
Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975) - pmoriarty
http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/5/lem5art.htm
======
trevelyan
> Is [Ubik] a symbol, and, if so, of just what? This is not easy to answer.

I thought Ubik was the in-breaking of the divine Logos ("I am Ubik. Before the
universe was, I am. I made the suns. I made the worlds. I created the lives
and the places they inhabit; I move them here, I put them there. They go as I
say, then do as I tell them. I am the word and my name is never spoken, the
name which no one knows. I am called Ubik, but that is not my name. I am. I
shall always be.") Ubik is thus the only force capable of rolling back entropy
and rescuing man from death.

The subtle thing about the book is its gnostic philosophy, and the implication
that "the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not
see it." Which is the point of Ubik's appearance in canned aerosol form: the
divine force permeates the world and takes presence even in the detritus of
the sort of mass consumerism that the novel shows subverting man's
relationship with the divine.

------
teddyh
All his novels that I’ve read are boring, weird, and mystical without seeming
to have a big point to them. I’d avoid them.

I _would_ , however, recommend his short stories _highly_. There’s a five-
volume collection of all of them, which I recommend. (Most people don’t seem
to realize that the movies based on his writing was almost all of them based
on his short stories, not his novels.)

~~~
KaiserPro
I tried to read "a scanner darkly" however I really didn't get on with it. Its
a shame because it has an excellent story, but I couldn't cope with the
dialogue.

Much like oscar wilde, great in tiny chunks but really hard going in the long
run

But, this is of course my unqualified opinion.

~~~
pmoriarty
"A Scanner Darkly" is really one of his minor books. You should try "Ubik".

~~~
knewuser
Dick considered 'A Scanner Darkly' to be his best work.

------
SideburnsOfDoom
The source of this essay is as interesting as the subject; it is known as part
of Stanislaw Lem's notoriously dim view of the majority of American Sci-Fi.

See:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem#Controversie...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem#Controversies)

[http://english.lem.pl/index.php/faq#SWFA](http://english.lem.pl/index.php/faq#SWFA)

------
GuiA
I've been on a PKD kick recently, because I had read some of his short stories
as a teenager and seen movies based on his work, and kept hearing how much of
a genius he was. In the past month or so I've been going through his body of
work, and my mind is getting blown at every turn. My goal is to read all that
he's ever written over 2015.

Here's a rough progression I recommend for those who want to delve into one of
the best writers who has ever lived (of course hardcore PKD fans might
disagree with the following, and I'd be happy to debate with them :-):

STARTING POINT:

\- Ubik, Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, The Man In The High Castle, A
Scanner Darkly, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - those are his most
famous novels, self contained, and the most accessible. They're fantastic, and
a great entry point into PKD's mind. Most of these are from the later years of
his life, when he had developed a pretty consistent, high quality style. You
just can't go wrong with these, and if you don't like them you probably
shouldn't bother with the rest of his work.

\- Movies based on his work, notably Blade Runner (which he himself expressed
appreciation for, although he never saw it fully), and A Scanner Darkly, the
first Total Recall + the adaptation of Confessions of a Crap Artist. While
they're not strictly PKDian, they're a good way to get immersed in his way of
thinking as the directors did a pretty good job of conveying his themes. The
more recent ones (Adjustment Bureau, Total Recall remake, Minority Report,
etc.) are fun as well but uneven in quality - but they can be a completely
fine introduction to his mind bending ideas, especially if you want to
convince friends who aren't into reading to try out his books.

INTERMEDIATE:

\- Stuff from his mid-years: Galactic Pot Healer, Time Out Of Joint, Martian
Time Slip, Confessions of a Crap Artist, The Crack In Space. Still very good
stuff, but I think you need to be already well acquainted with PKD to fully
appreciate them and see how his style and ideas were developing.

\- The Valis Tri/Tetralogy (Valis/Divine Invasion/Radio Free Albemuth/The
Transmigration of Timothy Archer). That's where you start to get deep into PKD
lore, and you should read about his life to get the context in which they were
written.

\- Most of the short stories from ~1960 and onwards. Some are great, some less
so, but they're short so you can easily get through the ones you like less.

FOR THE HARDCORE FAN ONLY:

\- all the obscure short stories and remaining novels not mentioned above -
they're not necessarily harder to get into, but they're from his earlier years
and thus don't have the same level of craftsmanship (a few are not even really
sci-fi). Also he wrote so much stuff that you should only spend time with
those dozens of works if you're really, really into him.

\- The Exegesis of PKD: a selection of about 10% of his personal notes,
written towards the end of his life when he was completely {drugged out |
schizophrenic | a religious nutjob} (pick one or more, or invent your own).
It's basically his interpretations of life, the universe, and everything else,
based on (somewhat sound) insights from philosophy, physics, biology, etc.
This is an insane book that you can only appreciate (and have the strength to
go through) if you already have a solid understanding of his world views and
ideas.

\---

Someone recently wrote on reddit "Nobody writes like Feynman; but luckily he
wrote a lot.", which is a quote that I love and would apply equally well to
PKD.

