So glad you picked Martian Time-Slip. I've read it three times and its easily in my top three PKD books. I also recommend Time Out of Joint. Another reality bending novel that deals more in a mystery. Flow my Tears the Policeman Said: Drugs, alternate universe, celebrity, TZ esque. One more Must READ: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. This one deals with monopolistic corporations. A drug induced paranoia that that questions the nature of reality
Excellent overview! I would suggest Stanislaw Lem be looked at in more detail: 1. Solaris 2. The Invincible 3. Fiasco 4. Return From the Stars 5. Pirx the Pilot 6. More Tales of Pirx the Pilot. He explores the impossibility of communication between Man and Alien Life. He's one of my favourites.
I can see that people recommend ”Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.” But I must mention my favorite PKD’s book: ”Clans of the Alphane Moon” also VALIS, after the third reading became one of the PKD’s best works - I would love to think that VALIS is his own fight for his menthal health.
My choices: Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik, Time out of Joint, Man in High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I'm not sure I've read the Martian Timeslip. Putting it on my TBR.
I've only ever read The Man in the High Castle and I definitely enjoyed that. A Scanner Darkly sounds really interesting...just added to my 'to read' list! Thanks!
There was a good Richard Linklater movie made of A Scanner Darkly with Keanu Reeves in 2006; unusually accurate PKD adaptation is my understanding. Maybe worthwhile after you read.
Hi Darrel! Your 5 PKD picks are quite spot on. Instead of replacing your 5 selections with 5 of my own how about I add my own 5 to your list for a PKD top 10? Here's another 5 classics: 1) A Maze of Death (Talk about a mind frack! Pocket universes created from people's death wishes) 2) Valis (Of course! This is light reading compared to PKD's Exegesis, which I have read of course) 3) The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (Mind frack #2 Is Palmer Eldritch the Messiah?) 4) Galactic Pot Healer (PKD's nightmarish visions of Big Government filtered through his wonderful sense of humor) 5) Eye in the Sky (Dick's best novel from the 50s imho, it shares themes from A Maze of Death with pocket universes being created from the schizophrenic minds of the protagonists) If you have time and the inclination how about doing a video about PKD's best stories (either top 5 or top 10) BTW, I just discovered your channel and am so thrilled with the content. You're doing a fantastic job!
hi! great video for new readers into the PKD world. i would say my top 5 books of him are VALIS, Ubik, The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, The man in the high castle and DADOES. im definitely excited to read A scanner darkly. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Great intro to the crazy world of PKD. I have read most of his novels. I like them all for their elements of a convoluted mimd. My daughter thinks I should get therapy but he's part of my psychological make up. Always thought provoking. Martian Time Slip and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer are a couple of my favorite. Enjoy your videos.
I’m currently reading all of the PKD books in order, so this is a fun video (even though I’m only about halfway through, 21 books to go!). Have you read The Penultimate Truth? I feel like PKD really got to the truth of the dangers of mass media disinformation. It’s eerily rings true right now
I’m currently reading Counter-Clock World and am getting the same “legendary” vibe from this as from the others on your list. By the time you’re about 1/3 through a PKD novel, you can usually tell if he’s hitting all the philosophical points for an awesome book (at least this is what I’ve found after getting through 20+ of them)
Good on you for including Martian Time-Slip! There's nothing like the dinner party scene repetition anywhere else, even anywhere else in PKD. I was pleasantly surprised to see it on your list. My recommendation: Galactic Pot Healer, The Game Players of Titan, the Cosmic Puppets
Good list, sir! I just finished THE SIMULACRA (no, I'm not suggesting it should have made the list) and I found it filled with (over-blown with?) such insane social and technological constructs that only PKD could have written it. Plot-wise, it was more like his short stories, but he filled it with such insanity I was having fun the whole time.
I've read over 40 PKD novels and five books of his forgettable short stories. The best novels are, in addition to the above, THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH, EYE IN THE SKY, TIME OUT OF JOINT, COUNTER CLOCK WORLD, CLANS OF THE ALPHANE MOON, FLOW MY TEARS THE POLICEMAN SAID, VALIS, THE DIVINE INVASION AND RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH.
