Philip K. Dick
Questioning the nature of reality itself β the most prophetic and unsettling imagination in science fiction.
Biography
Philip K. Dick was an American science fiction writer whose paranoid, reality-questioning stories have become more relevant with every passing year. Born in Chicago in 1928, he lived most of his life in California, often in poverty. Dick published 44 novels and approximately 121 short stories, many exploring themes of identity, perception, authoritarianism, and what constitutes reality. Though he received little mainstream recognition during his lifetime, his works have since been adapted into major films including Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, and The Man in the High Castle. He died in 1982.
Best Starting Book
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
A short, accessible introduction to Dick's obsession with what's real and what's artificial β more unsettling than the movie it inspired.
Reading Order
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The source of Blade Runner β a haunting meditation on what makes us human.
The Man in the High Castle
An alternate history where the Axis won WWII β reality itself becomes unstable.
Ubik
Reality dissolves page by page β Dick's most mind-bending and entertaining novel.
A Scanner Darkly
A semi-autobiographical drug novel β funny, terrifying, and heartbreaking.
VALIS
Dick's most personal and strange work β autobiography disguised as science fiction about divine revelation.