfect? Prediction should still be possible. A living thing still acts from necessity, the same as inanimate material. But the cause-effect chain is more subtle; there are more factors to be considered. The difference is quantitative, I think. The reaction of the living organism parallels natural causation, but with greater complexity.”
Sci-fi novella about humanization of the spaceship in order to achieve greater dominance in war. The main character convinces his old college professor to give his brain to create a ship's control system that would be more effective and deadly than machine control. In that process it is assumed that the human consciousness is lost outside of the body while only the ability to respond in a more complex way than the machine is preserved, which occurs to be incorrect. It really is a short story so it’s hard to say anything else about the plot without major spoilers, so warning for spoilers ahead. The main idea stands on the rationalistic premise that inside the human mind lies the totality of his being, not only logical reasoning, but supreme authority in matters of personality, belief, dreams, ideals.
Consciousness result of thinking. Necessary result. Cognito ergo sum. Retain conceptual ability.
State of being is the result of thinking, not the other way around. When a man thinks, he is. By maintaining his brain inside the artificial spaceship, the professor is still as alive as he has been in his organic body, he is not in any way changed. So the spaceship built for warfare is now controlled by the brain of a professor that is an anti-war activist. The critique of war and its futility and absurdity is intelligently incorporated into the story. Dick displays how the state of constant wars affects not only society but the reasoning of the individual.
But I’m going ahead and taking the chance that it is only a habit, that I’m right, that war is something we’re so accustomed to that we don’t realize it is a very unnatural thing.
The war in the story seems to be never-ending, but no one, except the professor, even remembers to question its meaning. It made me think about how discurs about the purpose of hostility to other nations are rarely present in society, as people inherit and absorb a certain way of thinking of the collective, without critically questioning it. It’s not so uncommon that the whole nation becomes obsessed with war, fusing not only with the idea of inevitably and necessity of war for perseverance, but also its metaphysic value.
The human society has evolved war as a cultural institution, like the science of astronomy, or mathematics. War is a part of our lives, a career, a respected vocation.
In highly technological society the professor maintains the ability independence of his thinking by clinging to everlasting, but forgotten values of art and simple pleasures of life.
But he was withdrawn, set apart. He lived very simply, cooking his own meals. His wife died many years ago. He was born in Europe, in Italy. He changed his name when he came to the United States. He used to read Dante and Milton. He even had a Bible.
Similar as in Stranger, the independent way of thinking and being in itself was a revolutionary act of freedom.
That way when a professor gets a hold on technology he uses it in a different way, to create a world and reality of existence in peace. His use of technology is determined with his worldview, as the purity and transcendence reflects in his way of using newly acclaimed power. In the process his unique way of thinking transforms his novel state of being, the combination of machine and human brain, into the God-like creature or at least similar as Biblical patriarchs with mystical revelations. The ending is arising of the new world after the flood reimagined.
This is a short work but Philip K.Dick astonished me with profundity and variance of philosophical topics he infused in the created sci-fi world. His writing has exactly everything I adore about sci-fi and makes me remember why I fell in love with the genre.
Sci-fi novella about humanization of the spaceship in order to achieve greater dominance in war. The main character convinces his old college professor to give his brain to create a ship's control system that would be more effective and deadly than machine control. In that process it is assumed that the human consciousness is lost outside of the body while only the ability to respond in a more complex way than the machine is preserved, which occurs to be incorrect. It really is a short story so it’s hard to say anything else about the plot without major spoilers, so warning for spoilers ahead. The main idea stands on the rationalistic premise that inside the human mind lies the totality of his being, not only logical reasoning, but supreme authority in matters of personality, belief, dreams, ideals.
Consciousness result of thinking. Necessary result. Cognito ergo sum. Retain conceptual ability.
State of being is the result of thinking, not the other way around. When a man thinks, he is. By maintaining his brain inside the artificial spaceship, the professor is still as alive as he has been in his organic body, he is not in any way changed. So the spaceship built for warfare is now controlled by the brain of a professor that is an anti-war activist. The critique of war and its futility and absurdity is intelligently incorporated into the story. Dick displays how the state of constant wars affects not only society but the reasoning of the individual.
But I’m going ahead and taking the chance that it is only a habit, that I’m right, that war is something we’re so accustomed to that we don’t realize it is a very unnatural thing.
The war in the story seems to be never-ending, but no one, except the professor, even remembers to question its meaning. It made me think about how discurs about the purpose of hostility to other nations are rarely present in society, as people inherit and absorb a certain way of thinking of the collective, without critically questioning it. It’s not so uncommon that the whole nation becomes obsessed with war, fusing not only with the idea of inevitably and necessity of war for perseverance, but also its metaphysic value.
