Dick, Philip K books

G

GreyViper

Where'd That 6th Toe Come From?
Having to work 7 days straight alone in a computer store this week. With the lack of clients I felt boredom creeping in, so I though it would be nice opportunity to read some of the stuff I have collected into my digital library. I settled for Dick, Philip K this week, the books I have from him are "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep", "Rautavaara's "Case, "Second Variety" & "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale ." I started with "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep" and about 20 minutes in to the story I get the feeling setting is familiar. And the it hits me duh, its Blade Runner or to be exact Blade runner was inspired by this. Thing is both were well done the book and the film and the game having elements from both book and film. But that I mean in book one of the androids hints that the bounty hunter who hunts andys is himself a android but dosent remember it, that was one end in Blade Runner game. Alright moving to next book "Second Variety" I was yet again hit by recognition. Turns out it inspired the film " Screamers" and in this case the film was better then the book. And finally "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale " guess I was expecting that it might have film adaption and I was right. Turns this one was base story to "Total recalll" where again film was more developed then the original story. But to its credit the story was amusing with nice twict in the end.
 
I love Philip K. Dicks work. The last book I read from him was "Dr. Bloodmoney or How We Got Along After the Bomb", in german: "Nach der Bombe". It was so cool, I love it.
 
Minority Report and A Scanner Darkly are also P.K. Dick stories.

one of my favorite authors. if you have yet to read "Valis" or "Flow My Tears the Policeman Said" might i STRONGLY recommend them to you?
 
"Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep" is the book that inspired Blade Runner yes, but it was not made to be the exact copy obviously. they cut a lot of the emotional & spiritual stuff.

if you do continue to read it, DO NOT compare them or expect them to be similar, or you'll be disappointed.

and yes, PKD stories have been turned into movies a lot, but for some reason most people never heard of him, or his books.
 
What I know for sure, it's that PKD would have laughed watching Total Recall. How is it possible not to laugh watching this?

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or this

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"Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep" <==== this book rocks.

I'll recommend Swan Song also...even though it's not a Philip K. Dick book...it's by Robert McCammon. Very good read.
 
Ye gods! Nobody's mentioned A Maze of Death and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch yet! Or The Man in the High Castle. Minus the *cough* ending.

The first one, it's almost criminal that it hasn't been adapted into a movie yet. Not even a freaking short film. The second... I can kind of understand why it hasn't been done. The third... you'll just have to read it to understand why it hasn't been adapted yet.

Also: UBIK, Martian Time-Slip, Radio Free Albemuth (leave that one for later.... it's got its ups and downs, as PK Dick's work tends to have)

A more obscure (and hastily written- during one of his manic phases- I believe he wrote the whole book in the span of a few months and it shows) is Zap Gun. Good luck finding it, but if you can, it's a hell of a read.

Oh, and short stories: folks already mentioned "Minority Report" and "We can Remember it for you wholesale." There's also "Beyond Lies the Wub," and a whole bunch of others I should know but don't because I didn't bother to pick up the short story collections. They were sort of pricey at the time.

And "Paycheck." Yes, the one that was made into a movie. I only read a bit of the story, and I haven't seen the movie, so I can't discuss the various differences between them.
 
Oh my! How much "Minority Report" sucked compared to the original. :puke:
It's like FO3 to FO1: shiny and action-heavy without meaning.
I still think that PKD is too clever for standard American movie-goers.

"UBIK" and "Zap Gun" and "A Maze of Death" are awesome, for sure!!
And I also enjoyed "Now Wait for Last Year" and "Lies, Inc.", both can be mind-boggling.

Ohh! I've just remembered! "The Cosmic Puppets" can be a nice start into PKD.
It has all the themes of his later works, but as the set is in a small town, the story is more confined and user-friendly.
It has a fantasy feel, actually.
 
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