Philip K Dick Popular Books

Philip K Dick Biography & Facts

Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. His fiction explored varied philosophical and social questions such as the nature of reality, perception, human nature, and identity, and commonly featured characters struggling against elements such as alternate realities, illusory environments, monopolistic corporations, drug abuse, authoritarian governments, and altered states of consciousness. He is considered one of the most important figures in 20th century science fiction.Born in Chicago, Dick moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his family at a young age. He began publishing science fiction stories in 1952, at age 23. He found little commercial success until his alternative history novel The Man in the High Castle (1962) earned him acclaim, including a Hugo Award for Best Novel, when he was 33. He followed with science fiction novels such as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and Ubik (1969). His 1974 novel Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.Following years of drug abuse and a series of mystical experiences in 1974, Dick's work engaged more explicitly with issues of theology, metaphysics, and the nature of reality, as in novels A Scanner Darkly (1977), VALIS (1981), and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982). A collection of his speculative nonfiction writing on these themes was published posthumously as The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick (2011). He died in 1982 in Santa Ana, California, at the age of 53, due to complications from a stroke. Following his death, he became "widely regarded as a master of imaginative, paranoid fiction in the vein of Franz Kafka and Thomas Pynchon".Dick's posthumous influence has been widespread, extending beyond literary circles into Hollywood filmmaking. Popular films based on his works include Blade Runner (1982), Total Recall (adapted twice: in 1990 and in 2012), Screamers (1995), Minority Report (2002), A Scanner Darkly (2006), The Adjustment Bureau (2011), and Radio Free Albemuth (2010). Beginning in 2015, Amazon Prime Video produced the multi-season television adaptation The Man in the High Castle, based on Dick's 1962 novel; and in 2017 Channel 4 produced the anthology series Electric Dreams, based on various Dick stories. In 2005, Time named Ubik (1969) one of the hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer included in The Library of America series. Early life Dick and his twin sister, Jane Charlotte Dick, were born six weeks prematurely on December 16, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, to Dorothy (née Kindred; 1900–1978) and Joseph Edgar Dick (1899–1985), who worked for the United States Department of Agriculture. His paternal grandparents were Irish. Jane's death on January 26, 1929, six weeks after their birth, profoundly affected Philip's life, leading to the recurrent motif of the "phantom twin" in his books.Dick's family later moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. When he was five, his father was transferred to Reno, Nevada, and when Dorothy refused to move, she and Joseph divorced. Both fought for custody of Philip, which was awarded to Dorothy. Determined to raise Philip alone, she took a job in Washington, D.C., and moved there with her son. Philip was enrolled at John Eaton Elementary School (1936–1938), completing the second through fourth grades. His lowest grade was a "C" in Written Composition, although a teacher said he "shows interest and ability in story telling". He was educated in Quaker schools. In June 1938, Dorothy and Philip returned to California, and it was around this time that he became interested in science fiction. Dick stated that he read his first science fiction magazine, Stirring Science Stories, in 1940.Dick attended Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California. He and fellow science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin were members of the class of 1947 but did not know each other at the time. He claimed to have hosted a classical music program on KSMO Radio in 1947. From 1948 to 1952, he worked at Art Music Company, a record store on Telegraph Avenue. He attended the University of California, Berkeley from September 1949 to November 11, 1949, ultimately receiving an honorable dismissal dated January 1, 1950. He did not declare a major and took classes in history, psychology, philosophy, and zoology. Dick dropped out because of ongoing anxiety problems, according to his third wife Anne's memoir. She also says he disliked the mandatory ROTC training. At Berkeley, he befriended poet Robert Duncan and poet and linguist Jack Spicer, who gave Dick ideas for a Martian language. Through his studies in philosophy, he believed that existence is based on internal human perception, which does not necessarily correspond to external reality. He described himself as "an acosmic panentheist", which he explained as meaning that "I don't believe that the universe exists. I believe that the only thing that exists is God and he is more than the universe. The universe is an extension of God into space and time. That's the premise I start from in my work, that so-called "reality" is a mass delusion that we've all been required to believe for reasons totally obscure". After reading the works of Plato and pondering the possibilities of metaphysical realms, he came to the conclusion that, in a certain sense, the world is not entirely real and there is no way to confirm whether it is truly there. That question was a theme in many of his novels. Career Early writing Dick sold his first story, "Roog"—about "a dog who imagined that the garbagemen who came every Friday morning were stealing valuable food which the family had carefully stored away in a safe metal container"—in 1951, when he was 22. From then on he wrote full-time. During 1952, his first speculative fiction publications appeared in July and September numbers of Planet Stories, edited by Jack O'Sullivan, and in If and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction that year. His debut novel, Solar Lottery, was published in 1955 as half of Ace Double #D-103 alongside The Big Jump by Leigh Brackett. The 1950s were a difficult and impoverished time for Dick, who once lamented, "We couldn't even pay the late fees on a library book." He published almost exclusively within the science fiction genre but dreamed of a career in mainstream fiction. During the 1950s, he produced a series of non-genre, relatively conventional novels.In 1960, Dick wrote that he was willing to "take twenty to thirty years to succeed as a literary writer". The dream of mainstream success formally died in January 1963 when the Scott Meredith Literary Agency returned all of his unsold mainstream novels. Only one of them, Confessions o.... Discover the Philip K Dick popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Philip K Dick books.

