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The Philip K. Dick Reader
Many thousands of readers consider Philip K. Dick the greatest science fiction mind on any planet. Since his untimely death in 1982, interest in Dick's works has continued to mount, and his reputation has been further enhanced by a growing body of critical attention. The Philip K. Dick Award is now given annually to a distinguished work of science fiction, and the Philip K. Dick Society is devoted to the study and promulgation of his works. Dick won the prestigious Hugo Award for the best novel of 1963 for The Man in the High Castle. In the last year of his life, the film Blade Runner was made from his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ?
This collection includes some of Dick's earliest short and medium-length fiction, including "We Can Remember it for You Wholesale" (the story that inspired the motion picture Total Recall), "Second Variety" (which inspired the motion picture Screamers), "Paychecks", "The Minority Report", and 21 more.
Content:
"Fair Game" (1959)
"The Hanging Stranger" (1953)
""The Eyes Have It"" (1953)
"The Golden Man" (1954)
"The Turning Wheel" (1954)
"The Last of the Masters" (1954)
"The Father-Thing" (1954)
"Strange Eden" (1954)
"Tony and the Beetles" (1954)
"Null-O" (1958)
"To Serve the Master" (1956)
"Exhibit Piece" (1954)
"The Crawlers" (1954)
"Sales Pitch" (1954)
"Shell Game" (1954)
"Upon the Dull Earth" (1954)
"Foster, You're Dead!" (1955)
"Pay for the Printer" (1956)
"War Veteran" (1955)
"The Chromium Fence" (1955)
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" (1966)
"The Minority Report" (1956)
"Paycheck" (1953)
"Second Variety" (1953)
This collection includes some of Dick's earliest short and medium-length fiction, including "We Can Remember it for You Wholesale" (the story that inspired the motion picture Total Recall), "Second Variety" (which inspired the motion picture Screamers), "Paychecks", "The Minority Report", and 21 more.
Content:
"Fair Game" (1959)
"The Hanging Stranger" (1953)
""The Eyes Have It"" (1953)
"The Golden Man" (1954)
"The Turning Wheel" (1954)
"The Last of the Masters" (1954)
"The Father-Thing" (1954)
"Strange Eden" (1954)
"Tony and the Beetles" (1954)
"Null-O" (1958)
"To Serve the Master" (1956)
"Exhibit Piece" (1954)
"The Crawlers" (1954)
"Sales Pitch" (1954)
"Shell Game" (1954)
"Upon the Dull Earth" (1954)
"Foster, You're Dead!" (1955)
"Pay for the Printer" (1956)
"War Veteran" (1955)
"The Chromium Fence" (1955)
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" (1966)
"The Minority Report" (1956)
"Paycheck" (1953)
"Second Variety" (1953)
422 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
214 people are currently reading
3101 people want to read
About the author
Philip K. Dick
2,006 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 215 reviews
August 25, 2011
This book made me into, well, a Philip K. Dick Reader. I knew the man's name by the movies he's responsible for, but I never looked into his works or researched him. For me, this was just a book by an author I've heard of that wound up in an armful of books I acquired at a Barnes & Noble. All of these short stories are fairly (dare I say) "normal", and well... they're scifi. Good scifi. The image I had in my mind of PKD after finishing this was worlds apart from what it became after I read my first novel of his, "Lies, Inc." (Yep. "Lies, Inc." was my first PKD novel.) You won't find the man's full-on reality bending here, but it definitely is hinted at. Overall, a fantastic place to start for those of you interested in Philip, and remains one of my favorites to this day.
NOW. Time to go over each bad-boy in this.
"Fair Game" (1959)
A story with a twist that reminded me of a cross between The Far Side and Goosebumps.
"The Hanging Stranger" (1953)
DARK. A predictable ending, but the imagery described in the beginning is unnerving.
"The Eyes Have It" (1953)
Every English class doing a unit on figurative language needs to assign this one. Brilliant, clever, funny, short.
"The Golden Man" (1954)
An odd story that I can't help but imagine taking place in the X-Men universe. If you imagine Nicolas Cage as the Golden Man, it's a lot better.
"The Turning Wheel" (1954)
An intelligent stab at L. Ron Hubbard and reincarnation/caste systems. Some creative predates to some themes in "The Man In The High Castle" can be found, and is enjoyable even if the main character is a bit of an ass.
"The Last of the Masters" (1954)
Quite primitive, and probably one of the few in the book worth skipping.
"The Father-Thing" (1954)
Laughably unrealistic children, and a plot I'm sure R.L. Stine would've loved. I can't tell if this is a parody or not. It turned out being a great success for the kids, for sure... if the ending turned out to be BLOODY MURDER, for one, that would be predictable, and two, a total mood killer. Sometimes it's nice to have little kids who are right, and win!
"Strange Eden" (1954)
An overall funny story, that reminds me of ancient mythology mixed with a spin on the general consensus about where human evolution will lead.
"Tony and the Beetles" (1954)
One of the best out of the book. I could imagine this being a scene of an scifi epic, or even a decent movie. A coming of age story... IN SPACE. It'd sell millions.
"Null-O" (1958)
Parody? It's hard to tell.
"To Serve the Master" (1956)
Standard sci-fi fare, with an ending not too incredibly hard to guess (not that I did).
"Exhibit Piece" (1954)
This is the most "Dickian" short story in this book. New readers, THIS is what you're getting into.
"The Crawlers" (1954)
A mildly disturbing premise with poor execution. Unintentionally funny for some of the images that are brought up in my mind... a certain Invader Zim episode involving babies comes to mind.
"Sales Pitch" (1954)
A thought-provoking piece of black humor about to what heights of intrusiveness advertising can climb to. I can see this happening, sadly. PKD didn't like the ending, but I thought it was genius.
"Shell Game" (1954)
Hm, pass. Doesn't really give me any burning desire to dive into "Clans of the Alphane Moon". Maybe I need to read it slower next time.
"Upon the Dull Earth" (1954)
This one stands out in Philip K. Dick's work. For one, it's quite clearly fantasy. Two, SCENERY IS ACTUALLY DESCRIBED. Zoinks. If it weren't for the ending, I would assume some mix-up occurred at the publishing house.
"Foster, You're Dead!" (1955)
This should be required reading somewhere. An extremely meaningful piece that goes over capitalism and coming of age (sort of), that I think of regularly, even if it is a bit anti-climactic
"Pay for the Printer" (1956)
All good scifi authors predicted future technology. This is PKD's turn, predicting 3D printers in 1956. Yowza.
"War Veteran" (1955)
A slow going but great read, with characters and a writing style very reminiscent of his novels.
"The Chromium Fence" (1955)
This is for me the best piece of satire PKD has ever wrote, this time about ambivalence and political radicalism. Although the ending is overly dark, this one has almost haunted me, and I think about it regularly.
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" (1966)
A lighthearted and comical story, that had to have at least some inspiration towards "Beautiful Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Knowing that Michael Gondry is making a Ubik adaption in 2012 (supposedly), I would not be surprised. It's quite obvious that this story was thrown into the book just so "Total Recall" could grace the book cover... it's eight years newer than any other story in the entire collection. Tsk tsk tsk.
"The Minority Report" (1956)
The great story behind the good movie. Why the movie didn't keep the original's ending I will never know.
"Paycheck" (1953)
For as action oriented as it is, I enjoyed it. It makes you learn to appreciate the random things you find in your pockets every now and then.
"Second Variety" (1953)
Predictable ending is predictable. The last couple sentences make up for it though.
NOW. Time to go over each bad-boy in this.
"Fair Game" (1959)
A story with a twist that reminded me of a cross between The Far Side and Goosebumps.
"The Hanging Stranger" (1953)
DARK. A predictable ending, but the imagery described in the beginning is unnerving.
"The Eyes Have It" (1953)
Every English class doing a unit on figurative language needs to assign this one. Brilliant, clever, funny, short.
"The Golden Man" (1954)
An odd story that I can't help but imagine taking place in the X-Men universe. If you imagine Nicolas Cage as the Golden Man, it's a lot better.
"The Turning Wheel" (1954)
An intelligent stab at L. Ron Hubbard and reincarnation/caste systems. Some creative predates to some themes in "The Man In The High Castle" can be found, and is enjoyable even if the main character is a bit of an ass.
"The Last of the Masters" (1954)
Quite primitive, and probably one of the few in the book worth skipping.
"The Father-Thing" (1954)
Laughably unrealistic children, and a plot I'm sure R.L. Stine would've loved. I can't tell if this is a parody or not. It turned out being a great success for the kids, for sure... if the ending turned out to be BLOODY MURDER, for one, that would be predictable, and two, a total mood killer. Sometimes it's nice to have little kids who are right, and win!
"Strange Eden" (1954)
An overall funny story, that reminds me of ancient mythology mixed with a spin on the general consensus about where human evolution will lead.
"Tony and the Beetles" (1954)
One of the best out of the book. I could imagine this being a scene of an scifi epic, or even a decent movie. A coming of age story... IN SPACE. It'd sell millions.
"Null-O" (1958)
Parody? It's hard to tell.
"To Serve the Master" (1956)
Standard sci-fi fare, with an ending not too incredibly hard to guess (not that I did).
"Exhibit Piece" (1954)
This is the most "Dickian" short story in this book. New readers, THIS is what you're getting into.