The human society has evolved war as a cultural institution, like the science of astronomy, or mathematics. War is a part of our lives, a career, a respected vocation.
In highly technological society the professor maintains the ability independence of his thinking by clinging to everlasting, but forgotten values of art and simple pleasures of life.
But he was withdrawn, set apart. He lived very simply, cooking his own meals. His wife died many years ago. He was born in Europe, in Italy. He changed his name when he came to the United States. He used to read Dante and Milton. He even had a Bible.
Similar as in Stranger, the independent way of thinking and being in itself was a revolutionary act of freedom.
That way when a professor gets a hold on technology he uses it in a different way, to create a world and reality of existence in peace. His use of technology is determined with his worldview, as the purity and transcendence reflects in his way of using newly acclaimed power. In the process his unique way of thinking transforms his novel state of being, the combination of machine and human brain, into the God-like creature or at least similar as Biblical patriarchs with mystical revelations. The ending is arising of the new world after the flood reimagined.
This is a short work but Philip K.Dick astonished me with profundity and variance of philosophical topics he infused in the created sci-fi world. His writing has exactly everything I adore about sci-fi and makes me remember why I fell in love with the genre.
April 24, 2014
Philip K. Dick.
The Pluses:
-Tons of great ideas.
-Still mined for movies on the regular.
-One of the better beards.
The Minuses:
-Prose a little weak.
-Dialogue downright tough.
I drove to PKD's grave not that long ago. It's an hour, maybe 90 minutes from my house. I took my brother's car because my own car wouldn't make it. Or, even worse, would make it and then not make it back, leaving me stranded in eastern Colorado where I'd have to find a new life either farming or working at the Dairy Queen. THE Dairy Queen, mind you.
He's buried next to his twin sister who died about a month after birth. It took me a while to find the grave, exactly. It would seem that a lot of graveyards aren't really that well manned, and you can tell they eventually just start cramming in the dead by the way the roads and plots spiral around in a way that's clearly not thought out from the start. I had another graveyard experience once, and it confirmed some thoughts that the people who run the graveyard aren't exactly on top of things. Basically, some groundskeepers were explaining to me how much they liked flat grave markers because you could mow right over them instead of around, and how people get all pissed off when you scratch a headstone with a trimmer. They also explained that they hate when people leave shit because, well, they just have to throw it all away. So to them, the flowers or the teddy bears or whatever are no better than jamming a Butterfinger wrapper into the dirt in front of a grave.
Maybe it takes a certain kind of person to work at a graveyard.
PKD's grave had a stack of pens in front of it. I guess people leave a pen there, which I did too. When in Rome, do whatever the hell it is Romans do to graves, right?
Although I'm always ready to talk a little smack about his lines, the man had a shitload of pretty great ideas. And his prose didn't always blow me away, but he did get across some pretty wild ideas, so you have to give him some credit there.
There are quite a few 30 page Philip K. Dick Kindle books for free out there, and I recommend taking a look at one if you'd like to get an idea of what I'm talking about, or more importantly, what he was talking about.
And at times you'll see his endings coming. I'm thoroughly convinced that this is because the man has been so endlessly ripped off by the genre of sci-fi that it's hard to separate his work from the generalities that can show up in the genre.
The Pluses:
-Tons of great ideas.
-Still mined for movies on the regular.
-One of the better beards.
The Minuses:
-Prose a little weak.
-Dialogue downright tough.
I drove to PKD's grave not that long ago. It's an hour, maybe 90 minutes from my house. I took my brother's car because my own car wouldn't make it. Or, even worse, would make it and then not make it back, leaving me stranded in eastern Colorado where I'd have to find a new life either farming or working at the Dairy Queen. THE Dairy Queen, mind you.
He's buried next to his twin sister who died about a month after birth. It took me a while to find the grave, exactly. It would seem that a lot of graveyards aren't really that well manned, and you can tell they eventually just start cramming in the dead by the way the roads and plots spiral around in a way that's clearly not thought out from the start. I had another graveyard experience once, and it confirmed some thoughts that the people who run the graveyard aren't exactly on top of things. Basically, some groundskeepers were explaining to me how much they liked flat grave markers because you could mow right over them instead of around, and how people get all pissed off when you scratch a headstone with a trimmer. They also explained that they hate when people leave shit because, well, they just have to throw it all away. So to them, the flowers or the teddy bears or whatever are no better than jamming a Butterfinger wrapper into the dirt in front of a grave.
Maybe it takes a certain kind of person to work at a graveyard.
