Philip K Dick: The 5 Ways To Start Reading

Sci-fi literature is looked on from outside with a great deal of suspicion and trepidation. The perception probably warped by a perfunctory awareness of 50s madness, 70s kitsch and 80s movie adaptations. Selling sci-fi as a credible genre is a tough order. However there are a few authors which really stand out as titans of the genre whose ideas are relevant, perceptive and challenging, perhaps: Orwell, Asimov, Huxley, Heinlein, Wells, LeGuin, Ballard, Clarke, Philip K Dick*.

It is important not to think of sci-fi as predictive. This is a classic error when thinking of Orwell. 1984 is not about the future, it never was; it is merely set in the future. Sci-fi is about the present. Good sci-fi tells us more about the time it was written than the future. Great sci-fi tells us about any time in the present, past or future.

Philip K Dick

Of the great, classic stand out sci-fi authors Philip K Dick stands as one of the more esoteric: His novels straddle madness and genius, prima facie they are dated, sci-fi trash; undeveloped, thin characters, tropish settings and stories, obscure titles and some classic, pulp cover art. However, this perception misses the real genius of ideas which are more prescient than most of the others in the genre. Dick deals with themes of isolation in society, dehumanisation of technology, depersonalisation of private spheres of life and widening gaps in society; have and have nots, those able to escape or not, or those able to endure or not.

So, if you’ve never read any and you’re wondering where to start here are 5 tips on Philip K. Dick’s canon:

One place to start is with a story you might already have some familiarity with from screen adaptations. Several of Philip K Dick’s tales have been famously made into films/TV series and (if you ignore Schwarzenegger) the adaptations, although not faithful to the sources, are excellent works in their own right.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Famously adapted as Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a noir detective novel set in a post nuclear war future. Most animals are rendered extinct or incredibly rare and animal ownership is a significant status symbol. People are being encouraged to move to off-world colonies so earth becomes increasingly depopulated. The setting is characterised by decay, neglect and a strive for empathy (creating a tech-religion).

Deckard, the bounty hunter of replicants is forced to reflect on the morality of his role, his position in his society and religion. The futility and inequality of life is highlighted and the role of state/corporations, religion and creation is explored.

A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly’s big screen adaption was innovative and interesting; filmed using rotoscope animation giving the movie a surreal, non-realism look obviously representing the psychotropic drugs central to the story.

A Scanner Darkly follows an undercover narcotics agent (Bob Arctor) investigating fairly low level drug dealing of Substance D (Slow Death). His identity is hidden from his colleagues by use of a ‘scramble suit’. He is persuaded to attend New Path a rehabilitation clinic and is tasked with infiltrating the shadowy organisation and investigating their funding source.

Arctor loses himself in his undercover persona, he is anonymous in his professional role. He then loses himself further in the rehabilitation process. The Arctor we are left with is broken and changed beyond recognition. We are left to reflect on who, if anyone, is left with their identity intact and whether the drugs, the state or wider society affects this more.

The Man In The High Castle

In an alternate world Franklin D. Roosevelt is assassinated in 1933, The Great Depression is extended, America remains non-interventionist and the Axis powers win World War II. By 1967 America is divided into 4 states; The Pacific States ruled by Imperial Japan, The United States of America and The South puppet states of Nazi Germany, and The Rocky Mountain States a roughly independent buffer zone between the two factions.

The novel’s political intrigue and espionage is seen from the perspective of lower members of the social order (a secret Jew, a dealer in forged antiques and an outcast to the Rocky Mountain States). The novel explores totalitarianism, luck or chance and the human relation to the horrors of two contrasting states both of which are fixed in oppression and strict social order.

To stick to Philip K Dick’s screen adapted tales would be unfair as many of Dick’s tales are famously thought unfilmable:

Ubik

In the world of Ubik psychic powers are common and have been commercialised and exploited into an industry of corporate espionage and counter-espionage. The recently deceased are also preserved and maintained in a half-life state where they have a limited capacity to communicate and have consciousness.

Following an explosion on the moon the key survivors are plagued by visitations or representations by Runciter who died in the blast. The characters begin to tire and die inexplicably. Eventually discovering they actually were the ones who died and are being cared for in half-life by Runciter, their consciousnesses somehow linked. Those who tire and die are being ‘consumed’ by a half-lifer to sustain himself. The ending of the book seems to suggest another layer of questions as Runciter discovers a hint he himself may actually be in half-life questioning reality once more.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

In the future the world is so hot that protective clothing must be worn outside and Antarctica is a prime holiday destination. People are drafted to be involuntarily settled off-world but life is so horrific both off-world and on that people cope through the use of a kind of virtual reality which is facilitated by a illegal drug called Can-D. One company has the monopoly of both the virtual reality and Can-D.

Palmer Eldritch is rumoured to have found a new hallucinogen called Chew-X which can replace both the virtual reality system and Can-D by creating a shared world under its influence. representatives of the company who own Can-D try to investigate the rival. When in the world of Chew-X Eldritch has a god-like position in which he can manipulate reality, time and consciousness.

Philip K Dick’s work can be obscure, inconsistent, sometimes seemingly impenetrable in its surrealism but his ideas represent some of the greatest fictional representations of broad and deep thoughts about the nature of our world and humanity. The novels above represent some of the more accessible and famous of his work. If you enjoy those, it gets weirder from there.