"The Crawlers" (1954)
A mildly disturbing premise with poor execution. Unintentionally funny for some of the images that are brought up in my mind... a certain Invader Zim episode involving babies comes to mind.
"Sales Pitch" (1954)
A thought-provoking piece of black humor about to what heights of intrusiveness advertising can climb to. I can see this happening, sadly. PKD didn't like the ending, but I thought it was genius.
"Shell Game" (1954)
Hm, pass. Doesn't really give me any burning desire to dive into "Clans of the Alphane Moon". Maybe I need to read it slower next time.
"Upon the Dull Earth" (1954)
This one stands out in Philip K. Dick's work. For one, it's quite clearly fantasy. Two, SCENERY IS ACTUALLY DESCRIBED. Zoinks. If it weren't for the ending, I would assume some mix-up occurred at the publishing house.
"Foster, You're Dead!" (1955)
This should be required reading somewhere. An extremely meaningful piece that goes over capitalism and coming of age (sort of), that I think of regularly, even if it is a bit anti-climactic
"Pay for the Printer" (1956)
All good scifi authors predicted future technology. This is PKD's turn, predicting 3D printers in 1956. Yowza.
"War Veteran" (1955)
A slow going but great read, with characters and a writing style very reminiscent of his novels.
"The Chromium Fence" (1955)
This is for me the best piece of satire PKD has ever wrote, this time about ambivalence and political radicalism. Although the ending is overly dark, this one has almost haunted me, and I think about it regularly.
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" (1966)
A lighthearted and comical story, that had to have at least some inspiration towards "Beautiful Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Knowing that Michael Gondry is making a Ubik adaption in 2012 (supposedly), I would not be surprised. It's quite obvious that this story was thrown into the book just so "Total Recall" could grace the book cover... it's eight years newer than any other story in the entire collection. Tsk tsk tsk.
"The Minority Report" (1956)
The great story behind the good movie. Why the movie didn't keep the original's ending I will never know.
"Paycheck" (1953)
For as action oriented as it is, I enjoyed it. It makes you learn to appreciate the random things you find in your pockets every now and then.
"Second Variety" (1953)
Predictable ending is predictable. The last couple sentences make up for it though.
April 20, 2012
If you could read my thoughts like the authorities in the short story “We Can Remember It for you Wholesale” in The Philip K. Dick Reader you know by now that I feel I've rated this “Reader” collection unfairly low. You'll know I don't feel quite comfortable judging the quality of this collection by the accuracy of its predictions, but you are also aware of my inability to overlook certain mainstays in Dick's collection. Hence my (for me) low rating.
I could easily overlook some failed predictions involving routine interplanetary travel or rapid evolution (or de-evolution) of the human species. However, how could someone prognosticate near-light speed travel, gobs of technological advances, and still have us using carbon paper?
OK, I may be nit-picking. However, another thing that bothered me about the majority of the stories was the “self-destruction is inevitable” theme. It may be – the jury is definitely still out - but each story really made me appreciate how far we've come from the days when Dick was writing the first of his stories, the early days of the bomb. I guess with pollution, over population, global warming, and ever present war somewhere on the planet perhaps I shouldn't be so optimistic or oblivious, but our present and our future don't feel as pervasively bleak as Dick predicted.
All the smoking! I know – that's how it was. I remember sitting in the office surrounded by smoking colleagues. I'm glad those days are over.
The biggest problem I had with Dick's stories was his offensive, demeaning, and belittling view of women. Topless secretaries who paint their breasts? Weak-minded women always one, two, or three mental and physical steps behind the man? My wife and daughter are two of the most intelligent people I know; my granddaughter is well on her way to being a strong, intelligent person some day. The world I see around me today is full of intelligent, witty, creative, compassionate, driven women. Envisioning a future where none of them would ever be recognized as such, would ever have opportunity, would ever be anything more than soundless, lifeless satellites orbiting any available planet, be it one teaming with vitality or just some echoing gas giant, is an affront to my wife, my daughter, my granddaughter, my friends, myself, humanity. I could think of no more dull earth. I guess that characterization of women is for me the bleakest of Dick's bleak predictions. Funny, his negative views of women were so ingrained in my mind by the time I got to the last story (“Second Variety”) and encountered a strong-willed, intelligent woman I immediately suspected a ruse.
Many of his ideas were intriguing, and many of the stories were amusing and thought-provoking, and perhaps I should have rated the book higher. I couldn't. I look at my granddaughter and I know his vision is wrong. Remember THAT for me – wholesale or retail or whatever – but remember it.
I could easily overlook some failed predictions involving routine interplanetary travel or rapid evolution (or de-evolution) of the human species. However, how could someone prognosticate near-light speed travel, gobs of technological advances, and still have us using carbon paper?
OK, I may be nit-picking. However, another thing that bothered me about the majority of the stories was the “self-destruction is inevitable” theme. It may be – the jury is definitely still out - but each story really made me appreciate how far we've come from the days when Dick was writing the first of his stories, the early days of the bomb. I guess with pollution, over population, global warming, and ever present war somewhere on the planet perhaps I shouldn't be so optimistic or oblivious, but our present and our future don't feel as pervasively bleak as Dick predicted.
All the smoking! I know – that's how it was. I remember sitting in the office surrounded by smoking colleagues. I'm glad those days are over.
The biggest problem I had with Dick's stories was his offensive, demeaning, and belittling view of women. Topless secretaries who paint their breasts? Weak-minded women always one, two, or three mental and physical steps behind the man? My wife and daughter are two of the most intelligent people I know; my granddaughter is well on her way to being a strong, intelligent person some day. The world I see around me today is full of intelligent, witty, creative, compassionate, driven women. Envisioning a future where none of them would ever be recognized as such, would ever have opportunity, would ever be anything more than soundless, lifeless satellites orbiting any available planet, be it one teaming with vitality or just some echoing gas giant, is an affront to my wife, my daughter, my granddaughter, my friends, myself, humanity. I could think of no more dull earth. I guess that characterization of women is for me the bleakest of Dick's bleak predictions. Funny, his negative views of women were so ingrained in my mind by the time I got to the last story (“Second Variety”) and encountered a strong-willed, intelligent woman I immediately suspected a ruse.
Many of his ideas were intriguing, and many of the stories were amusing and thought-provoking, and perhaps I should have rated the book higher. I couldn't. I look at my granddaughter and I know his vision is wrong. Remember THAT for me – wholesale or retail or whatever – but remember it.
February 8, 2009
I became intrigued with Philip K. Dick's work ever since I realized that a bunch of movies I enjoyed, namely Blade Runner, A Scanner Darkly, The Minority Report, and Paycheck, were all based on stories he wrote. So after picking up Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and loving that, I bought the Reader to get a better taste of his writing style.
Most of the stories here share a common theme of during or post Cold War tension. Usually there's a threat of impending nuclear war or the war has already happened (or in some cases, been averted). But usually everyone is sad about what's going on in life. Then there's the paranoia; in many stories someone thinks 'they're' out to get him. I think this bleak and paranoid outlook reflects on PKD and the times he was writing during, and they generally make for some suspenseful stories that you don't want to put down. The fact that the book is comprised of a bunch of short stories is great because you can read them at your leisure, but can usually get through one in an entire sitting.
Overall I enjoyed all of the stories and look forward to reading more of his work in the future.
On a side note, contained in this volume are the stories that inspired the movies The Minority Report, Paycheck, Total Recall, Screamers, and Next. I still have to see those last three at some point.
Most of the stories here share a common theme of during or post Cold War tension. Usually there's a threat of impending nuclear war or the war has already happened (or in some cases, been averted). But usually everyone is sad about what's going on in life. Then there's the paranoia; in many stories someone thinks 'they're' out to get him. I think this bleak and paranoid outlook reflects on PKD and the times he was writing during, and they generally make for some suspenseful stories that you don't want to put down. The fact that the book is comprised of a bunch of short stories is great because you can read them at your leisure, but can usually get through one in an entire sitting.
Overall I enjoyed all of the stories and look forward to reading more of his work in the future.
On a side note, contained in this volume are the stories that inspired the movies The Minority Report, Paycheck, Total Recall, Screamers, and Next. I still have to see those last three at some point.
August 12, 2016
I enjoy several short Dicks every bit as much as one long Dick.
August 5, 2012
I went and saw the new Collin Ferrell Total Recall film, and hadn't realized it was based on the short story: We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Phillip K. Dick.
Once I found that out, I looked Phillip up, and to my delight discovered other science fiction films I've loved were based off his stories too. I had started Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep months ago, which Blade Runner was based off of, and I just couldn't get through it. I didn't care for the main character, but I was told the story and the character strengthened as I got further in, so I plan to go back to it in the future. But now I know he also wrote The Minority Report (a short story) and a few others. I plan to read The Minority Report soon since I loved that movie as much as I adored both Total Recall films. (I put the review for the new Total Recall movie on my blog: crystalleeauthor.com under the book review)
I was able to download the PDF for just the short story, We Can Make Memories Wholesale, and I loved it. It was fascinating. It's a really short read, only about 20 pages long and finished it in a half of an hour.
This is what it did not contain: 3 breasted hooker, his wife attacking him and trying to kill him, a change of name and identity for him, him working as a double agent or being in lieu with rebels or a government official, plummeting massive elevators that go through the earth's core, no telephone in his hand (that about killed me, because I wrote something similar in one of my scifi romance stories I plan to publish in the near future), killer robots, a best friend or Melina.
Damn. That's the entire movie! Both of them!