My 2 cents worth: Martian Time-Slip is my favorite book, full stop. All the books you mentioned are "must-read". But PKD wrote more novels that everyone should read, IMO. Although technically not science fiction, "Confessions of a Crap Artist" is brilliant and likely to appeal to a lot of SF readers. I quite like the "late novels" Radio Free Albemuth, VALIS, and The Divine Invasion. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, of course. Now Wait for Last Year is a potent blend of space opera and political thriller.
Great video!!! I don't love (7/10)DODOES , but I am fan of his other books.My favourite is Ubik, and Ubik is name of one dark angel from manga Berserk .
I've only read DADOES so far, a lot was quite in step with blade runner, then it would suddenly take a u-turn straight down the rabbit hole - bit's like the other police station I only recall like a hazy dream, cause I never fully understood and I think we're probably not meant to. The coolest and most disturbing aspect was that virtual reality machine where they get to walk in step with their religious figure as he gets pelted with rocks - don't think we've seen the meeting of VR, Christians, the Cloud and Mel Gibson, but it may yet happen.
I've been reading PKD for a long time, since pre-adolescence in the early 1960s. Even though I've read a lot sometimes I'd find a new one. The last one I read was Ubik. The first one, I think, and my favorite so far is Eye in the Sky.
I loved Eye in the Sky and I confess there's a soft spot in my heart for other old PKD novels like Solar Lottery and Time Out of Joint. Even those old novels reaveal how the core of PKD art revolves around the exploration of the concept of reality.
I know you mentioned it in passing but I really thought you'd include VALIS as I would love to hear your thoughts on the book. ''Martian Time-Slip'' must be the only book you mentioned I haven't yet read, I must correct that. Thanks for an interesting video.
I haven't read that many of his books (yet), but I really enjoyed The Simulacra. It's so deliciously unhinged, it reads and feels like Terry Gilliam should make a movie adaptation.
Thanks for giving the underrated _Martian Time-Slip_ some love. I recommend also _Flow my Tears, The Policeman Said._ I always liked it, but I have a special affinity since I became a political prisoner of the United States, which is literally true.
huge PKD fan , read more than 20 of his books and 2 biographies about him all five books are must read , so great picks my friend i would also add these 2 , which imho are also must read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch VALIS pkd is lsd
My top five is pretty much the same, except I have The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch in there, and A Scanner Darkly at number six. Flow My Tears the Policeman Said at seven. Clans of the Alphane Moon at eight… A Martian Time Slip is criminally underrated. I have it at number 3.
It's good to treat PKD like best intro books (DADOES, TMITHC), if good go a level deeper books (Flow My Tears, Three Stigmata) , and then deepest level books (VALIS Trilogy). Top 5: Three Stigmata, Ubik, Flow My Tears, TMITHC, DADOES. Honorable mentions: Scanner Darkly, VALIS, Martian Time Slip, Maze of Death
Great to find someone pushing recommendations for PKD. Now you should ruin everything & make people hate you by telling them to read the Exegesis (which I love btw) 😄Seriously, you've got a really decent channel here, buddy. Nicely done!
Yes. "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" should really be on the list. It rates as high as Ubik on the weirdness scale and is much better than High Castle. Then there is VALIS which I think was Dick's favourite and pretty incomprehensible because of the multitude of layers. When in this Genre of sci-fi weirdness there is nothing that beats "The Futurological Congress" by Stanislaw Lem. Not so complex as it has a continuous story arc but really funny absurd and very true to modern life.
The Penultimate Truth - Brilliant allegory of modern slavery through deception. Intergalactic pothealer - Weird but very enjoyable. PKD's aliens can be extremely "alien" if you catch my drift, not in the slightest bit humanoid. We can build you - A distracted, but interesting view of a society riddled with mental problems. Man in the High Castle - also liked it, very well written with more emotional depth and good focus. Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep is often mentioned, but I never felt much reading it, so different from the other books. I will give Martian Time Slip another go once I finish Heinlein - The moon is a harsh mistress. I read very slowly and not every day.