PKD's grave had a stack of pens in front of it. I guess people leave a pen there, which I did too. When in Rome, do whatever the hell it is Romans do to graves, right?
Although I'm always ready to talk a little smack about his lines, the man had a shitload of pretty great ideas. And his prose didn't always blow me away, but he did get across some pretty wild ideas, so you have to give him some credit there.
There are quite a few 30 page Philip K. Dick Kindle books for free out there, and I recommend taking a look at one if you'd like to get an idea of what I'm talking about, or more importantly, what he was talking about.
And at times you'll see his endings coming. I'm thoroughly convinced that this is because the man has been so endlessly ripped off by the genre of sci-fi that it's hard to separate his work from the generalities that can show up in the genre.
January 2, 2020
If this concept, i.e. a human intelligence merged into a space ship, didn't serve as the inspiration for We Are Legion / The Bobiverse series, then I'm a monkey's uncle.
April 11, 2018
• 5 ⭐️ Honestly didn’t know what to expect when I started reading but man was I NOT disappointed! My second Philip K. Dick short story and I think I’m gonna keep reading him. It’s a quick read and I highly recommend it for fans of sci-fi and it’s easy enough to understand for non-sci-fi readers as well. Don’t miss it! •
April 28, 2012
This is one of those stories that is written in such a way that, although it seems simple, it captures your imagination right away. Not a lot of detail or description is necessary, because you fill them in yourself as you read; a sign that the storyteller is a true master.
The setting is an undetermined point in the future. Earth has made contact with aliens on a planet orbiting the nearby Proxima Centauri. However, these aliens are not friendly, and mankind is soon at war. We find we are at a disadvantage, as these aliens are much more advanced. They employ weapons which seem to be alive; ships and mines which decide when to attack, or to act spontaneously and without obvious pattern, which confuses our robot controlled vessels.
An idea is hatched to connect a human brain to a spaceship, so that we would be on some sort of equal footing with our enemy. Though experimental, a donor is found, and the experiment proves successful. Until, that is, the brain-controlled spaceship proves that it still has a mind of its own, and it's goals aren't exactly in harmony with Earth's.
This is a quick read, but a thoroughly enjoyable story with rich characters.
The setting is an undetermined point in the future. Earth has made contact with aliens on a planet orbiting the nearby Proxima Centauri. However, these aliens are not friendly, and mankind is soon at war. We find we are at a disadvantage, as these aliens are much more advanced. They employ weapons which seem to be alive; ships and mines which decide when to attack, or to act spontaneously and without obvious pattern, which confuses our robot controlled vessels.
An idea is hatched to connect a human brain to a spaceship, so that we would be on some sort of equal footing with our enemy. Though experimental, a donor is found, and the experiment proves successful. Until, that is, the brain-controlled spaceship proves that it still has a mind of its own, and it's goals aren't exactly in harmony with Earth's.
This is a quick read, but a thoroughly enjoyable story with rich characters.
February 14, 2022
Ah cheeze. I sincerely hope this is a very early work, since the writing was poor, the progress was sketchy, and the overall idea was "cute" but not at all original. And the very very end - "How romantic!" - kinda made me gag.
December 28, 2019
The short story holds a special place for me in that it includes a tenderness that is often sensed but rarely freed in his stories. The plot is brilliant and the characters rise to meet it.
November 14, 2017
A theory of war with some creative twists.
July 3, 2017
Brain Teaser
Mr. Spaceship sounds like an avuncular enough title, but this short story, which was published in 1953 in the magazine “Imagination” – a title that does full justice to Philip K. Dick – is very unsettling and probably one of the first to feature the idea of cyborgs, i.e. hybridizing man and machine.
The inhabitants of Terra, i.e. we, are, once again, at war, this time with a species of extraterrestrials called the Yuk. Now, the Yuk are a culture in which technological progress is not based on machinery, but on employing living organisms in new ways, and so the minefield our shapeships are meant to cross consists of living creatures, which make very intelligent mines, able to get the better of – and give the worst to – any Terran spacecraft by anticipating its moves. Our side counters by building a new spaceship that is steered by a human brain, and the brain that was chosen was that of a professor of mathematics who once taught our protagonist Kramer. The professor, mentally fit as a fiddle, but on the verge of death due to old age, readily complied with allowing them to use his brain under condition that they give him unlimited access to all its control systems, which they – bent on vanquishing the Yuk – do. What they create this way, getting more than they originally bargained for, is a super-intelligent starship, pursuing its own agenda – and kidnapping Kramer and his ex-wife in the process – and the proof that after all it will be the human brain that asserts its superiority over the machine by dominating and exploiting it, and not the other way around.