Not really, because this is what it does include (SPOILERS AHEAD!):
Hidden identity uncovered when he goes to Rekal, Inc. to have a memory implant of Mars put in since he dreams of Mars continually and obsesses over that place. He's a simple clerk with a caustic wife that practically bitch slaps him every time he mentions his desire to go to Mars. At one point he asks her point blank if she's in on the conspiracy to erase his mind. He also inquires if they messed with her mind too. He discovers after awhile he was once a trained assassin and was on Mars by way of assignment for a whole month. Now, even though there was no 3 breasted hooker, there is a receptionist at Rekal that is always nude from the waist up and likes to paint her breasts odd colors. It was kind of comical, not sleazy, so it was kind of fun to read.
There are robot driven cabs where the robot speaks very formally and is always polite. He also discovers he has hidden items at home that he brought back from Mars. I will leave out why he is so important in regards to this Mars trip because I want to leave some element of surprise for anybody that hasn't read it yet. I was surprised by where that went, and even though I found it a little hokey, somehow it seemed to work for the story.
Phillip K. Dick is one strange puppy, but I enjoyed this story immensely, and he's obviously a genius in his own right. I am ordering the paperback copy of this so I can read The Minority Report and a few of his other short stories. Based on some reviews I read on Amazon on his books, it was said that in a lot of ways his short stories are actually better than his full length novels that tend to get convuluted in the plots and hard to read. The short stories get straight to the action and draw you in right away. So far I have to say I agree. I look forward to more of his short stories, and I can see why other people were able to make such great movies out of them--they're fascinating!
(I'll add more to this review later when I read Minority Report and a few of his other works)
Once I found that out, I looked Phillip up, and to my delight discovered other science fiction films I've loved were based off his stories too. I had started Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep months ago, which Blade Runner was based off of, and I just couldn't get through it. I didn't care for the main character, but I was told the story and the character strengthened as I got further in, so I plan to go back to it in the future. But now I know he also wrote The Minority Report (a short story) and a few others. I plan to read The Minority Report soon since I loved that movie as much as I adored both Total Recall films. (I put the review for the new Total Recall movie on my blog: crystalleeauthor.com under the book review)
I was able to download the PDF for just the short story, We Can Make Memories Wholesale, and I loved it. It was fascinating. It's a really short read, only about 20 pages long and finished it in a half of an hour.
This is what it did not contain: 3 breasted hooker, his wife attacking him and trying to kill him, a change of name and identity for him, him working as a double agent or being in lieu with rebels or a government official, plummeting massive elevators that go through the earth's core, no telephone in his hand (that about killed me, because I wrote something similar in one of my scifi romance stories I plan to publish in the near future), killer robots, a best friend or Melina.
Damn. That's the entire movie! Both of them!
Not really, because this is what it does include (SPOILERS AHEAD!):
Hidden identity uncovered when he goes to Rekal, Inc. to have a memory implant of Mars put in since he dreams of Mars continually and obsesses over that place. He's a simple clerk with a caustic wife that practically bitch slaps him every time he mentions his desire to go to Mars. At one point he asks her point blank if she's in on the conspiracy to erase his mind. He also inquires if they messed with her mind too. He discovers after awhile he was once a trained assassin and was on Mars by way of assignment for a whole month. Now, even though there was no 3 breasted hooker, there is a receptionist at Rekal that is always nude from the waist up and likes to paint her breasts odd colors. It was kind of comical, not sleazy, so it was kind of fun to read.
There are robot driven cabs where the robot speaks very formally and is always polite. He also discovers he has hidden items at home that he brought back from Mars. I will leave out why he is so important in regards to this Mars trip because I want to leave some element of surprise for anybody that hasn't read it yet. I was surprised by where that went, and even though I found it a little hokey, somehow it seemed to work for the story.
Phillip K. Dick is one strange puppy, but I enjoyed this story immensely, and he's obviously a genius in his own right. I am ordering the paperback copy of this so I can read The Minority Report and a few of his other short stories. Based on some reviews I read on Amazon on his books, it was said that in a lot of ways his short stories are actually better than his full length novels that tend to get convuluted in the plots and hard to read. The short stories get straight to the action and draw you in right away. So far I have to say I agree. I look forward to more of his short stories, and I can see why other people were able to make such great movies out of them--they're fascinating!
(I'll add more to this review later when I read Minority Report and a few of his other works)
March 10, 2008
I love, love, love Philip K. Dick. I am no avid science fiction reader, but I got a huge kick out of Philip K. Dick's world. My only complaint about this collection of short stories is that about halfway through the book you begin to be able to anticipate the twist, but the twist is always good, always satisfying.
April 28, 2013
One of the great tragedies of Philip K. Dick’s life is that he died shortly before Hollywood started pumping out adaptations of his work. This means that he has become far more popular posthumously than when he was alive. For most of his time as a sci-fi author, Philip K. Dick both lived to write and wrote to live. He was an incredibly prolific artist who, at times, seemed to have an unending supply of ideas, but at the same time he also had to write in order to provide himself shelter and food. This means that PKD’s naturally productive nature was bolstered by the fact that he was also forced to produce. While PKD turned in a number of masterpieces in his time, his writing could often be hit or miss. This makes it difficult for fans of his writing to navigate his body of work past some of the more well known novels. PKD’s prolific nature makes it especially tough to find a satisfactory collection of his short stories. Out of the seemingly endless collections of PKD short stories, The Philip K. Dick Reader isn’t a bad place to start.
The one thing that The Philip K. Dick Reader has going for it that many other PKD collections don’t is the fact that it includes a number of short stories that later served as the blueprints for film adaptations. Of the stories included in the anthology, the following have been made into movies: “The Golden Man” (Next), “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale” (Total Recall), “The Minority Report” (Minority Report), “Paycheck” (Paycheck), and “Second Variety” (Screamers). It’s a joy just to see ways in which PKD’s vision did or did not make it onto the silver screen. After reading some of PKD’s work, for example, it becomes apparent that the dark comedy present in Paul Verhoven’s Total Recall is akin to PKD’s similarly perverse sense of humor.
But the real gems in The Philip K. Dick Reader are those stories that surprise us with their quality, the stories that manage to contain PKD’s wit and intelligence, albeit in miniature. One of the best finds in the anthology has to be the fantastically titled, “Foster, You’re Dead!” Like much of PKD’s work in this collection, “Foster” is a clear response to the Cold War. But where most of his stories are interested in what happens after the bombs hit, “Foster” presents a small town on the edge of a nuclear war. In PKD’s vision of America’s future, the government and corporations have found a way to make war work for consumerism. Although it is not mandated, each member of the community is expected to buy their own bomb shelter, and those who don’t become outcasts. The Foster of the title is an adolescent whose father refuses to give in to the pressures of consumerism, despite the toll it takes on his wife and son. “Foster” showcases PKD as a brilliant observer of power and coercion. He understands that power over individuals and groups doesn’t always come in the form of the government. Instead, authority can manifest itself as our next door neighbors or in the form of a commercial telling us what we must do to be acceptable in polite society.
Since most of these stories were written during the height of the Cold War, it’s not surprising how many of them take place after the fall of civilization. But it is surprising how many variations on the post-apocalyptic narrative PKD could conjure. In “The Turning Wheel” a devastating war has upended social order and racial hierarchy, causing the “caucs” to become the most subordinated racial caste; “The Last of the Masters” pits roving bands of anarchists against the very last organized government run by a nearly despotic robot; “To Serve the Master” presents a world where the apocalyptic past is so traumatic that it is pathologically sublimated; and “Pay for the Printer” is a story of Marxist alienation where humanity has lost the skills necessary to produce goods and must rely on aliens to provide necessities. It’s interesting to read PKD’s apocalyptic fiction at a time when the end of the world—thanks to an influx of zombies—appears to once again be in vogue. But where present day stories of the end of the world are obsessed with complete and total atrophy, PKD seems more concerned with how we will carry on. There’s a sense in his work that he believes that the world we live in—with its racial, gender, and economic inequality—is not a given, that we can transform our society for the better. Even in his bleakest stories, PKD often betrays a sense of optimism.
Of course, not every installment in The Philip K. Dick Reader is gold. Some of the material is just plain weird and there are a few that are kind of bad. The story “Strange Eden” ends with a lion-like creature angrily shaking his fist at a departing spaceship, and I don’t want to even get into how PKD arrives at this scenario. But even in PKD’s worst stories there’s a nervous energy that always propels it forward. And his best work vacillates, often uneasily, between pulp trash and high philosophy. His short stories can often read like thought experiments with a higher number of robots, mutants, and schizophrenics. This tension between the high and the low is a defining aspect of PKD’s work, and instead of diluting either characteristic, the sensational somehow reinforces the high minded and vice versa.
The one thing that The Philip K. Dick Reader has going for it that many other PKD collections don’t is the fact that it includes a number of short stories that later served as the blueprints for film adaptations. Of the stories included in the anthology, the following have been made into movies: “The Golden Man” (Next), “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale” (Total Recall), “The Minority Report” (Minority Report), “Paycheck” (Paycheck), and “Second Variety” (Screamers). It’s a joy just to see ways in which PKD’s vision did or did not make it onto the silver screen. After reading some of PKD’s work, for example, it becomes apparent that the dark comedy present in Paul Verhoven’s Total Recall is akin to PKD’s similarly perverse sense of humor.