Here's my list before I even see yours. 😁We should have at least a couple in common. In order, they are: 1. Martian Time-Slip 2. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. 3. Ubik. 4. The Man In The High Castle. 5. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Now to watch the video...👍
They're all brilliant novels, but I prefer "Galactic Pot-Healer" to "Ubik", which is an underrated novel of his. I have always been keen on "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", but I also particularly like "Eye in the Sky", "Time Out of Joint" and "Dr. Bloodmoney". Among his shorter fiction, "Faith of Our Fathers" is also well worth reading.
@@mahatmarandy5977 "Eye in the Sky" is overshadowed by his later novels, but they can't be compared. I don't think that "A Maze of Death" is one of his greatest novels, but it is one of his most brilliant, powerful and disturbing. I prefer "Galactic Pot-Healer", that has a stronger structure that doesn't fall apart near the end, and it's his most comical. There's a certain amount of subjectivity though about which is the best.
@ hm. When I read Pot Healer it had about 20,000 words of word salad tacked on to the end, so “doesn’t fall apart at the end” wouldn’t be my way of describing it :). That’s not meant as an insult. I know there was an earlier novella-length version that he expanded, but I’ve never found that one. “Eye in the sky” is brilliant, funny, weird, and internally consistent. I’m surprised no one ever tried to film it, as it’s pretty visual for one of his stories. “A Maze of Death” just struck me really hard when I first stumbled across it and I suppose arguably it may be the first depiction of Virtual Reality. I read “Frolix 8” that same month, and was kinda startled at the difference between Phil being on his game and being off of it. But, yeah, there is a lot of subjectivity. I tend to like his less popular books. I’m not sure why. I’d like to think it’s because he tended to self-censor less and run down blind alleys that he couldn’t in his more focused, popular books, but just as likely it’s my irritatingly contrarian nature. For instance I like Radio Free Albemuth better than VALIS
@@mahatmarandy5977 I meant that I think the concluding sections of "Galactic Pot-Healer" are the full sum of it's parts, unlike "A Maze of Death". The earlier version is a novel written for children, called "Nick and the Glimmung", which wasn't published in his lifetime, so he wrote "Galactic Pot-Healer" instead. I agree with you about "Eye in the Sky". "A Maze of Death" is very penetrating. As in his other novels, what the characters experienced was real not virtual. The strange scene with Seth Morley near the end of the novel, bears this out. Dick said that [conceptually] in his SF, hallucinations only differ in quantity not the quality of what we see. Yes, there's different choices. His less popular or acclaimed novels should be focused on. They are less like part of the canon. "Radio Free Albemuth" is more concise and transparently clear than the more visionary and intense "Valis", although Dick did intend to rewrite it.
@@expressoric He once said that everyone's subjective universe differs a bit from the objective one, but if it differs *TOO* much, you're insane. I always liked that. To my knowledge, RFA was the book he intended to write, and then when the publisher's notes came back requesting a few changes, he got frustrated and rewrote the whole thing from scratch.
Very subjective. Although they all are good... definitely not the top five to read. Of course, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a must, it is that way because of the movie Blade Runner. The Man in the High Castle did win him a Hugo, so of course that should be up there too. Ubik is also considered to be one of his most popular books. However a Scanner Darkly? It's fine, that's for sure and it was made into a movie... although I don't know about it being a must read. My first read of his was The Man Who Japped, and since my dad had dozens of detective, mystery, and espionage novels around, that what he liked to read, So when I read The Man Who Japped, my mind was blown, and it is an amazing to read. I don't know if I would put it on a top 5 or even a top 10 because my intrigue is mostly because of my own personal bias. I would probably include Flow My Tears the Policeman Said instead. Martian Time Slip is also very good, but so many fall into that category, he did write 44 novels... I would have opted for something like The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, which was nominated for a Nebula. Just some thoughts is anyone runs into this later than sooner.
