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Loading... Selected Stories of Phillip K. Dick (2002)by Phillip K. DickAbsolutely amazing. I've always meant to read some of his stuff, so a book full of short stories seemed perfect. It contains most of the stories which have been adapted into movies. I found it fascinating from a psychology perspective too. I had heard that Dick may have been schizophrenic, and I can absolutely see where that comes from, now. So many of the stories involve paranoia, warping of reality, or a complete disbelief in reality. That he is able to tackle those themes on such a deep level and still construct fascinating stories all around it shows how much skill he had. Ratings:- Before reading this, I was awfully worried I wouldn't like these PKD stories as much (or even a fraction of the amount) of the movies that they were made into. And so I put it off, and with the help of another procrastinator, we put it off some more. But then it finally happened. I read them. And all my worries melted away. The core stories are all fantastic. The details in the movies flesh it out a lot, but the core stories are fantastic. :) I won't mention all, but I will mention a few of my favorites. Beyond Lies the Wub - a great sarcastic, meaty philosophical treat. Paycheck - Almost play-by-play the same as the movie. Fun. Second Variety - Screamers movie, perhaps BETTER than the movie. :) Imposter- One of my favorite unknown PKD movies, same fundamental twist. The King of the Elves - Funny and sad at the same time, and I would love to see this turned into a full movie. Adjustment Team - On the fence. Probably as good as the movie. Autofac - A great dystopia, post war, crazy. The Minority Report - I really got into the subtleties of the *three* minority reports, this time. The Days of Perky Pat - Creepy because we're already here. A Game of Unchance - Carnie fun on outposts. We Can Remember It for You Wholesale - Total Recall, anyone? Faith of Our Fathers - Communist China has taken over the world, but who took over the Chinese? The Electric Ant - A fantastic perception/reality fable featuring an android PoV. :) The Exit Door Leads In - Perfect for all of us who just want to rebel. The MC is a weenie tho. :) I definitely enjoyed these. The ones I didn't mention were not bad, mind you, after all, this is PKD. :) I got this out to read a sampling of Dick's early work and Jonathan Lethem's essay. The strength in his intro is qualifying the man Dick was, his ambitions and how he never felt accepted. It sets up the chronological ordering of the stories and the intention to showcase the writer Dick was and became over his career. A number of these I was already familiar with from the audiobook of his short stories Mason burned for the car years ago. New fav: "The King of the Elves" I should note I didn't read all of the stories and I will return to this collection. Best overall selection of his shorter works I've come across. The rating is for the two short stories I read, "Minority Report" and "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," both of which were the basis for movies, the former starring Tom Cruise and the latter starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original and Colin Farrell in the remake. Both stories are interesting and competently written but they take a very cool idea and then rely on twists and tricks to make the stories interesting. Dick doesn't really follow through on the ramifications of the technological innovations he presents, even though it seems clear from throwaway lines that he appreciates what they might be. I'm not a huge fan of the twist-at-the-end short story format, but if you are, you'll like these quite a bit. I didn't dislike them, I was just expecting more given his reputation. I'll go back and read other stories at some point to get a better sense of his work overall, and I have a number of his novels in my TBR. I was going to go on to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, but I am a little worried about how the women characters will fare. In these two stories the only parts that were more than two dimensional were one character's boobs. So a break is definitely in order. I came across this book during one of my daily emailings from Book-Bub. The cost was $1.99 which to my mind is a bargain for any Phillip K. Dick novel. I could not even find this title in Goodreads. The forward is written by Jonathan Lethem. I tried cross-referencing but to no avail. A fabulous collection. Some of the great stories: Adjustment Bureau, Minority Report, Electric Ant and others. Phillip Dick is one of the great sci-fi writers. Fantastic descriptions of a dystopian future, life on and off planet, lots of speculation about Mars, time travel (and time scoops) - chases, hide and seek and more time travel. For those who love science fiction this is a selection you will want to read, probably more than once. I've been told that PKD's best work appears in his stories. Doesn't seem correct compared to High Castle and Electric Sheep, both of which are just about perfect. About a third of the collection, from the period when PKD started to get truly weird, is worth is. But I've no interest in getting a picture of his whole career. Avoid the early stuff. Start halfway through, if you must. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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A fabulous collection. Some of the great stories: Adjustment Bureau, Minority Report, Electric Ant and others. Phillip Dick is one of the great sci-fi writers. Fantastic descriptions of a dystopian future, life on and off planet, lots of speculation about Mars, time travel (and time scoops) - chases, hide and seek and more time travel.
For those who love science fiction this is a selection you will want to read, probably more than once. ( )