But the real gems in The Philip K. Dick Reader are those stories that surprise us with their quality, the stories that manage to contain PKD’s wit and intelligence, albeit in miniature. One of the best finds in the anthology has to be the fantastically titled, “Foster, You’re Dead!” Like much of PKD’s work in this collection, “Foster” is a clear response to the Cold War. But where most of his stories are interested in what happens after the bombs hit, “Foster” presents a small town on the edge of a nuclear war. In PKD’s vision of America’s future, the government and corporations have found a way to make war work for consumerism. Although it is not mandated, each member of the community is expected to buy their own bomb shelter, and those who don’t become outcasts. The Foster of the title is an adolescent whose father refuses to give in to the pressures of consumerism, despite the toll it takes on his wife and son. “Foster” showcases PKD as a brilliant observer of power and coercion. He understands that power over individuals and groups doesn’t always come in the form of the government. Instead, authority can manifest itself as our next door neighbors or in the form of a commercial telling us what we must do to be acceptable in polite society.
Since most of these stories were written during the height of the Cold War, it’s not surprising how many of them take place after the fall of civilization. But it is surprising how many variations on the post-apocalyptic narrative PKD could conjure. In “The Turning Wheel” a devastating war has upended social order and racial hierarchy, causing the “caucs” to become the most subordinated racial caste; “The Last of the Masters” pits roving bands of anarchists against the very last organized government run by a nearly despotic robot; “To Serve the Master” presents a world where the apocalyptic past is so traumatic that it is pathologically sublimated; and “Pay for the Printer” is a story of Marxist alienation where humanity has lost the skills necessary to produce goods and must rely on aliens to provide necessities. It’s interesting to read PKD’s apocalyptic fiction at a time when the end of the world—thanks to an influx of zombies—appears to once again be in vogue. But where present day stories of the end of the world are obsessed with complete and total atrophy, PKD seems more concerned with how we will carry on. There’s a sense in his work that he believes that the world we live in—with its racial, gender, and economic inequality—is not a given, that we can transform our society for the better. Even in his bleakest stories, PKD often betrays a sense of optimism.
Of course, not every installment in The Philip K. Dick Reader is gold. Some of the material is just plain weird and there are a few that are kind of bad. The story “Strange Eden” ends with a lion-like creature angrily shaking his fist at a departing spaceship, and I don’t want to even get into how PKD arrives at this scenario. But even in PKD’s worst stories there’s a nervous energy that always propels it forward. And his best work vacillates, often uneasily, between pulp trash and high philosophy. His short stories can often read like thought experiments with a higher number of robots, mutants, and schizophrenics. This tension between the high and the low is a defining aspect of PKD’s work, and instead of diluting either characteristic, the sensational somehow reinforces the high minded and vice versa.
April 7, 2010
I picked this up and couldn't put it down until I'd finished every story, and then I promptly went to the library to check out a few of Dick's novels. I loved the originality of Dick's visions, plus the unintentional "campiness" of the future often envisioned by sci-fi writers. I was also struck by how even a man of great imagination has his limits, so that a powerful computer five hundred years in the future is still the size of a entire room and stores information on magnetic tape while spitting out answers on individual cards.
What I disliked most about these stories was simply that they reflect the sexism and chauvinism of their era (1950s-70s). Female characters are generally absent, and if they exist, they're wives, waitresses, or secretaries. They're invariably attractive and wearing clothing that clings to their "heaving and trembling bosoms". Each male character in these stories is fairly unique, but the females are cookie-cutters, and only important in terms of physical attributes. I thought Dick was going to surprise me (in a good way) when he put a strong and smart woman as one of the leaders of a government agency in "The Golden Man" (a story that could have spawned the "Heroes" TV series). However, he needed to use a female character so "the bad guy" could overpower her with his manly charms and thus, escape.
One pleasant surprise in this collection was the very short story, "The Eyes Have It". It was funny, barely three pages long, and should be required reading for anyone who enjoys writing. Here's a link to read it online: http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/worl...
What I disliked most about these stories was simply that they reflect the sexism and chauvinism of their era (1950s-70s). Female characters are generally absent, and if they exist, they're wives, waitresses, or secretaries. They're invariably attractive and wearing clothing that clings to their "heaving and trembling bosoms". Each male character in these stories is fairly unique, but the females are cookie-cutters, and only important in terms of physical attributes. I thought Dick was going to surprise me (in a good way) when he put a strong and smart woman as one of the leaders of a government agency in "The Golden Man" (a story that could have spawned the "Heroes" TV series). However, he needed to use a female character so "the bad guy" could overpower her with his manly charms and thus, escape.
One pleasant surprise in this collection was the very short story, "The Eyes Have It". It was funny, barely three pages long, and should be required reading for anyone who enjoys writing. Here's a link to read it online: http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/worl...
January 25, 2014
“It’s like Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone,” my dad said after I asked him what he thought after reading some of the stories. And that’s probably the most apt means of describing this collection of 24 stories by Philip K. Dick. Simmering paranoia boils over into worlds where everything seen is misperceived and can no longer be trusted. Dick is at his best with the short story pacing and the sudden revelation. It’s all great stuff. He’s got the key if you are willing to unlock the door to “another dimension… a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.”
Yeah, what Serling said.
Yeah, what Serling said.
February 17, 2016
I read We Can Remember It For You Wholesale for a Sci-Fi and Philosophy class. Here were some of my thoughts related to the following prompt:
Rekal, Incorporated has quite a sales pitch: vacation memories that are better, more real and more lasting than the real thing---in fact, regular human memory is "second best." How do you react to this technology? Would you use it? Why or why not? Do you have any philosophical issues with this technology?
Well this is another terrifying technology! It has such a terrifying potential. However, I wonder if it really does render a regular memory second rate. Time has a way of sweetening our memories, making them more precious. We forget the bad stuff, and as we dwell on the good, our thoughts about it seem to make it better and better. For example, I think of an exercise like in Harry Potter 3, where he needs to think of his happiest memories in order to defeat a dementor. Wouldn't he be in constant fear that whatever happy memory he chooses isn't good enough? And, as a result, he would subconsciously tell himself that the memory is happier than it actually is. And, over time, his memory of the event would put a happier and happier connotation on it. I think through completely subconscious and unnoticed processes like this, our memories get happier and happier over time.
Compare this to a Rekal memory, which never changes, never fades. The memories are only as happy as they are programmed to be. And, as a rule, I don't think that could ever be as genuinely happy as something like one of our childhood memories. The happiness of these memories is not linked to the events of the memory as much as the memory itself, and I don't think a Rekal memory could ever reverse engineer that or even emulate it to any realistic extent. As a result, I think that true memories have more potential to satisfy our yearning for happiness. However, the Rekal memories have the ability to satisfy our desires, for example, to go to Mars. As a real memory fades, our desires often arise again. The Rekal memories don't fade, so the desires stay satisfied. Another example: books. You can read a book and think it was absolutely incredible. As the memory of the book fades, the memory of the happiness the book gave you remains, and even increases. And as it increases, so often does a desire to re-read the book.
It then becomes a debate between the strength of a memory of happiness and a desire to experience something. A real memory fades, but happiness and desire increase as it does. A Rekal memory never fades, and so happiness never increases, but the desire to experience something is also abated. A bit about desire then. I take a very Platonic viewpoint of desire. Plato in his Symposium argues that it should be the goal of our life to ever increase our desires. To recognize in our quest to satisfy them, that they only increase. However, it is only in a state of infinite desire that we truly can accomplish great things. In this sense, it is not a boon that Rekal shuts down desire, but rather a stifling and honestly depressing hindrance to our potential. I have no choice then but to argue that Rekal memories are actually inferior than a real memory. Even if they could provide a cheap "trip" to Mars, they would simultaneously destroy one's desire for adventure, destroy their infinite longings, and maybe in the end turn us to machines incapable of love or life.
Rekal, Incorporated has quite a sales pitch: vacation memories that are better, more real and more lasting than the real thing---in fact, regular human memory is "second best." How do you react to this technology? Would you use it? Why or why not? Do you have any philosophical issues with this technology?
Well this is another terrifying technology! It has such a terrifying potential. However, I wonder if it really does render a regular memory second rate. Time has a way of sweetening our memories, making them more precious. We forget the bad stuff, and as we dwell on the good, our thoughts about it seem to make it better and better. For example, I think of an exercise like in Harry Potter 3, where he needs to think of his happiest memories in order to defeat a dementor. Wouldn't he be in constant fear that whatever happy memory he chooses isn't good enough? And, as a result, he would subconsciously tell himself that the memory is happier than it actually is. And, over time, his memory of the event would put a happier and happier connotation on it. I think through completely subconscious and unnoticed processes like this, our memories get happier and happier over time.
Compare this to a Rekal memory, which never changes, never fades. The memories are only as happy as they are programmed to be. And, as a rule, I don't think that could ever be as genuinely happy as something like one of our childhood memories. The happiness of these memories is not linked to the events of the memory as much as the memory itself, and I don't think a Rekal memory could ever reverse engineer that or even emulate it to any realistic extent. As a result, I think that true memories have more potential to satisfy our yearning for happiness. However, the Rekal memories have the ability to satisfy our desires, for example, to go to Mars. As a real memory fades, our desires often arise again. The Rekal memories don't fade, so the desires stay satisfied. Another example: books. You can read a book and think it was absolutely incredible. As the memory of the book fades, the memory of the happiness the book gave you remains, and even increases. And as it increases, so often does a desire to re-read the book.