Adding: Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said So many methods to shatter people's personal realities. I like the way characters' realilities are pitted against each other baiting the reader to choose one over the other. Such as when the reader, via the main character's viewpoint, is presented with a criminal justifying her crimes to achieve a happy ending in her fairytale-like view of reality. A grounded no nonsense officer of the law presents the "harsh facts" of her delusions to the reader. That's not where it ends though, the officer's choice of reality turns out to be just as questionable. But more than that, I love how PKD doesn't explain, for nearly the entire book, whats happening to the characters and instead only shows their behaviors. Some of it is left unexplained implicitly yet becomes obvious to readers who recognize real-life human conditions, such as the policeman's behavior at the end of the book. The Variable Man Well it is kinda bad, I think. But it is a fun ride. Solar Lottery Its bad. But so many great elements! The cult members co-plot was great. The part where they discovered the truth and then continue on course as if the lie didn't matter and they turn out to be the most sensible group in the universe regardless. The guy that pulls off the heiseberg heist, just one simple idea, coming across as a total genius to people who should know better. Reminds me a bit of Vincenzo Perugia. So many stories involving telepathy make it overpowered then artificially underpowered or cludge some anti-telapathy effect for plot convenience. PKD designed a way to let telepaths use telepathy against themselves. The Eyes Have It. How is this not required reading in middle school writing classes? Valis Two of PKD's greatest scenes ever. The devote believer explaining to an agnostic how a real miracle doesn't prove God. "If you like, I can draw it out for you in symbolic logic". And the other, when Herb Asher talks his way out of incarseration by being a symphony aficionado and God's father, pardon me, _LEGAL_ father.
Did you flat out lift your description of Martian Time Slip directly from goodreads, or is that from the back of the book? Now all I can wonder is how frequent an occurrence is this?
Well I'd recommend flow my tears the policeman said, for a true mind bending experience One of THE BEST books I've ever read in my life, doesn't fall short from dadoes, which is amazing as well
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is within my Top 5
Agree! Love that book--it's such a mind-fuck like Ubik, which is my favorite.
Bought this on a whim last week. About halfway through now. Loving it so far.
Disagree! I am the best👌
Palmer Eldrich is my favorite.
My favorite and haunts me to this day if I ever left Palmer Eldritch's reality or not
So glad you picked Martian Time-Slip. I've read it three times and its easily in my top three PKD books.
I also recommend Time Out of Joint. Another reality bending novel that deals more in a mystery.
Flow my Tears the Policeman Said: Drugs, alternate universe, celebrity, TZ esque.
One more Must READ: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. This one deals with monopolistic corporations. A drug induced paranoia that that questions the nature of reality
Excellent overview! I would suggest Stanislaw Lem be looked at in more detail: 1. Solaris 2. The Invincible 3. Fiasco 4. Return From the Stars 5. Pirx the Pilot 6. More Tales of Pirx the Pilot. He explores the impossibility of communication between Man and Alien Life. He's one of my favourites.
I can see that people recommend ”Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.” But I must mention my favorite PKD’s book: ”Clans of the Alphane Moon” also VALIS, after the third reading became one of the PKD’s best works - I would love to think that VALIS is his own fight for his menthal health.
Check out “Radio Free Albemuth” if you haven’t read it. It’s kind of a rough draft for VALIS, but very different at the same time
Man did you surprise me with the last one. I was thinking about it. Cool!
My choices: Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik, Time out of Joint, Man in High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I'm not sure I've read the Martian Timeslip. Putting it on my TBR.
I've only ever read The Man in the High Castle and I definitely enjoyed that. A Scanner Darkly sounds really interesting...just added to my 'to read' list! Thanks!
Hope you enjoy it 😊
There was a good Richard Linklater movie made of A Scanner Darkly with Keanu Reeves in 2006; unusually accurate PKD adaptation is my understanding. Maybe worthwhile after you read.
@@MagusMarquillin thank you for the recommendation! I’ll definitely check that out
Agree, gonna check the book out myself.