Like The Defenders, Mr. Spaceship starts with a breath-taking idea, but did not convince me completely with regard to its underlying message.
Mr. Spaceship sounds like an avuncular enough title, but this short story, which was published in 1953 in the magazine “Imagination” – a title that does full justice to Philip K. Dick – is very unsettling and probably one of the first to feature the idea of cyborgs, i.e. hybridizing man and machine.
The inhabitants of Terra, i.e. we, are, once again, at war, this time with a species of extraterrestrials called the Yuk. Now, the Yuk are a culture in which technological progress is not based on machinery, but on employing living organisms in new ways, and so the minefield our shapeships are meant to cross consists of living creatures, which make very intelligent mines, able to get the better of – and give the worst to – any Terran spacecraft by anticipating its moves. Our side counters by building a new spaceship that is steered by a human brain, and the brain that was chosen was that of a professor of mathematics who once taught our protagonist Kramer. The professor, mentally fit as a fiddle, but on the verge of death due to old age, readily complied with allowing them to use his brain under condition that they give him unlimited access to all its control systems, which they – bent on vanquishing the Yuk – do. What they create this way, getting more than they originally bargained for, is a super-intelligent starship, pursuing its own agenda – and kidnapping Kramer and his ex-wife in the process – and the proof that after all it will be the human brain that asserts its superiority over the machine by dominating and exploiting it, and not the other way around.
Like The Defenders, Mr. Spaceship starts with a breath-taking idea, but did not convince me completely with regard to its underlying message.
May 15, 2022
Interesting idea, as so often with Mr. Dick, just not very well executed. Not his best short story.
January 1, 2012
"Open the pod bay door, Hal."
"I can't do that Dave."
Kinda like that, but kinda not. OK, not very much at all, just one scene reminded me of 2001.
Interesting, but (probably due space limitations; ha, get it? I made a pun), a bit of a weak ending. Readable, with a modicum of the PKD wit to boot.
"I can't do that Dave."
Kinda like that, but kinda not. OK, not very much at all, just one scene reminded me of 2001.
Interesting, but (probably due space limitations; ha, get it? I made a pun), a bit of a weak ending. Readable, with a modicum of the PKD wit to boot.
January 9, 2013
Seemed it was written by a teenager. Thin plot, poor conversations. Important decisions of war are made in spur of the moment.
Read
March 11, 2014Creates a powerful and emotive image in the mind, but is spoiled by a forced final act. A book which might have been better without explanation.
April 3, 2014
The writing is so bad that I cannot finish this. Reads like something thrown together by a disinterested high school student for English class.
May 25, 2020
This felt like I went through a time warp back to the days of good old fashioned classic science fiction (before it became sci-fi). Mr. Spaceship by Philip K. Dick (one of my favorite sci-fi authors whose works have often been into movies you've likely seen: Minority Report; Total Recall; Blade Runner; The Adjustment Bureau to name but a few) took me back to those days when a just-believable concept meets a plot that leads you into another world. In this book, of course set in the future, the Earth is being isolated by strange robotic controlled spaceships. Scientists have come up with a wild idea making use of the speed and reaction time of a human brain compared to that of robots. From this came the logical conclusion: implant a human brain inside of a spaceship connected to all the control systems and send it out to confront the enemy fleet! The scientists found an old professor and explained their plan to him and surprisingly he agreed. After the transplant, the scientists brought the spaceship to life and proceeded to do checks and then a test flight. But just when everything appeared to be going to plan, things began to unravel, as usually happens in classic sci-fi and the scientists had to try to regain control. Well-written as expected with most of the books by this author. Fans of classic sci-fi will definitely like this and non-fans may just become fans.
August 2, 2018
A touching story that rings as true today as it ever has. I’d love to study this through the lens of the self & other, and especially through disability & embodiment.
It’s allusion to the relationship between all of humanity and all Being at large, and the intimate, interpersonal relationships in our lives is really brilliant — although to call it “ahead of its time” is to do PKD’s forward-thinkingness a disservice, as it was also a product of its era.
It’s allusion to the relationship between all of humanity and all Being at large, and the intimate, interpersonal relationships in our lives is really brilliant — although to call it “ahead of its time” is to do PKD’s forward-thinkingness a disservice, as it was also a product of its era.
June 17, 2021
This short novel was quite a surprise! The story goes through several changes as it advances and dominates each one with great attention and a lovely rhythm.
This is science fiction at it's best! If you are looking for a way into the genre, this is IT! Absolutely fantastic!
This is science fiction at it's best! If you are looking for a way into the genre, this is IT! Absolutely fantastic!