It then becomes a debate between the strength of a memory of happiness and a desire to experience something. A real memory fades, but happiness and desire increase as it does. A Rekal memory never fades, and so happiness never increases, but the desire to experience something is also abated. A bit about desire then. I take a very Platonic viewpoint of desire. Plato in his Symposium argues that it should be the goal of our life to ever increase our desires. To recognize in our quest to satisfy them, that they only increase. However, it is only in a state of infinite desire that we truly can accomplish great things. In this sense, it is not a boon that Rekal shuts down desire, but rather a stifling and honestly depressing hindrance to our potential. I have no choice then but to argue that Rekal memories are actually inferior than a real memory. Even if they could provide a cheap "trip" to Mars, they would simultaneously destroy one's desire for adventure, destroy their infinite longings, and maybe in the end turn us to machines incapable of love or life.
August 28, 2018
Earlier works more Serling, less Gibson.
The themes can be divided into three or four categories which include: ignorant protagonists whom act as the ill-fated subjects of karma ("Fair Game" "Turning Wheel" "Strange Eden" "Exhibit Piece" "Shell Game"), allegories for racism, tribalism, and McCarthyism in America ("Tony and the Beetles" "The Hanging Stranger" "The Chromium Fence"), rebellion against/critique of totalitarian regimes and agents of the Cold War ("Last of the Masters" "To Serve Master" "Foster, Your Dead") and promulgating fears related to technology and the pursuit of a secured state through the sacrifice of freedom ("Sales Pitch" "Second Variety" "Null-O" The Minority Report" "Wholesale...").
Some may proclaim Dick the father of cyberpunk. He is not, for he is less cyberpunk, more retro-futurism. Confused? think more X-Com and Fallout (pre-destruction) and less Snatcher and Deus-Ex. The themes may be similar, but his writing style is more advanced and the imagery is more pronounced in later works. In "The Reader" the prose is simple, brief, and obvious. He never goes into too much detail, only sharing the essentials. Here's your tech (robots), here's your world (Terra, future Earth) and here's your unexpected twist (you'll have a 50% chance of getting it right). The protagonists are guided with an invisible hand. Couldn't help but think of Neo escaping his office in The Matrix.
The destination is all that matters. Dick doesn't pretend to gift the beleaguered protagonists with a sense of will. Similar to a rat running in a maze. 100% success rate of reaching the end, but whether it's a piece of cheese or an electric shock is the neatly tied gift that Dick gives to his audience. It's trite through a modern persecutive, and yet Dick is the forefather of this type of storytelling. The type that granted the world "The Twilight Zone," "Outer Limits," "Star Trek," and "Black Mirror." I mean my favorite author as a child, R. L Stine, basic premise for most of his stories borrows profusely from "The Father Thing." I understand Dick's influence is all too important to simply denigrate in a goodreads review.
The amazon series, Electric Dreams, is an admirable interpretation of Dick's short stories. They adapt most of the stories for a modern audience who may have missed out on the Cold War. Those living presently in the golden age of social media. Favorite being "KAO," the perfect modern interpretation of "The Hanging Stranger."
There may be other writers whom perfected the craft that Dick introduced, yet still his pulp-tales make an enjoyable read for fans of Serling, Roddenberry, and Brooker. Would I recommend the short stories for fans of William Gibson and more contemporary science fiction authors? Most likely not. Would I teach him in an English class? Most definitely yes. His themes alone are all too relevant.
Favorite stories ranked in order:
1) "To Serve Master" or why we will never have universal basic income.
2) "Second Variety" Remember the movie Screamers?
3) "Exhibit Piece" or Tranquility Lane
4) "The Hanging Stranger"
5) "We Can Remember If For You Wholesale"
The themes can be divided into three or four categories which include: ignorant protagonists whom act as the ill-fated subjects of karma ("Fair Game" "Turning Wheel" "Strange Eden" "Exhibit Piece" "Shell Game"), allegories for racism, tribalism, and McCarthyism in America ("Tony and the Beetles" "The Hanging Stranger" "The Chromium Fence"), rebellion against/critique of totalitarian regimes and agents of the Cold War ("Last of the Masters" "To Serve Master" "Foster, Your Dead") and promulgating fears related to technology and the pursuit of a secured state through the sacrifice of freedom ("Sales Pitch" "Second Variety" "Null-O" The Minority Report" "Wholesale...").
Some may proclaim Dick the father of cyberpunk. He is not, for he is less cyberpunk, more retro-futurism. Confused? think more X-Com and Fallout (pre-destruction) and less Snatcher and Deus-Ex. The themes may be similar, but his writing style is more advanced and the imagery is more pronounced in later works. In "The Reader" the prose is simple, brief, and obvious. He never goes into too much detail, only sharing the essentials. Here's your tech (robots), here's your world (Terra, future Earth) and here's your unexpected twist (you'll have a 50% chance of getting it right). The protagonists are guided with an invisible hand. Couldn't help but think of Neo escaping his office in The Matrix.
The destination is all that matters. Dick doesn't pretend to gift the beleaguered protagonists with a sense of will. Similar to a rat running in a maze. 100% success rate of reaching the end, but whether it's a piece of cheese or an electric shock is the neatly tied gift that Dick gives to his audience. It's trite through a modern persecutive, and yet Dick is the forefather of this type of storytelling. The type that granted the world "The Twilight Zone," "Outer Limits," "Star Trek," and "Black Mirror." I mean my favorite author as a child, R. L Stine, basic premise for most of his stories borrows profusely from "The Father Thing." I understand Dick's influence is all too important to simply denigrate in a goodreads review.
The amazon series, Electric Dreams, is an admirable interpretation of Dick's short stories. They adapt most of the stories for a modern audience who may have missed out on the Cold War. Those living presently in the golden age of social media. Favorite being "KAO," the perfect modern interpretation of "The Hanging Stranger."
There may be other writers whom perfected the craft that Dick introduced, yet still his pulp-tales make an enjoyable read for fans of Serling, Roddenberry, and Brooker. Would I recommend the short stories for fans of William Gibson and more contemporary science fiction authors? Most likely not. Would I teach him in an English class? Most definitely yes. His themes alone are all too relevant.
Favorite stories ranked in order:
1) "To Serve Master" or why we will never have universal basic income.
2) "Second Variety" Remember the movie Screamers?
3) "Exhibit Piece" or Tranquility Lane
4) "The Hanging Stranger"
5) "We Can Remember If For You Wholesale"
February 16, 2018
Although I was a big-time reader of classic science fiction decades ago, I am only now, in 2018, getting around to finally reading Philip K. Dick. The pieces in this collection are some of his earliest short stories, many originally published before he became well-known. At the time I was reading classic scifi (in the 1960s and early 1970s) Dick was an emerging writer, and I was still stuck on Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury and the other more established scifi writers - so the only way I knew of Dick's work was through the movies that his stories and novels inspired: Blade Runner, Total Recall, the Minority Report, Screamers and others. This collection includes some stories that inspired these movies: "We Can Remember it for you Wholesale," which inspired Total Recall, and "Second Variety," that inspired Screamers. Blade Runner, by the way, was a movie adaptation of his novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep."
So, this was actually the first time I sat down and read the original writings of this very influential scifi author and I can now see why he has had such an impact. Every story in this collection is gripping and sucks you in immediately. I liked some stories more than others, but every single one was masterfully plotted and spun out in just the right way to keep the reader engaged. The plots are almost all typical of the dark, dystopian approach common in that early scifi era--machines and robots that have become evil, the world destroyed by some sort of holocaust, scary invaders from space or humans in space where the aliens are distinctly not friendly. In other words, this is not the world of Star Trek or even Star Wars -- this is the Twilight Zone and, in fact, many of these stories were actually made into Twilight Zone episodes.
So, I really liked this collection and took my time reading it so I could enjoy the separate stories. I think my favorite story in the collection is "Paycheck." If it hasn't been made into a movie, it should be. I also particularly liked "The Golden Man," but most of the stories are really quite good. I do need to make note of a couple of flaws, though. Dick's writing style would be heavily criticized in most of the writing classes and workshops I've been in--he uses adverbs like there's no tomorrow, sprinkling phrases like "looked significantly" or "murmured indifferently" throughout. One story even had a character saying something "feelingly," whatever that means! Also, it's hardly worth mentioning, but Dick's world is definitely the 50s and 60s -- the men are always husbands and fathers who go off to work and come home to their wives who have dinner on the table, even when the setting is the far future or on some distant planet.
The upshot, though, is that this is really a great book and shows why it is that this writer is considered one of the best. Anybody who wants to write scifi needs to read it.
So, this was actually the first time I sat down and read the original writings of this very influential scifi author and I can now see why he has had such an impact. Every story in this collection is gripping and sucks you in immediately. I liked some stories more than others, but every single one was masterfully plotted and spun out in just the right way to keep the reader engaged. The plots are almost all typical of the dark, dystopian approach common in that early scifi era--machines and robots that have become evil, the world destroyed by some sort of holocaust, scary invaders from space or humans in space where the aliens are distinctly not friendly. In other words, this is not the world of Star Trek or even Star Wars -- this is the Twilight Zone and, in fact, many of these stories were actually made into Twilight Zone episodes.