That's a good top 5 Phillip K Dick list... plus Three Stigmata and Bloodmoney
A Scanner Darkly is my all time favorite book. Excellent list.
Maze of Death is one of his darkest and scariest
HELL yeah! And yet no one has heard of it
Hi Darrel! Your 5 PKD picks are quite spot on. Instead of replacing your 5 selections with 5 of my own how about I add my own 5 to your list for a PKD top 10?
Here's another 5 classics:
1) A Maze of Death (Talk about a mind frack! Pocket universes created from people's death wishes)
2) Valis (Of course! This is light reading compared to PKD's Exegesis, which I have read of course)
3) The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (Mind frack #2 Is Palmer Eldritch the Messiah?)
4) Galactic Pot Healer (PKD's nightmarish visions of Big Government filtered through his wonderful sense of humor)
5) Eye in the Sky (Dick's best novel from the 50s imho, it shares themes from A Maze of Death with pocket universes being created from the schizophrenic minds of the protagonists)
If you have time and the inclination how about doing a video about PKD's best stories (either top 5 or top 10)
BTW, I just discovered your channel and am so thrilled with the content. You're doing a fantastic job!
hi! great video for new readers into the PKD world. i would say my top 5 books of him are VALIS, Ubik, The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, The man in the high castle and DADOES. im definitely excited to read A scanner darkly. Thanks and keep up the good work!
The Three Stigmata, Penultimate Truth, A Scanner Darkly, and Game Players of Titan are my favorites.
This was great, because PKD is my favorite author. I would have had VALIS on the list though, like you said.
Dr. Bloodmoney deserves an honorable mention
Great intro to the crazy world of PKD. I have read most of his novels. I like them all for their elements of a convoluted mimd. My daughter thinks I should get therapy but he's part of my psychological make up. Always thought provoking. Martian Time Slip and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer are a couple of my favorite. Enjoy your videos.
The transmigration of Timothy Archer is one of my favorit. I love the humor in it..
I’m currently reading all of the PKD books in order, so this is a fun video (even though I’m only about halfway through, 21 books to go!). Have you read The Penultimate Truth? I feel like PKD really got to the truth of the dangers of mass media disinformation. It’s eerily rings true right now
No I haven’t but that sounds like it could by next PKD!
I’m currently reading Counter-Clock World and am getting the same “legendary” vibe from this as from the others on your list. By the time you’re about 1/3 through a PKD novel, you can usually tell if he’s hitting all the philosophical points for an awesome book (at least this is what I’ve found after getting through 20+ of them)
Good on you for including Martian Time-Slip! There's nothing like the dinner party scene repetition anywhere else, even anywhere else in PKD. I was pleasantly surprised to see it on your list.
My recommendation: Galactic Pot Healer, The Game Players of Titan, the Cosmic Puppets
I have Philip K Dock books Lot of 20 for sale cheep
Good list, sir! I just finished THE SIMULACRA (no, I'm not suggesting it should have made the list) and I found it filled with (over-blown with?) such insane social and technological constructs that only PKD could have written it. Plot-wise, it was more like his short stories, but he filled it with such insanity I was having fun the whole time.
I've read over 40 PKD novels and five books of his forgettable short stories. The best novels are, in addition to the above, THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH, EYE IN THE SKY, TIME OUT OF JOINT, COUNTER CLOCK WORLD, CLANS OF THE ALPHANE MOON, FLOW MY TEARS THE POLICEMAN SAID, VALIS, THE DIVINE INVASION AND RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH.
Thanks for listing Radio Free Albemuth. I like all your other choices too, but I would pick Albemuth as the best.
My 2 cents worth: Martian Time-Slip is my favorite book, full stop. All the books you mentioned are "must-read". But PKD wrote more novels that everyone should read, IMO. Although technically not science fiction, "Confessions of a Crap Artist" is brilliant and likely to appeal to a lot of SF readers. I quite like the "late novels" Radio Free Albemuth, VALIS, and The Divine Invasion. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, of course. Now Wait for Last Year is a potent blend of space opera and political thriller.
