Books by Philip K Dick
“Phil called it an anti-drug novel, and it is in a sense, but it’s not just anti-drugs. It’s pretty much anti-capitalist. Drugs is just one example, but we could use homelessness or we could use racism. It illustrates one aspect of American life at the time. Another brilliant novel.” Read more...
“It’s not even a roller coaster, it’s a rocket ride of a story. It’s funny, it’s direct… Phil knew right where he was going with this one, and he went straight to it. It’s an arrow to the heart of reality, and a really great novel. Many people find it to be their favourite.” Read more...
“How do you explain this book? It’s science fiction, but it’s a horror story at the same time. Mankind has sent a lot of people to Mars as colonists, but it’s a pretty sorry state of affairs on Mars. They live in hovels. They’ve got all this machinery and stuff to terraform the planet, but it’s just sitting there idle and going to rust. Many consider it one of his greatest masterpieces.” Read more...
“It’s set in an industrialised environment where the huge corporations are pretty much in charge, and they hire people in a sort of feudal industrial system. The hero, a guy named Ted Bentley, he gets fired from his job at one of these places; so he goes to the person called the ‘Quizmaster’ and signs up with him. The whole society is based on a random lottery: if your number gets picked in this mechanism called ‘the bottle’ you get to be the new Quizmaster. The current Quizmaster knows that the bottle is about to pick a new person, and he doesn’t want to give up power, but of course he has to cede it. He gives Bentley a job in his organisation, whose new mission is to assassinate the new Quizmaster.” Read more...
“The story is primarily concerned with ‘How do you tell a human from a robot?’ But what I found most interesting about it was that it was an apocalyptic future, in which human beings had built machines not to kill other human beings, but to learn how to kill other human beings. The robots initially were just landmines, they were very simple things. They learned how to camouflage themselves, and then human beings became more scarce and smarter, so the robots actually had to begin to learn how to mimic us. What’s interesting to me from a roboticist’s perspective is that it’s just a problem like any other – killing people. You can program a machine to learn how to do that optimally. What’s really fascinating is that the optimal form that this robot has chosen to kill human beings is another human being. That’s just a really, really cool concept to me; it’s a powerful message.” Read more...
Daniel H Wilson, Scientist
The Man in the High Castle
by Philip K Dick
A work of dystopian alternative fiction from one of science fiction's most celebrated authors, Philip K Dick.
Interviews where books by Philip K Dick were recommended
The Best Alternate History Books, recommended by Harry Turtledove
By telling alternative histories, we can run thought experiments that shed new light on our own timeline. ‘Master of alternate history’ Harry Turtledove talks us through his five favourites – and considers why alternate history pre-dates conventional sci fi, why some historical changes make for better drama than others, and how the micro-histories of our own lives are radically shaped by chance.
The Best Philip K. Dick Books, recommended by David Hyde
Philip K. Dick was a prolific sci fi writer, publishing 44 novels and over a hundred short stories. Once hooked, you’ll devour them all, says David Hyde, the publisher and festival organiser better known as ‘Lord Running Clam’ within the lively fan community. Here, he introduces us to his top five books by Philip K. Dick: novels featuring alternate realities, ambiguous endings and philosophical questions that are puzzling new generations of fans.
The best books on Parallel Worlds, recommended by Joanna Kavenna
The concept of parallel worlds is no more dubious than that of a single reality, and it’s something that writers have known for centuries, says British novelist Joanna Kavenna. She recommends some of her favourite books that focus on parallel realities.
The best books on Robotics, recommended by Daniel H Wilson
These days robotic technology is developing so fast that sci-fi is having a hard time keeping up, says best-selling author and roboticist, Daniel H Wilson. He picks the best books on robotics.