So, I really liked this collection and took my time reading it so I could enjoy the separate stories. I think my favorite story in the collection is "Paycheck." If it hasn't been made into a movie, it should be. I also particularly liked "The Golden Man," but most of the stories are really quite good. I do need to make note of a couple of flaws, though. Dick's writing style would be heavily criticized in most of the writing classes and workshops I've been in--he uses adverbs like there's no tomorrow, sprinkling phrases like "looked significantly" or "murmured indifferently" throughout. One story even had a character saying something "feelingly," whatever that means! Also, it's hardly worth mentioning, but Dick's world is definitely the 50s and 60s -- the men are always husbands and fathers who go off to work and come home to their wives who have dinner on the table, even when the setting is the far future or on some distant planet.
The upshot, though, is that this is really a great book and shows why it is that this writer is considered one of the best. Anybody who wants to write scifi needs to read it.
April 6, 2011
Philip K. Dick is one of the most recognizable names in Sci Fi, and this compilation of his short stories would be a good first exposure to his writings. The stories are, however, somewhat uneven in their quality, but this has been the characteristic of PKD in much of his oeuvre. The earlier ones seem rather amateurish, both in terms of the writing style and the ideas that they deal with, but the later longer ones are true gems of the genre. Among stories included here are 'The Minority Report', 'Paycheck' and 'We Can Remember It for You Wholesale', all of which had been made into major Hollywood movies (The last one under the name 'Total Recall'), and one can imagine that it's only the matter of time before some of the other ones are adopted for the silver screen as well. It was interesting to see how the stories differed from their movie version, and to notice how things that capture our imagination have evolved from the time PKD wrote these stories. What really caught my eye is PKD's obsession with military establishment, and his seemingly constant fear of the military completely overtaking the civilian life. Those obsessions seem very far away form the contemporary readers, which is why they were completely downplayed in the movie adaptations of his works.
May 23, 2010
If it's not obvious, this is a book of sci-fi short stories--the far-future/space-exploring kind of science fiction. Dick has a seemingly endless supply of new universes and new plot twists. He manages to draw you into each setting without needing to do much explaining; just drops you in the middle of the story and does an excellent job of allowing things to become clear on their own.
These stories tend toward the deliciously creepy, and many have twists that I couldn't predict. And you can tell that Dick enjoyed writing these stories as much as anyone enjoys reading them. Couldn't ask for more.
These stories tend toward the deliciously creepy, and many have twists that I couldn't predict. And you can tell that Dick enjoyed writing these stories as much as anyone enjoys reading them. Couldn't ask for more.
January 20, 2010
I read most of the short short stories when they first came out years ago, but it was wonderful to read them again, especially "We can Remember it for you Wholesale" on which the movie "Total Recall" was based and "The Minority Report". It is a shame this compilation was published during Dick's lifetime so we could have had his comments on each of these stories. It would be enlightening to learn where he came up with such fantastic ideas.
May 31, 2008
An excellent collection of Philip K Dick's short stories, including The Minority Report and Total Recall (actually called "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" - can't imagine why they changed the name for the movie :).
PKD is classic Sci-Fi and he has a great knack for twisting a story around in the last sentence.
PKD is classic Sci-Fi and he has a great knack for twisting a story around in the last sentence.
January 29, 2009
Always good for some weirdness. The short stories prevent Dick from getting too into his own head, so this makes for some great reading at the pool or before bed.
December 1, 2016
Philip K. Dick's short fiction is every bit as amazing as his novels. Every story is entertaining. I don't go in order, I jump around from story to story.
June 3, 2017
As sci-fi ought to be, but for some of the stories which didn't age well.
June 9, 2021
I wanted to like this book, I really did. Philip K. Dick is clearly, undoubtably a master of science fiction. His ideas are fascinating and unique and every short story I managed to read in this book wowed me.
Except. Except that Dick writes in a sexist manner that I just couldn’t keep up with after 100 pages. I don’t believe any woman except maybe one or two in the 8 stories I managed to read escaped having her bosom described at least once if not multiple times. At least two rapes-but-not-cuz-the-woman-suddenly-wanted-the-sex were described. Not only that, but the women in general just really lacked any characterization other than descriptions of their body shapes. Let’s look at some examples:
“The girl was perhaps 16. In the fading light she was a small, slender figure... her lips full in depth...He caught a glimpse of firm brown breasts” (page 69). And when he sees the girl’s even younger sister a moment later: “a mere child...but she had Liu’s figure, and in time she’d ripen—probably in a matter of months” (69). Might I add the guy thirsting after these girls was a man in his forties?
First description of Jean: “rushed laughing in front of him, bosom heaving under her sweatshirt...bright-eyed, legs strong and straight, slim young body bent slightly forward with the weight of two horseshoes” (35).
“The girl retreated from him, ringing her hands together, her full lips twisting wildly with despair. Under her sweater, her breasts rose and fell in an agony of terror” (8). A description of a student-illusion evading her middle-aged professor
“He put his arm around his slim daughter...[her] canvas shirt clung moistly to her arms and breasts” (77).
“Her half-covered breasts trembled with the motion of the car” (84).
Dick writes a world of short stories with fascinating plot lines, interesting characters, and enthralling inner and outer conflicts, yet all of this is irreparably disparaged for me by the fact that he can’t give *any* of his female characters anything more than a detailed description of what their chest and body outlines look like. The only woman who gets even a paragraph of thought to herself, from all I’ve read, is Anita in “The Golden Man,” a story which has so many issues regarding its portrayal of her that I will restrain myself from writing another paragraph just on that. Just know that in that story, even an alien gets more inner dialogue time than any female character ever does.
I’m heavily disappointed and disgusted that such a famous and talented author would not even try to explore the mind or soul of the opposite sex, but would devote plenty of space for talking about their chests. To me, it can’t just be excused as a result of the sexism of his time, but also demonstrates his lack of talent in writing real characters.
Except. Except that Dick writes in a sexist manner that I just couldn’t keep up with after 100 pages. I don’t believe any woman except maybe one or two in the 8 stories I managed to read escaped having her bosom described at least once if not multiple times. At least two rapes-but-not-cuz-the-woman-suddenly-wanted-the-sex were described. Not only that, but the women in general just really lacked any characterization other than descriptions of their body shapes. Let’s look at some examples:
“The girl was perhaps 16. In the fading light she was a small, slender figure... her lips full in depth...He caught a glimpse of firm brown breasts” (page 69). And when he sees the girl’s even younger sister a moment later: “a mere child...but she had Liu’s figure, and in time she’d ripen—probably in a matter of months” (69). Might I add the guy thirsting after these girls was a man in his forties?
First description of Jean: “rushed laughing in front of him, bosom heaving under her sweatshirt...bright-eyed, legs strong and straight, slim young body bent slightly forward with the weight of two horseshoes” (35).
“The girl retreated from him, ringing her hands together, her full lips twisting wildly with despair. Under her sweater, her breasts rose and fell in an agony of terror” (8). A description of a student-illusion evading her middle-aged professor
“He put his arm around his slim daughter...[her] canvas shirt clung moistly to her arms and breasts” (77).
“Her half-covered breasts trembled with the motion of the car” (84).
Dick writes a world of short stories with fascinating plot lines, interesting characters, and enthralling inner and outer conflicts, yet all of this is irreparably disparaged for me by the fact that he can’t give *any* of his female characters anything more than a detailed description of what their chest and body outlines look like. The only woman who gets even a paragraph of thought to herself, from all I’ve read, is Anita in “The Golden Man,” a story which has so many issues regarding its portrayal of her that I will restrain myself from writing another paragraph just on that. Just know that in that story, even an alien gets more inner dialogue time than any female character ever does.
I’m heavily disappointed and disgusted that such a famous and talented author would not even try to explore the mind or soul of the opposite sex, but would devote plenty of space for talking about their chests. To me, it can’t just be excused as a result of the sexism of his time, but also demonstrates his lack of talent in writing real characters.
December 11, 2021
A bit of a slog at times, the PKD reader offers a big collection of pieces that span a storied career. The sophistication of the stories increases as you read, and so the book kind of evolves as you read from Twilight Zone–esque goofs (meddling aliens and yet more meddling aliens) to social allegories (Cold War and Civil Rights) to philosophical conundrums (are memories real, how would we experience time travel socially?). However sophisticated the stories eventually become, the representation of women here is uniformly poor – as you might expect – and many of the stories (even the really good ones) can’t help but tell rather than show. Worst of all, though, is that I can’t glean from this a clear set of motivating themes—it reads to me as though PKD was mostly interested in aliens and robots, rather than what the manifestation of those entities represents socially. I don’t know, I think I need more experience with the genre to appreciate what’s going on here.
January 2, 2019
I wish I hadn’t come to PKD so late in the game. When these stories were written, they must have seemed like a completely new kind of genre, and in a way, I suppose they were. These are the tales that gave rise to what we recognize as modern SF today. Unfortunately, the ideas and concepts Dick created have become well-worn tropes in the ensuing decades. Still, there’s a lot to enjoy in this book and I’m glad I read it.
September 25, 2022
So heady incredible sci fi tales
March 15, 2010
A good starting place before going into the novels. It also allows the reader to immediately satisfy any curiosity about the source materials of the mainstream movies that had been made from Dick's short stories up to this time and that is why I started with it. (I have since also finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and the new set The Early Work of Philip K. Dick (v1 and v2). Volume 2 overlaps heavily with this book (The Philip K. Dick Reader), V1 has no stories in common at all.)