Excellent discussion. Thank you!
Great video!!! I don't love (7/10)DODOES , but I am fan of his other books.My favourite is Ubik, and Ubik is name of one dark angel from manga Berserk .
A Scanner Darkly, VALIS, Ubik, and 2 Short Story Collections
A Maze of Death is my favorite.
Thanks for this. I enjoyed DADOES and UBIK. Looking forward to checking out the rest of your list. Cheers.
I would also like to recommend the book "We Can Remember For You Wholesale" as like with bladerunner it's based on Total Recall films.
That’s really more of a short story than a book…
I've only read DADOES so far, a lot was quite in step with blade runner, then it would suddenly take a u-turn straight down the rabbit hole - bit's like the other police station I only recall like a hazy dream, cause I never fully understood and I think we're probably not meant to. The coolest and most disturbing aspect was that virtual reality machine where they get to walk in step with their religious figure as he gets pelted with rocks - don't think we've seen the meeting of VR, Christians, the Cloud and Mel Gibson, but it may yet happen.
Our Friends from Frolix 8
Really?
funny, first 3 books would be on my list too, definitely. It's an interesting thing: how long would it take to meet a person who'd pick the same 5?
I've been reading PKD for a long time, since pre-adolescence in the early 1960s. Even though I've read a lot sometimes I'd find a new one. The last one I read was Ubik. The first one, I think, and my favorite so far is Eye in the Sky.
I loved Eye in the Sky and I confess there's a soft spot in my heart for other old PKD novels like Solar Lottery and Time Out of Joint. Even those old novels reaveal how the core of PKD art revolves around the exploration of the concept of reality.
I know you mentioned it in passing but I really thought you'd include VALIS as I would love to hear your thoughts on the book. ''Martian Time-Slip'' must be the only book you mentioned I haven't yet read, I must correct that. Thanks for an interesting video.
Martian Time Slip is a heavy read. It can be emotionally devestating.
Several of these have been made into tv shows or movies. It would be nice to read the source material. I'm adding these to my tbr📚. Thanks!
Some faves that don’t tend to make the top 5 lists - the penultimate truth, the simulacra, our friends from frolix 8, clans of the alphane moon
I haven't read that many of his books (yet), but I really enjoyed The Simulacra. It's so deliciously unhinged, it reads and feels like Terry Gilliam should make a movie adaptation.
Thanks for giving the underrated _Martian Time-Slip_ some love. I recommend also _Flow my Tears, The Policeman Said._ I always liked it, but I have a special affinity since I became a political prisoner of the United States, which is literally true.
huge PKD fan , read more than 20 of his books and 2 biographies about him
all five books are must read , so great picks my friend
i would also add these 2 , which imho are also must read
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
VALIS
pkd is lsd
My top five is pretty much the same, except I have The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch in there, and A Scanner Darkly at number six. Flow My Tears the Policeman Said at seven. Clans of the Alphane Moon at eight…
A Martian Time Slip is criminally underrated. I have it at number 3.
Love Martian Time Slip. It was the first audiobook of a PKD work I had heard. (Narrator Grover Gardner?)
Fantastic review. UBIK has changed my life.
It's good to treat PKD like best intro books (DADOES, TMITHC), if good go a level deeper books (Flow My Tears, Three Stigmata) , and then deepest level books (VALIS Trilogy).
Top 5: Three Stigmata, Ubik, Flow My Tears, TMITHC, DADOES.
Honorable mentions: Scanner Darkly, VALIS, Martian Time Slip, Maze of Death
Great to find someone pushing recommendations for PKD. Now you should ruin everything & make people hate you by telling them to read the Exegesis (which I love btw) 😄Seriously, you've got a really decent channel here, buddy. Nicely done!
Thanks! I’ll check it out!
I just ordered The World Jones Made as my first PKD read
That's a good one.
Yes. "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" should really be on the list. It rates as high as Ubik on the weirdness scale and is much better than High Castle. Then there is VALIS which I think was Dick's favourite and pretty incomprehensible because of the multitude of layers.