December 1, 2022
I actually liked this a lot. Was going to give it 4 stars initially, but the ending was beyond cheesy, and I just couldn’t deal with it.
July 3, 2020
This is my first time reading Philip K. Rock's work and I picked a good one. Is new start for man without the habit of war possible? That's left for the reader to decide.
May 7, 2019
Another Philip K Dick story from the 1950s. This one falls squarely in the pop SciFi of the magaines of the times. The science is so bad it's hilarious. What was a lot more fun was all the anachronisms from that time. Yes, we have spaceships that can travel to other systems in no time, but people don't have portable computers - they take paper files around. And the battle displays are clearly analog. It's definitely in that very old Asimovian storytelling style where the story is a bit of a mystery that the reader and protagonist have to solve. Of course, it's also incredibly a product of its time when it comes to women. The story ends with the protagonist's wife (who divorced him) essentially being kidnapped and forced to repopulate a planet with him. And, after a passionate kiss it's all good.
The story was a quick read, but not my favorite of the PKD short stories I've read.
Also, I've had this file for a while and so it's interesting to come across it after having just read Ancillary Justice.
The story was a quick read, but not my favorite of the PKD short stories I've read.
Also, I've had this file for a while and so it's interesting to come across it after having just read Ancillary Justice.
July 7, 2012
Earth is at the losing end of a war with an alien race, called Yuks, who are able traverse the universe without spaceships. To turn tides, Earth's military engineer Kramer devices a method of installing a human brain into a man made mechanical spaceship.
Professor Thomas, who is in the declining years of his life, volunteers to transplant his brain into the spaceship and to strike at the emeny. However, after brain transplant, Professor Thomas kidnaps Kramer and Kramer's ex-wife Dolores.
Instead of war, Professor Thomas decided a regenesis of the human race, with Kramer and Dolores cast as "Adam & Eve", on a far away planet would reevolve the human race sans the cultural proclivity to war.
Other than the ending of the story feeling a bit rushed and "cheesy", it is short and straight forward, and the story is a enjoyable read in-between longer novels.
My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)
http://shortbookreview.blogspot.com/2...
Professor Thomas, who is in the declining years of his life, volunteers to transplant his brain into the spaceship and to strike at the emeny. However, after brain transplant, Professor Thomas kidnaps Kramer and Kramer's ex-wife Dolores.
Instead of war, Professor Thomas decided a regenesis of the human race, with Kramer and Dolores cast as "Adam & Eve", on a far away planet would reevolve the human race sans the cultural proclivity to war.
Other than the ending of the story feeling a bit rushed and "cheesy", it is short and straight forward, and the story is a enjoyable read in-between longer novels.
My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)
http://shortbookreview.blogspot.com/2...
July 25, 2022
One of the things Dick usually does so well is explaining a Sci-Fi concept succinctly and plunging the reader into the action. Unfortunately, this one rolls to a slow and confusing start, although the fact that it takes so long to get going adds to the mystery, and by the halfway point I really wasn't sure where he was going with this. Compared to most SFF short stories where the twists are obvious, that made it intriguing. Unfortunately, the twist at the end of this one is very same old, same old. Not Dick's best, but there are worse ways to kill an hour.
June 21, 2012
One of Dick's short stories, Mr. Spaceship is a fitting account of the idea of merging man and machine, which has subsequently reoccurred in various science fiction pieces. In this case, it is an observation about the extension of the human lifespan and the god-like status accorded to one in charge of significant technology. Lots of interesting themes but the ending is a little underdeveloped
June 26, 2017
An entertaining little piece, but I give this one only three stars because the interior logic of the story just doesn't track for me. The lead suggests a particular old man for an experiment because he remembers him well. But later, when thongs go awry, he states he didn't really remember that much about the old man. It just didn't make sense to me. Still an enjoyable read and while the ending may seem predictable today, it was far from such when first published.
December 8, 2015
Very nice short story, well paced and dealing with interesting themes, but the ending kinda threw me off. I didn't expect PKD to pull the cheesy card on us, but he did! While I would have prefered a more ambiguous and thought provoking conclusion to the story, being totally surprised was refreshing. Yay for happy endings and second chances... I guess!
November 24, 2016
Siempre me pasa lo mismo con este autor: presenta grandes ideas, pero la ejecución final me deja completamente fría, como si se le hubiera ido de las manos... De todos modos sigo leyendo obras suyas únicamente por sus ideas.
October 9, 2011
It's a good story, but the ending is weak. I get the metaphorical context, but I just didn't find it satisfying.
November 13, 2013
Loved it up until the end.
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