This edition features 24 short stories most from 1953-1954 the second and third year of the author's career as a published author. The last four consist of all the stories that had been made into movies with the exception of Blade Runner which is based on a full novel (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) up to the publication year 1998. The four movie stories are conspicuously all at the back, indicating that their inclusion might be a cunning marketing ploy not a coincidence. Since then one more more movie as come out, Next(2007),an "adaptation" of The Golden Man (but actually a money losing exploitation vehicle for its big budget cast and special effects with hopes to exploit favorable buzz from earlier and better adaptations), that is also in this collection in the middle, not the back.
One might think that a book packaged in this way might be a carefully considered survey of the author's shorter works for the first time reader perhaps made curious by the movies. It seems to be a no-frills (no notes or additional material) repackaging of an existing book. The same publisher also makes the five volume softcover Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick (slightly rearranged from the two earlier hardcover editions to distribute the movie stories across the set). The Reader is simply a no-frills redesign of volume 3 of this set (with that does have the notes at the back) with stories 21-23 (A World of Talent, Psi-man, Misadjustment) replaced by three movie stories (We Can Remember it For You Wholesale (Total Recall),Paycheck,The Minority Report) with number 24 Second Variety (the movie Screamers) in its original position.
The stories vary in character from good professional genre writing of the era (the so-called Golden Era, 1953 was the peak year for the number of Science Fiction magazines in existence) to even better writing that gives a glimpse of the later work that is the basis of Dick's reputation today. Most is science fiction but there are a few examples of other types of writing (e.g. pure fantasy, in particular Upon The Dull Earth) that Dick found commercially untenable and did not pursue further professionally. (He did write a dozen (three now lost assuming ever completed) realistic non-genre novels attempting to establish himself outside the SF genre. Only one was published before his death in 1982.)
This edition features 24 short stories most from 1953-1954 the second and third year of the author's career as a published author. The last four consist of all the stories that had been made into movies with the exception of Blade Runner which is based on a full novel (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) up to the publication year 1998. The four movie stories are conspicuously all at the back, indicating that their inclusion might be a cunning marketing ploy not a coincidence. Since then one more more movie as come out, Next(2007),an "adaptation" of The Golden Man (but actually a money losing exploitation vehicle for its big budget cast and special effects with hopes to exploit favorable buzz from earlier and better adaptations), that is also in this collection in the middle, not the back.
One might think that a book packaged in this way might be a carefully considered survey of the author's shorter works for the first time reader perhaps made curious by the movies. It seems to be a no-frills (no notes or additional material) repackaging of an existing book. The same publisher also makes the five volume softcover Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick (slightly rearranged from the two earlier hardcover editions to distribute the movie stories across the set). The Reader is simply a no-frills redesign of volume 3 of this set (with that does have the notes at the back) with stories 21-23 (A World of Talent, Psi-man, Misadjustment) replaced by three movie stories (We Can Remember it For You Wholesale (Total Recall),Paycheck,The Minority Report) with number 24 Second Variety (the movie Screamers) in its original position.
The stories vary in character from good professional genre writing of the era (the so-called Golden Era, 1953 was the peak year for the number of Science Fiction magazines in existence) to even better writing that gives a glimpse of the later work that is the basis of Dick's reputation today. Most is science fiction but there are a few examples of other types of writing (e.g. pure fantasy, in particular Upon The Dull Earth) that Dick found commercially untenable and did not pursue further professionally. (He did write a dozen (three now lost assuming ever completed) realistic non-genre novels attempting to establish himself outside the SF genre. Only one was published before his death in 1982.)
May 30, 2013
I first learned of this author’s existence when his name appeared in the credits for Blade Runner, way back in 1982. But in all the years since then I hadn’t read any of his work. That was a box I had to check off at some point.
Well, now I’ve gotten round to this collection of his stories. One, near the beginning (“The Eyes Have It”) is delightfully clever and amusing. I read it aloud to my appreciative daughter. It’s the kind of thing I wish I’d written. Another, at the end (“Second Variety”) is a masterful study in paranoia and creepy suspense. It deserves to be included in anthologies of great short fiction (along with, say, Carl Stephenson’s “Leiningen versus the Ants” and Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” or perhaps most relevant Saki’s “The Interlopers”). Several are based on very original, cautionary, and even prescient ideas (“The Minority Report,” “Paycheck,” “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale,” “The Chromium Fence”). Most of those have been made into movies.
On the other hand, some in this collection are examples of a kind of fiction that feels a little dated, despite still engaging my interest (“Sales Pitch” and “Shell Game” come to mind). I don’t blame the author for that. Time moves on and so do conventions. Eventually, all current writers will sound as quaint as George Eliot. But other stories feel distinctly amateurish. Meh. I’ve read efforts by unknown writers on sites like authonomy that were better.
As an example of what I mean, consider the first story in this collection, “Fair Game.” The main character has fleeting glimpses of faces that he thinks are peering down at him from above, and when he shares this news with his friends, one calmly states, while puffing on a pipe, that “they’re a nonterrestrial race.” When characters rush to such a conclusion, as opposed to reacting in a realistic manner, I suspect the purpose is to tell the reader what is going on. I begin taking off points, because then the story feels contrived. Of course, all fiction is contrived, but the author’s job is to convince readers to forget that and immerse themselves in the story. “Fair Game” might have been better with less commentary.
Having read this now, I think some newer works may be conscious attempts at emulating Dick. Generally speaking, I don’t think his writing should be emulated. I think some of it is very clever and effective, if also rather depressing (too many of these stories are set in a post-apocalyptic world that is covered with ash). He definitely saw the world moving in a worrisome direction, and I think he was very perceptive. That insight is I think what is most interesting about him. I’d feel differently about the writing if the weaker examples had been kept out of this collection.
Well, now I’ve gotten round to this collection of his stories. One, near the beginning (“The Eyes Have It”) is delightfully clever and amusing. I read it aloud to my appreciative daughter. It’s the kind of thing I wish I’d written. Another, at the end (“Second Variety”) is a masterful study in paranoia and creepy suspense. It deserves to be included in anthologies of great short fiction (along with, say, Carl Stephenson’s “Leiningen versus the Ants” and Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” or perhaps most relevant Saki’s “The Interlopers”). Several are based on very original, cautionary, and even prescient ideas (“The Minority Report,” “Paycheck,” “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale,” “The Chromium Fence”). Most of those have been made into movies.
On the other hand, some in this collection are examples of a kind of fiction that feels a little dated, despite still engaging my interest (“Sales Pitch” and “Shell Game” come to mind). I don’t blame the author for that. Time moves on and so do conventions. Eventually, all current writers will sound as quaint as George Eliot. But other stories feel distinctly amateurish. Meh. I’ve read efforts by unknown writers on sites like authonomy that were better.
As an example of what I mean, consider the first story in this collection, “Fair Game.” The main character has fleeting glimpses of faces that he thinks are peering down at him from above, and when he shares this news with his friends, one calmly states, while puffing on a pipe, that “they’re a nonterrestrial race.” When characters rush to such a conclusion, as opposed to reacting in a realistic manner, I suspect the purpose is to tell the reader what is going on. I begin taking off points, because then the story feels contrived. Of course, all fiction is contrived, but the author’s job is to convince readers to forget that and immerse themselves in the story. “Fair Game” might have been better with less commentary.
Having read this now, I think some newer works may be conscious attempts at emulating Dick. Generally speaking, I don’t think his writing should be emulated. I think some of it is very clever and effective, if also rather depressing (too many of these stories are set in a post-apocalyptic world that is covered with ash). He definitely saw the world moving in a worrisome direction, and I think he was very perceptive. That insight is I think what is most interesting about him. I’d feel differently about the writing if the weaker examples had been kept out of this collection.
December 19, 2015
Wonder, awe and dread. Philip K. dick is more a visionary than a writer at times. His works have been adapted as some of the most compelling and futuristic sci-fi works of our time (among them "Minority Report", "A Scanner Darkly", "BladeRunner").
Dick's work jabs at the notion that progress and freedom go hand and hand. Many of his work shows the shallow motives, animal instincts and limitations of us. All of this is cloaked in the 1950s/1960s paranoia - the atom bomb, the Soviet threat, the uncertainty of the space race and it's exploration.
His narrative voice combines sardonic humor, with brave puzzling plots that challenge your semblance of reality.
This collection shows Dick's mastery in alacrity and plots that are expansive. Opening with the revealing "Fair Game", a scientist makes contacts with an alien life form, but this isn't E.T. We realize the enlightening presence may be predatory and using humans in a manner not unlike a factory farm. The ending like the best of Dick's short stories is curt, cruel and jaw-dropping. Paranoia runs rampant in stories, often in stories of conflict where humans are finding difficulty cooperating for a greater good. "
"Shell Game" involves a crew who tear each other apart over the uncertainty of their fighting against an extraterrestrial entity, or the figments of their own imaginations.
"Foster, your dead" shows the futilityof a young person living in a war zone and how a fearful society can shape our mentality.
Sometimes it's the work outside of "sci-fi" traditional narrative that work
as the most creative. "Strange Eden" turns a biblical story into an otherworldly horror romp.
"The Golden Man" turns our evolutionary progress against our long held positions as top predator; pitting man against a superior species.