When in this Genre of sci-fi weirdness there is nothing that beats "The Futurological Congress" by Stanislaw Lem. Not so complex as it has a continuous story arc but really funny absurd and very true to modern life.
The Cosmic Puppets, if you haven't read it.. read it! Also Flow My Tears should be in your top 5
Great recommendations. Ubik runs out of juice in the middle imo.
A scanner darkly is great.
The Penultimate Truth - Brilliant allegory of modern slavery through deception.
Intergalactic pothealer - Weird but very enjoyable. PKD's aliens can be extremely "alien" if you catch my drift, not in the slightest bit humanoid.
We can build you - A distracted, but interesting view of a society riddled with mental problems.
Man in the High Castle - also liked it, very well written with more emotional depth and good focus.
Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep is often mentioned, but I never felt much reading it, so different from the other books.
I will give Martian Time Slip another go once I finish Heinlein - The moon is a harsh mistress. I read very slowly and not every day.
Here's my list before I even see yours. 😁We should have at least a couple in common. In order, they are: 1. Martian Time-Slip 2. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. 3. Ubik. 4. The Man In The High Castle. 5. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Now to watch the video...👍
They're all brilliant novels, but I prefer "Galactic Pot-Healer" to "Ubik", which is an underrated novel of his. I have always been keen on "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", but I also particularly like "Eye in the Sky", "Time Out of Joint" and "Dr. Bloodmoney". Among his shorter fiction, "Faith of Our Fathers" is also well worth reading.
Eye in the Sky is an overlooked classic. As is Maze of Death. Never cared for Galactic Pot Healer
@@mahatmarandy5977 "Eye in the Sky" is overshadowed by his later novels, but they can't be compared. I don't think that "A Maze of Death" is one of his greatest novels, but it is one of his most brilliant, powerful and disturbing. I prefer "Galactic Pot-Healer", that has a stronger structure that doesn't fall apart near the end, and it's his most comical. There's a certain amount of subjectivity though about which is the best.
@ hm. When I read Pot Healer it had about 20,000 words of word salad tacked on to the end, so “doesn’t fall apart at the end” wouldn’t be my way of describing it :). That’s not meant as an insult. I know there was an earlier novella-length version that he expanded, but I’ve never found that one.
“Eye in the sky” is brilliant, funny, weird, and internally consistent. I’m surprised no one ever tried to film it, as it’s pretty visual for one of his stories. “A Maze of Death” just struck me really hard when I first stumbled across it and I suppose arguably it may be the first depiction of Virtual Reality. I read “Frolix 8” that same month, and was kinda startled at the difference between Phil being on his game and being off of it.
But, yeah, there is a lot of subjectivity. I tend to like his less popular books. I’m not sure why. I’d like to think it’s because he tended to self-censor less and run down blind alleys that he couldn’t in his more focused, popular books, but just as likely it’s my irritatingly contrarian nature.
For instance I like Radio Free Albemuth better than VALIS
@@mahatmarandy5977 I meant that I think the concluding sections of "Galactic Pot-Healer" are the full sum of it's parts, unlike "A Maze of Death". The earlier version is a novel written for children, called "Nick and the Glimmung", which wasn't published in his lifetime, so he wrote "Galactic Pot-Healer" instead.
I agree with you about "Eye in the Sky". "A Maze of Death" is very penetrating. As in his other novels, what the characters experienced was real not virtual. The strange scene with Seth Morley near the end of the novel, bears this out. Dick said that [conceptually] in his SF, hallucinations only differ in quantity not the quality of what we see.
Yes, there's different choices. His less popular or acclaimed novels should be focused on. They are less like part of the canon. "Radio Free Albemuth" is more concise and transparently clear than the more visionary and intense "Valis", although Dick did intend to rewrite it.
@@expressoric He once said that everyone's subjective universe differs a bit from the objective one, but if it differs *TOO* much, you're insane. I always liked that.
To my knowledge, RFA was the book he intended to write, and then when the publisher's notes came back requesting a few changes, he got frustrated and rewrote the whole thing from scratch.
