Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — john27

Any thoughts? Have you read other PKD?

— Baden

Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Same question to you both. Any thoughts? I didn't love it, but I knew going in that it would be quite different than Tarkovsky's Stalker.

I'm currently reading The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick.

Same question to you both. Any thoughts? — Noble Dust

No thoughts from me, as I can't even remember it. How much that's forgettableness, and how much forgetfulness, I'm not sure.

I find that interesting because, while I didn't love it, I certainly didn't find it forgettable. Maybe that has more to do with my own weird taste in fiction. It reminded me of PKD's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", quite ironically, as that was just mentioned above by @john27.

I like weird too, so maybe it's the forgetfulness after all.

Maybe. Are you into/have you read Philip K. Dick?

My relationship with Dick is ... complicated. I think highly of Castle and Sheep, but after trying some others I just got fed up with the bad writing. He wrote in a hurry and it shows. I know, I know, we should read him for the imagination, the ideas, and so on. I'll probably come back to him one day.

Fair enough; I usually begin with the assumption that people find him weird at best. If anything, I probably have an unhealthy obsession with his work. The only question I'll ask is have you read UBIK?

Ubik, no. That's one of his maddest isn't it?

I agree with @Noble Dust, didn't love it. Preferred Stalker (I wasn't expecting the book to be so different).

but after trying some others I just got fed up with the bad writing — jamalrob

Yes, I remember just giving up on one of his books for this reason. Haven't read one since.

I probably have an unhealthy obsession with his work. — Noble Dust

What's his best one, you think? I might try again.

How Dead Languages Work Coulter George

He says different languages are like cuisines and he discusses the sapir whorf hypothesis.

Yup. It's surreal, hilarious, and terrifying. A mind fuck.



To me UBIK is the best, but it's maybe an acquired taste. I would say The Man In The High Castle is a good intro to his style and themes, although it's a bit slow.

And weirdly, when I first started reading him I also was annoyed by what I thought was mediocre writing, but now I don't even notice it because I find his worlds so engrossing.

Yeah, there's great storytellers who aren't very good writers and vice versa. When I read plot summaries of his stuff I'm blown away.

Ubik is excellent. I'm probably in the minority wishing the last sentence wasn't there.

I've read a lot, but not everything, and I love him not for the what-is-real? stuff but just for the humanity. Somewhere he said that his typical novel is a guy who loses his job, stops at the bar on the way home to drown his sorrows, comes home drunk and out-of-work so his wife leaves him, and *then* aliens land in the front yard.

He was a haunted man.

WHAT? :scream: :scream:

That last sentence made me realize, I never came down from my high.

Dick is absolutely fantastic. But his prose is not amazing. Though I think that in A Scanner Darkly, he steps it up considerably.

Though I think that in A Scanner Darkly, he steps it up considerably. — Manuel

Ahhh, that’s next on my list, although I feel like I should read some earlier work first. My brother recommended Martian Time Slip.

I've read a lot, but not everything, and I love him not for the what-is-real? stuff but just for the humanity. — Srap Tasmaner

For sure, although I’m a fan of both. Any favorites for you?

Both good.

Scanner is really special. That and Radio Free Albemuth are the most autobiographical I guess.



I loved Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Has some of that Alfred Bester dazzle to it, and very Phildickian themes. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Another early one, Clans of the Alphabet Moon. Plus all the usual ones we've already mentioned. Only stuff I've deliberately stayed away from is VALIS. There's an edited version of the Exegesis out now, but I won't be reading that I think.

I've never been even slightly disappointed by any novel or short story of his. They used to be hard to find so my collection is slightly random. Feels like I'm forgetting an important one but I can't think of it

There's also at least one collection of interviews available and it's good

I didn't pay (much) attention to order, he has like 8 -10 classics and then everybody has a few personal favorites, usually not on the list.

I kid not, the most reading I've ever done, was reading 14 of his books in a row, in 3 weeks. In my peak I was averaging a book a day.

I would not recommend it, I don't remember Martian Time Slip too well, nor Dr. Bloodmoney.

Flow My Tears, Maze of Death, Palmer Eldricht, were also amazing.

The underrated charm from me would be The Game Players of Titan.

/End rant

I loved Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. — Srap Tasmaner

I did too, although it was a bit overwhelming and sort left me with a sickly feeling for some reason.

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. — Srap Tasmaner

I know this is a perennial favorite, but it's the only one so far I didn't really care for that much. The ending left me cold I think.

VALIS I thought was...good. Obviously it's very bizarre. I actually really enjoyed The Divine Invasion, which is a very loose sequel I guess. As to the Exegesis, I have a copy and have read about 100 pages...it's a pretty dizzying glimpse inside his brain. As you said, a haunted man. If I'm being honest, I share some of his mystical preoccupations. It's hard for me to look away.

I kid not, the most reading I've ever done, was reading 14 of his books in a row, in 3 weeks. In my peak I was averaging a book a day. — Manuel

:lol: Sounds about right. I'm sure you're not the only person to have done this.

The underrated charm from me would be The Game Players of Titan. — Manuel

Noted. :up:

his mystical preoccupations — Noble Dust

Some of the novels amble along doing this and that, and then like 2/3 of the way through veer sharply into religious territory. Like he's really not able to control it. But then he saw a giant metal face in the sky, so ...

I should read more. It's been too long. Maybe I'll try the VALIS books after all.

I think really I just value his company. Like Bill Hicks. Just another confused guy you meet on the road, and he makes the journey more bearable.

Just another confused guy you meet on the road, and he makes the journey more bearable. — Srap Tasmaner

No doubt.

I'll throw in a book not by Saint Phil that's nearly forgotten and strangely out-of-print: Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys.

Woah, thanks, that sounds bizarre and awesome. Gonna see if I can find a copy. I'll do you one more: A Voyage To Arcturus by David Lindsay. If people think Dick is a bad writer, get ready for Lindsay. But it's a strange, addictive story that you won't forget anytime soon.

PKD. Very provocative storyteller, but mediocre writer. Maybe if I'd read him in high school or before I might have acquired a taste (or nostalgia) for his dull prose ...

Yes, his prose is meh, but again, in A Scanner Darkly, he steps it up, I remember this quote, which is fantastic, I think:

“What does a scanner see? he asked himself. I mean, really see? Into the head? Down into the heart? Does a passive infrared scanner like they used to use or a cube-type holo-scanner like they use these days, the latest thing, see into me - into us - clearly or darkly? I hope it does, he thought, see clearly, because I can't any longer these days see into myself. I see only murk. Murk outside; murk inside. I hope, for everyone's sake, the scanners do better. Because, he thought, if the scanner sees only darkly, the way I myself do, then we are cursed, cursed again and like we have been continually, and we'll wind up dead this way, knowing very little and getting that little fragment wrong too.”

:up: See, to me I do consider that good writing. As @Srap Tasmaner was saying, PKD has a way of eliciting humanity. To me, his writing is coarse and unadorned, but this is what makes it human and affecting.

Just reading some more Hegel right now

A Voyage To Arcturus by David Lindsay — Noble Dust

I know of it, of course, but I’ve never read it, so thanks for the endorsement!