Best Seller Philip K Dick Books of 2024

  • Philip K. Dick. Science Fiction Short Stories Collection. Illustrated synopsis, comments

    Philip K. Dick. Science Fiction Short Stories Collection. Illustrated

    Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick published 44 novels and 121 short stories during his lifetime and solidified his position as arguably the most literary of science fiction writers.Dick became the fi...

  • The Philip K. Dick Collection synopsis, comments

    The Philip K. Dick Collection

    Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick's work explored philosophical, social, and political themes, with stories dominated by monopolistic corporations, alternative universes, authorit...

  • Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    Philip K. Dick

    Alessandro Fambrini

    A quasi quarant’anni dalla morte di Philip K. Dick, la sua opera pare aver raggiunto la dimensione del classico minore, non tanto nel suo valore letterario quanto nel suo statuto d...

  • Wetiko synopsis, comments

    Wetiko

    Paul Levy & Larry Dossey

    Explores how wetiko covertly operates both out in the world and within our minds and how it underlies every form of selfdestruction, both individual and collective Reveals how we...

  • The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    A glimpse into the mind of the bestselling science fiction author through a collection of his personal, metaphysical, religious, visionary writings.Based on thousands of pages of t...

  • The Saga of the Volsungs synopsis, comments

    The Saga of the Volsungs

    Jesse Byock

    The epic Viking Age stories that inspired J. R. R. Tolkien and Wagner's Ring cycleWritten in thirteenthcentury Iceland but based on ancient Norse poetry cycles, The Saga of the Vol...

  • The Early Works of Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    The Early Works of Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    Six early short stories by Philip K. Dick make up this collection with an active table of contents.Beyond Lies the WubBeyond the DoorThe Crystal CryptThe DefendersThe Gun The Skull

  • The Book of Chuang Tzu synopsis, comments

    The Book of Chuang Tzu

    Chuang Tzu & Martin Palmer

    The Book of Chuang Tzu draws together the stories, tales, jokes and anecdotes that have gathered around the figure of Chuang Tzu. One of the great founders of Taoism, Chaung Tzu li...

  • Nova Swing synopsis, comments

    Nova Swing

    M. John Harrison

    Years after Ed Chianese’s fateful trip into the Kefahuchi Tract, the tract has begun to expand and change in ways we never could have predictedand, even more terrifying, parts of i...

  • The Best of Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    The Best of Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    Thirteen short stories by the legendary author of The Man in the High Castle and other science fiction classics.   Philip K. Dick didn’t predict the future―he summoned the des...

  • Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    Philip K. Dick

    Lejla Kucukalic

    Kucukalic looks beyond the received criticism and stereotypes attached to Philip K. Dick and his work and shows, using a wealth of primary documents including previously ...

  • The Long Sunset synopsis, comments

    The Long Sunset

    Jack McDevitt

    From Nebula Award winner Jack McDevitt comes the eighth installment in the popular The Academy seriesPriscilla “Hutch” Hutchins discovers an interstellar message from a highly adva...

  • Adjustment Team and Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    Adjustment Team and Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    Adjustment Team and Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick consists of the following short stories: 1. Adjustment Team 2. The Hanging Stranger 3. The Eyes Have It 4. The Defenders 5. ...

  • 99 Classic Science-Fiction Short Stories synopsis, comments

    99 Classic Science-Fiction Short Stories

    Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Abraham Merritt, Amelia Reynolds Long, Anthony Melvillle Rud, Arthur Train, Clark Ashton Smith, David H. Keller, Donald Allen Wollheim, E.M. Forster, Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Fawcett, Ellis Parker Butler, Fletcher Pratt, Francis Flagg, Frank Owen, Frank R. Stockton, Fred M. White, George Allan England, Green Peyton Wertenbaker, H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Jack G. Huekels, Jack London, Jack Williamson, Katherine MacLean, Leo Szilard, Miles John Breuer, Nelson Slade Bond, Peter B. Kyne, Ray Cummings, Raymond F. O'Kelley, Robert Barr, Robert Welles Ritchie, Roquia Sakhawat Hussain, Rudyard Kipling, Seabury Quinn, Tudor Jenks, W.L. Alden & Readym Anthologies

    "99 Science Fiction Short Stories" brings together some of the finest sci fi short stories ever crafted. Featuring gems from masters of the genre, such as H.G Wells , Rober...

  • The Hanging Stranger Eleven Stories by Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    The Hanging Stranger Eleven Stories by Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    The Hanging Stranger is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick, originally published in December 1953 in the magazine Science Fiction Adventures. It has be...

  • The Greatest SF Stories of Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    The Greatest SF Stories of Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    This carefully crafted ebook: "The Collected Short Stories of Philip K. Dick – 34 Tales in One Volume" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of...

  • The Hidden Girl and Other Stories synopsis, comments

    The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

    Ken Liu

    Includes stories featured in Pantheonnow an animated series on AMC+“I know this is going to sound hyperbolic, but when I’m reading Ken Liu’s stories, I feel like I’m reading a once...

  • Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    Philip K. Dick

    Laurent Queyssi & Mauro Marchesi

    One of the greatest writers in science fiction history, Philip K. Dick is mostly remembered for such works as Blade Runner, Minority Report, and Total Recall. His dark, fascinating...

  • The Amazing Sci-Fi Tales of Philip K. Dick - 34 Titles in One Edition synopsis, comments

    The Amazing Sci-Fi Tales of Philip K. Dick - 34 Titles in One Edition

    Philip K. Dick

    This carefully edited collection of SciFi sotiries of Philip K. Dick has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices.  ...

  • The Philip K. Dick Anthology synopsis, comments

    The Philip K. Dick Anthology

    Philip K. Dick

    Did you ever wonder at the lonely life the bird in a cuckoo clock has to leadthat it might possibly love and hate just as easily as a real animal of flesh and blood? Philip Dick us...

  • Philip K Dick is Dead, Alas synopsis, comments

    Philip K Dick is Dead, Alas

    Michael Bishop

    In this heartfelt sciencefiction homage, Philip K. Dick dies in 1982 in Santa Ana, California, during the fourth term of the repressive imperial presidency of Richard Milrose Nixon...

  • A Life of Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    A Life of Philip K. Dick

    Anthony Peake

    "Anthony Peake is uniquely qualified to analyze Philip K Dick's life." E J Morgan, author of A Kindred Spirit Philip K. Dick was a visionary writer. From postapocalyptic San ...

  • The Philip K. Dick Anthology synopsis, comments

    The Philip K. Dick Anthology

    Philip K. Dick

    "The Philip K. Dick Anthology: 18 Classic Science Fiction Stories" contains a fantastic selection from the legendary master of the genre.  The stories in this anthology excell...

  • Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    Philip K. Dick

    Andrew M. Butler

    With a reputation that is still rising as the world catches up with the prodigious outpouring of his imagination, and Hollywood repeatedly raiding his storiesBlade Runner, Minority...

  • Adjustment Team synopsis, comments

    Adjustment Team

    Philip K. Dick

    After getting held up on his way to work, Ed Fletcher worries about the repercussions he will face when he reaches his office. Little does he know that his late arrival will give h...

  • Complete Science Fantasy of Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    Complete Science Fantasy of Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    An American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Table of Contents Beyond Lies the Wub Beyond the Door Th...

  • Philip K. Dick Super Pack synopsis, comments

    Philip K. Dick Super Pack

    Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick was a very influential science fiction writer. More than a dozen of his stories or novels have been adapted for the screen including 'Blade Runner', 'Tot...

  • The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories synopsis, comments

    The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

    Ken Liu

    Featured in the Netflix series Love, Death & RobotsBestselling author Ken Liu selects his multiple awardwinning stories for a groundbreaking collectionincluding a brandnew piec...

  • The Greatest Science Fiction Works of Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    The Greatest Science Fiction Works of Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    Musaicum Press presents to you a collection of the greatest science fiction works written by Philip K. Dick: Contents: Second Variety The Variable Man Adjustment Team The Hanging S...

  • The Hanging Stranger Eleven Stories by Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    The Hanging Stranger Eleven Stories by Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    The Hanging Stranger is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick, originally published in December 1953 in the magazine Science Fiction Adventures. It has be...

  • The Early Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    The Early Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    The highly prolific and influential science fiction author Philip K. Dick published 44 novels and more than 120 brief works during his lifetime. This anthology presents his finest ...

  • Machine Vendetta synopsis, comments

    Machine Vendetta

    Alastair Reynolds

    From the king of modern space opera comes a new adventure in the Prefect Dreyfus seriesMachine Vendetta is a thrilling tale of deadly conspiracies and old enemies that refuse to di...

  • Octavia Gone synopsis, comments

    Octavia Gone

    Jack McDevitt

    From Nebula Award–winning author Jack McDevitt comes the eighth installment of the Alex Benedict series featuring Gabe triumphantly reuniting with Alex and Chase to retrieve a poss...

  • Rewrite synopsis, comments

    Rewrite

    Gregory Benford

    In this thematic sequel to Gregory Benford’s awardwinning bestseller Timescape, a history professor finds that he is able travel back to 1968, the year he was sixteenhere, he finds...

  • The Philip K. Dick Anthology synopsis, comments

    The Philip K. Dick Anthology

    Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick was a very influential science fiction writer. More than a dozen of his stories or novels have been adapted for the screen including 'Blade Runner', 'Total Recall', ...

  • Selected Stories Of Philip K. Dick synopsis, comments

    Selected Stories Of Philip K. Dick

    Philip K. Dick

    Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick contains twentyone of Dick’s most dazzling and resonant stories, which span his entire career and show a worldclass writer working at the peak of...

  • Elysium Fire synopsis, comments

    Elysium Fire

    Alastair Reynolds

    Elysium Fire is a smoldering tale of murderers, secret cultists, tampered memories, and unthinkable power, of bottomless corruption and overpowering idealism from the king of moder...