~~~
pmoriarty
I've read a lot of PKD, though not everything. My top three picks would be:

    
    
      1 - Ubik
    
      2 - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
    
      3 - Martian Time Slip
    

Honorable mentions:

    
    
      4 - A Maze of Death
    
      5 - Divine Invasion (the 2nd of the VALIS trilogy)
    
      6 - Eye in the Sky
    

Of his short stories, I'd recommend "Beyond Lies the Wub" and "Roog".

Regarding movies influenced by his work:

The original "Blade Runner" movie is far better than "Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep". The original "Total Recall" movie is far better than "We Can
Remember It for You Wholesale". "The Terminator" is far better than "Second
Variety". "The Truman Show" is better in some ways than "Time Out of Joint"
(though this is a closer call, and as usual Dick's vision is a lot darker than
Hollywood's take on it). "A Scanner Darkly" and "Minority Report" are also
minor works, which you would lose nothing by skipping.

I would also avoid prety much all of his later work and his so-called
"Exegisis". For me, Philip K Dick was best when he was writing straight scifi
(or at least as straight as he could write it).

Later he tried to write more "literary fiction", or things that had little if
any scifi in them, and failed utterly. His navel gazing and endless obsessing
about a minor mystical experience in the Exegesis could also not be any more
dull. Avoid.

Some of his early and mid-career work is fantastic, though. He is definitely
one of my top three favorite scifi authors, if not the very top for his best
work.

He wrote A LOT, however, mostly due to being incredibly poor and yet insisting
on supporting himself and his family exclusively by publishing work that was
appreciated by very few people throughout almost all of his lifetime. So
overall his work is of very uneven quality, and can be very hit or miss if you
insist on reading through much of it.

~~~
GuiA
Interesting that you consider A Scanner Darkly minor. I'm guessing you're
referring to the book, not the movie. Why's that? I found it to be really
good- it'd probably be in my top 5 (Ubik being #1 so far).

~~~
pmoriarty
Sorry, but it's probably been about 20 years since I read it (and most of his
other work). So I couldn't give you any kind of detailed critique on it,
except to say that it didn't leave much an impression on me, unlike top picks
or honorable mentions.

------
mindcrime
I'm not sure if PKD was a visionary or just a whacked-out drug addict, but he
was something. VALIS is still one of the most mind-bending books I've ever
read. I'm really looking forward to digging into more of his works one of
these days...

------
stefantalpalaru
Dick's move was to rat this suspicious Stanisław Lem guy/committee to the
FBI[1] :-)

In his defense, he had paranoid schizophrenia (you know - that disease that
gets you hellbanned on HN).

[1]:
[http://english.lem.pl/index.php/faq#P.K.Dick](http://english.lem.pl/index.php/faq#P.K.Dick)

------
esoterae
PKD aside, wow, whoever wrote that review needs to /* */ out #include
pompous_wordy_dickbag.h

~~~
SideburnsOfDoom
The author's name is at the top. You should find out who he was, maybe read
some of his work, it's great.

