Mind-Shattering Novels of Philip K. Dick

source site – Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Experience: Mind-Shattering Novels of Philip K. Dick

As we look forward to another new year, it is a good time to reflect on some of the many people who wrote about the future. Philip K. Dick was one of them:

Philip K. Dick was abducted by… his own mind, and wrote about it for as long as SF industry would publish it. Which is extremely lucky for millions of his fans, me included.

Unless you are a particle physicist (for whom nothing is as it seems anyway), you’re not likely to meet as many convoluted and unpredictable ideas and storylines as in Philip K. Dick’s science fiction (the requirement, of course, is that it all still has to make coherent sense, otherwise we could just switch on Douglas Adams’ Improbability Drive and publish the outcome).

PKD was a one-man factory of apocalyptic “What-ifs?”, staggering in their scope and suggested outcomes. His stories are often dark in tone, but intensely satisfying: crammed with concepts and ideas, tightly written and pretty much unforgettable.

i have not read many of philip k dick‘s novels. but i have seen a number of the titles made into films. in general, i find his ideas on science fiction and mind bending tales are very interesting and thought provoking. some of the interesting concepts introduced by PKD are the concepts of cyborg sentience in Bladerunner (Do androids dream of electric sheep?); the memory implants in Total Recall (We Can Remember It for You Wholesale); foresights in The Minority Report (The Minority Report); and a few others based on some of his short stories.

so what are your best PKD stories?

Sci-fi books & movies

I make no secret that I am a sci-fi geek.

Sadly, I have not been recommended any good sci-fi stuff, given most of my friends and family think I am a geek and do not share any interest in sci-fi. So I have not read any sci-fi books of late – can’t remember the last book I read… *groan*

The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies 1 (Rough Guide Reference)

Cover taken from John Scalzi’s book

Anyway, thought that I should log something I found on the web: I was tinkering with my wordpress website, The Mind of Paloque, and was going through the pre-installed links and found a blog belonging to Ryan Boren. The guy is also a sci-fi geek and posted a blog on John Scalzi’sThe Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies 1 (Rough Guide Reference)“. A synopsis from Amazon.com:

Synopsis

The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies is a comprehensive guide to the ‘final frontier’ of film. It explores our fascination with space exploration, time travel, fantastical worlds and alternative futures. This guide explains how everything from the philosophy of Plato to classic Victorian tales and cult comic books have helped to create one of cinema’s most engaging genres. Discover the classics from Mexico, Russia and Japan, not forgetting the Anime science fiction tradition, along with everything else you need to know from Metropolis to Star Wars, via Blade Runner, 2001 and Alien. The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies is your essential guide to a galaxy of film unbounded by time or space.

I think I should read a bit more. Rekindle some sci-fi interest. Do you have anything to share?