Very subjective. Although they all are good... definitely not the top five to read. Of course, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a must, it is that way because of the movie Blade Runner. The Man in the High Castle did win him a Hugo, so of course that should be up there too. Ubik is also considered to be one of his most popular books. However a Scanner Darkly? It's fine, that's for sure and it was made into a movie... although I don't know about it being a must read. My first read of his was The Man Who Japped, and since my dad had dozens of detective, mystery, and espionage novels around, that what he liked to read, So when I read The Man Who Japped, my mind was blown, and it is an amazing to read. I don't know if I would put it on a top 5 or even a top 10 because my intrigue is mostly because of my own personal bias. I would probably include Flow My Tears the Policeman Said instead. Martian Time Slip is also very good, but so many fall into that category, he did write 44 novels... I would have opted for something like The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, which was nominated for a Nebula. Just some thoughts is anyone runs into this later than sooner.
I'm reading PKD's The Penultimate Truth......and it's weird stuff like always with him
My friend Horselover Fat reckons *Valis* is the best. And he knows everything.
I hope I'm smart enough to enjoy more of his novels.
Adding:
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
So many methods to shatter people's personal realities. I like the way characters' realilities are pitted against each other baiting the reader to choose one over the other. Such as when the reader, via the main character's viewpoint, is presented with a criminal justifying her crimes to achieve a happy ending in her fairytale-like view of reality. A grounded no nonsense officer of the law presents the "harsh facts" of her delusions to the reader. That's not where it ends though, the officer's choice of reality turns out to be just as questionable. But more than that, I love how PKD doesn't explain, for nearly the entire book, whats happening to the characters and instead only shows their behaviors. Some of it is left unexplained implicitly yet becomes obvious to readers who recognize real-life human conditions, such as the policeman's behavior at the end of the book.
The Variable Man
Well it is kinda bad, I think. But it is a fun ride.
Solar Lottery
Its bad. But so many great elements! The cult members co-plot was great. The part where they discovered the truth and then continue on course as if the lie didn't matter and they turn out to be the most sensible group in the universe regardless. The guy that pulls off the heiseberg heist, just one simple idea, coming across as a total genius to people who should know better. Reminds me a bit of Vincenzo Perugia. So many stories involving telepathy make it overpowered then artificially underpowered or cludge some anti-telapathy effect for plot convenience. PKD designed a way to let telepaths use telepathy against themselves.
The Eyes Have It.
How is this not required reading in middle school writing classes?
Valis
Two of PKD's greatest scenes ever. The devote believer explaining to an agnostic how a real miracle doesn't prove God. "If you like, I can draw it out for you in symbolic logic". And the other, when Herb Asher talks his way out of incarseration by being a symphony aficionado and God's father, pardon me, _LEGAL_ father.
Five more PKD recommendations:
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Time Out of Joint
Now Wait for Last Year
Eye in the Sky
Galactic Pot-Healer
Did you flat out lift your description of Martian Time Slip directly from goodreads, or is that from the back of the book? Now all I can wonder is how frequent an occurrence is this?
It’s the official blurb. I often use them for my book descriptions.
Well I'd recommend flow my tears the policeman said, for a true mind bending experience
One of THE BEST books I've ever read in my life, doesn't fall short from dadoes, which is amazing as well
My favorite PKD novel is the Clans of the Alphine Moon, it's about a colony of mentally ill people on a moon and they have established a society. :)
Read them all.
Martian Time-Slip is certainly a must-read! Disturbing beyond belief!
I have a lot of 20 Philip K Dick books for sale
Valis needs some consideration
Blade runner is not cyber punk. It is Tech noir!
Flow my tears the policeman said or counterclock world are must reads
His is the usual starving artists' story we especially like.
TIME OUT OF JOINT
Ubik....for sure
The Divine Invasion: Christianity reimaged
Time
out of joint. Change my life if you don't something's wrong with you😮
Deus Irae
Absolutely beginner level PKD bro lol.
thats the point
Thank You.