My favorite of the collection are in longer form: "Minority Report", Second Variety" and "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale". They aren't necessarily better stories, but their length gives more room for mystery and room for deeper themes. It's clear why some of these stories have achieved legendary status as sci-fi works. His work is prescient in a frightening way. We can see in these stories the fears of people in 2015: crumbling civil liberties, drone/robot attacks, a virtual world that distorts our senses.
It's hard to think of another writer who has had a greater impact on modern science fiction. And even outside of sci-fi, his work is worth reading. It's essentially about the eternal questions of man's motivations, our fragile nature..and a hint of madness.
Dick's work jabs at the notion that progress and freedom go hand and hand. Many of his work shows the shallow motives, animal instincts and limitations of us. All of this is cloaked in the 1950s/1960s paranoia - the atom bomb, the Soviet threat, the uncertainty of the space race and it's exploration.
His narrative voice combines sardonic humor, with brave puzzling plots that challenge your semblance of reality.
This collection shows Dick's mastery in alacrity and plots that are expansive. Opening with the revealing "Fair Game", a scientist makes contacts with an alien life form, but this isn't E.T. We realize the enlightening presence may be predatory and using humans in a manner not unlike a factory farm. The ending like the best of Dick's short stories is curt, cruel and jaw-dropping. Paranoia runs rampant in stories, often in stories of conflict where humans are finding difficulty cooperating for a greater good. "
"Shell Game" involves a crew who tear each other apart over the uncertainty of their fighting against an extraterrestrial entity, or the figments of their own imaginations.
"Foster, your dead" shows the futilityof a young person living in a war zone and how a fearful society can shape our mentality.
Sometimes it's the work outside of "sci-fi" traditional narrative that work
as the most creative. "Strange Eden" turns a biblical story into an otherworldly horror romp.
"The Golden Man" turns our evolutionary progress against our long held positions as top predator; pitting man against a superior species.
My favorite of the collection are in longer form: "Minority Report", Second Variety" and "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale". They aren't necessarily better stories, but their length gives more room for mystery and room for deeper themes. It's clear why some of these stories have achieved legendary status as sci-fi works. His work is prescient in a frightening way. We can see in these stories the fears of people in 2015: crumbling civil liberties, drone/robot attacks, a virtual world that distorts our senses.
It's hard to think of another writer who has had a greater impact on modern science fiction. And even outside of sci-fi, his work is worth reading. It's essentially about the eternal questions of man's motivations, our fragile nature..and a hint of madness.
May 12, 2018
There is no other science fiction writer like Philip K. Dick. His imagination, his slant on life, his insight into technology and human behavior, and his great writing put him near the top of the list of all time great sci fi writers.
This book contains twenty-four of his early short stories, five of which were made into major motion pictures. While most of these stories were written in the '50s and '60s, the themes are equally relevant to issues we are facing today. Fear of war, issues of rights being violated, fear of foreigners, issues of big business vs individuals, government spying, mob hysteria - unfortunately these are all as current today as when Dick wrote them.
While the circumstances and settings of the stories are all interesting and unique, it is the characters that stand out. Dick presents most of his stories through the eyes of his characters in ways that quickly get you on their side and into their frame of reference even if they are facing situations you had never even imagined.
Unfortunately, like most male Sci Fi writers of his age, the majority of characters are male. There are some important female characters but they are definitely in the minority. Just as cigarette smoking is featured in many of his stories, white, male dominance is a sign of the times of when these stories were written and you will have to "read around it" to enjoy these stories. Hopefully people of the future will be equally amazed at the white, male dominance of 2018 as well!
If you are a regular reader of Philip K. Dick, you will enjoy these early stories. If you are new to the author, this book is a great collection to start with. Unfortunately Dick died at 53, before his writings got the attention they deserved. We can only imagine the people and worlds he could have written about had he lived longer. Luckily we have the forty-five novels and over two hundred short stories to remember him by.
This book contains twenty-four of his early short stories, five of which were made into major motion pictures. While most of these stories were written in the '50s and '60s, the themes are equally relevant to issues we are facing today. Fear of war, issues of rights being violated, fear of foreigners, issues of big business vs individuals, government spying, mob hysteria - unfortunately these are all as current today as when Dick wrote them.
While the circumstances and settings of the stories are all interesting and unique, it is the characters that stand out. Dick presents most of his stories through the eyes of his characters in ways that quickly get you on their side and into their frame of reference even if they are facing situations you had never even imagined.
Unfortunately, like most male Sci Fi writers of his age, the majority of characters are male. There are some important female characters but they are definitely in the minority. Just as cigarette smoking is featured in many of his stories, white, male dominance is a sign of the times of when these stories were written and you will have to "read around it" to enjoy these stories. Hopefully people of the future will be equally amazed at the white, male dominance of 2018 as well!
If you are a regular reader of Philip K. Dick, you will enjoy these early stories. If you are new to the author, this book is a great collection to start with. Unfortunately Dick died at 53, before his writings got the attention they deserved. We can only imagine the people and worlds he could have written about had he lived longer. Luckily we have the forty-five novels and over two hundred short stories to remember him by.
February 22, 2009
The main problem with this anthology is that too many of the stories are not especially interesting. They're not necessarily bad, just not very interesting. Some of the stories are excellent, though, and, for the most part they make up for the weak spots. Also, several of the stories have gone on to be movies (though you might not recognize them...) and will probably be of interest to many people irrespective of quality.
Most of the best stories are the ones that made it as films. They're often good for reasons other than the films that are based on them, though. Minority Report is good, though don't expect Tom Cruise's chief Anderton to show up. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, which became Total Recall, is a long joke, though kind of a funny one. Paycheck is a real standout - just the premise makes it worth reading, and the rest isn't bad either. Second Variety, which became Screamers, has an okay premise but is missing something in execution.
Many of the remaining stories are fairly forgettable. The Hanging Man does stand out as a good Twilight Zone/Invasion of the Body Snatchers type story though. Most of the remaining stories split into rather generic humans-after-the-robots stories or enigmatic horror set pieces, with a couple good aliens-vs.-humans political pieces thrown in also.
Most of the best stories are the ones that made it as films. They're often good for reasons other than the films that are based on them, though. Minority Report is good, though don't expect Tom Cruise's chief Anderton to show up. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, which became Total Recall, is a long joke, though kind of a funny one. Paycheck is a real standout - just the premise makes it worth reading, and the rest isn't bad either. Second Variety, which became Screamers, has an okay premise but is missing something in execution.
Many of the remaining stories are fairly forgettable. The Hanging Man does stand out as a good Twilight Zone/Invasion of the Body Snatchers type story though. Most of the remaining stories split into rather generic humans-after-the-robots stories or enigmatic horror set pieces, with a couple good aliens-vs.-humans political pieces thrown in also.
February 25, 2016
I loved this. Obviously there are some that I liked more than others (We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, wow!), but I found the resounding theme of a post-apocalyptic world to be interesting, especially because we are discussing major extinctions in my Organismal Diversity class. We as humans are currently in the sixth extinction, which will be the first major extinction ever caused by a species. It's just intriguing to me because most of the stories seemed to have characters that had been part of a war or something that could have been prevented and thus prevented extinction. I guess I just relate. I did find some of the writing to be redundant or hard to follow, and for that reason, I had trouble getting through the longer short stories (sorry, but I really detested War Veteran). However, I really enjoyed how different the Paycheck and Minority Report movies are compared to their original stories. I can't decide which I like better, but it was nice to be able to read a story and not know exactly what was going to happen. I was a little worried about that to begin with.
Overall these stories are good, and I would recommend this to other fans of sci-fi.
Overall these stories are good, and I would recommend this to other fans of sci-fi.
March 5, 2018
We can Remember it for You Wholesale - read 4-5 March 2018
I read this after watching Total Recall (2012). I now clearly need to watch the Arnold Schwarzenegger version.
This story is actually one of Dick's funnier stories - although it has a sobering side too. But oh-so-frustrating for some of the characters. Of course, I'll leave you to figure out why.
In this short story, Dick scratches at the itch people have to do something meaningful with their lives. Douglas Quail is an everyman, ordinary, lowly, with a humdrum life to suit. He lives on Earth, and works as a clerk. In the midst of his humdrum life, he has seen a business called Rekal - a place where one can obtain one's wildest fantasies, not just as an observer, but experientially. And when we meet up with him at Rekal, he's about to receive his fantasy - to be a secret agent working on Mars.
For all its brevity, this story is quite convoluted. And very well-written. Dick doesn't add fluff or overmuch setting to his stories, and yet one gets a sense of the world around the characters through their eyes. And as I said up top, this is one of his more amusing ventures.
I read this after watching Total Recall (2012). I now clearly need to watch the Arnold Schwarzenegger version.
This story is actually one of Dick's funnier stories - although it has a sobering side too. But oh-so-frustrating for some of the characters. Of course, I'll leave you to figure out why.
In this short story, Dick scratches at the itch people have to do something meaningful with their lives. Douglas Quail is an everyman, ordinary, lowly, with a humdrum life to suit. He lives on Earth, and works as a clerk. In the midst of his humdrum life, he has seen a business called Rekal - a place where one can obtain one's wildest fantasies, not just as an observer, but experientially. And when we meet up with him at Rekal, he's about to receive his fantasy - to be a secret agent working on Mars.
For all its brevity, this story is quite convoluted. And very well-written. Dick doesn't add fluff or overmuch setting to his stories, and yet one gets a sense of the world around the characters through their eyes. And as I said up top, this is one of his more amusing ventures.
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