The fifth and final part of the complete collected stories shows Philip K. Dick at the very height of his outstanding powers. The twenty-five tales were written between 1963 and 1981, just a few months before he died, and include two stories which have been turned into box office smashes: the title story, filmed as Total Recall, and "The Little Black Box", which grew into his masterpiece Blade Runner.
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The final volume in the definitive collection of stories by the greatest science fiction writer of the twentieth century
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"A fitting tribute to a great philosophical writer who found science fiction the ideal form for the expression of his ideas"
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As a fan of the work of Philip K Dick (1928-1982), I love this complete collection of his short stories (of which this is the fifth of 5 volumes).
The stories in this volume were written between 1963 and 1981 (shortly before his death). As with any collection of this kind, where all an authors short stories are collected, you get something of a mixed bag. However, to my mind even when PKD is not at his best he is still well worth a read (and at his best he is among the very best). As well as the stories you get some interesting introductory material and some helpful notes.
The stories contained in this volume are:
"The Little Black Box"
"The War with the Fnools"
"A Game of Unchance"
"Precious Artifact"
"Retreat Syndrome"
"A Terran Odyssey"
"Your Appointment Will Be Yesterday"
"Holy Quarrel"
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" (which the movie Total Recall was based on)
"Not By Its Cover"
"Return Match"
"Faith of Our Fathers"
"The Story to End All Stories for Harlan Ellison's Anthology Dangerous Visions"
"The Electric Ant"
"Cadbury, the Beaver Who Lacked"
"A Little Something for Us Tempunauts"
"The Pre-Persons"
"The Eye of the Sibyl"
"The Day Mr. Computer Fell out of its Tree"
"The Exit Door Leads In"
"Chains of Air, Web of Aether"
"Strange Memories of Death"
"I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon"
"Rautavaara's Case"
"The Alien Mind"
'...fitting tribute to a great philosophical writer who found science fiction the ideal form for the expression of his ideas' -- The Independent
'No other writer of his generation has had such a powerful intellectual presence.' -- Brian Aldiss
'One of the most original practitioners writing any kind of fiction...' -- Sunday Times
'The most consistently brilliant SF writer in the world ... author of more good short stories than I can count' -- John Brunner
The other four volumes in this collection are:
Beyond Lies The Wub: Volume One Of The Collected Short Stories
Second Variety: Volume Two Of The Collected Short Stories
The Father-Thing: Volume Three Of The Collected Short Stories
Minority Report: Volume Four Of The Collected Short Stories
If you are new to Philip K Dick's work I would also recommend the novels (which generally seem to be regarded as among his best):
Ubik (S.F. Masterworks)
The Man In The High Castle (S.F. Masterworks)
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (S.F. Masterworks)
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (S.F. Masterworks)
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?: The novel which became 'Blade Runner' (S.F. Masterworks)
That said, as with the short stories, though some of PKD's works are better than others, to my mind they are all well worth reading.
Also of interest may be Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick (Gollancz S.F.).
The stories in this volume were written between 1963 and 1981 (shortly before his death). As with any collection of this kind, where all an authors short stories are collected, you get something of a mixed bag. However, to my mind even when PKD is not at his best he is still well worth a read (and at his best he is among the very best). As well as the stories you get some interesting introductory material and some helpful notes.
The stories contained in this volume are:
"The Little Black Box"
"The War with the Fnools"
"A Game of Unchance"
"Precious Artifact"
"Retreat Syndrome"
"A Terran Odyssey"
"Your Appointment Will Be Yesterday"
"Holy Quarrel"
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" (which the movie Total Recall was based on)
"Not By Its Cover"
"Return Match"
"Faith of Our Fathers"
"The Story to End All Stories for Harlan Ellison's Anthology Dangerous Visions"
"The Electric Ant"
"Cadbury, the Beaver Who Lacked"
"A Little Something for Us Tempunauts"
"The Pre-Persons"
"The Eye of the Sibyl"
"The Day Mr. Computer Fell out of its Tree"
"The Exit Door Leads In"
"Chains of Air, Web of Aether"
"Strange Memories of Death"
"I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon"
"Rautavaara's Case"
"The Alien Mind"
'...fitting tribute to a great philosophical writer who found science fiction the ideal form for the expression of his ideas' -- The Independent
'No other writer of his generation has had such a powerful intellectual presence.' -- Brian Aldiss
'One of the most original practitioners writing any kind of fiction...' -- Sunday Times
'The most consistently brilliant SF writer in the world ... author of more good short stories than I can count' -- John Brunner
The other four volumes in this collection are:
Beyond Lies The Wub: Volume One Of The Collected Short Stories
Second Variety: Volume Two Of The Collected Short Stories
The Father-Thing: Volume Three Of The Collected Short Stories
Minority Report: Volume Four Of The Collected Short Stories
If you are new to Philip K Dick's work I would also recommend the novels (which generally seem to be regarded as among his best):
Ubik (S.F. Masterworks)
The Man In The High Castle (S.F. Masterworks)
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (S.F. Masterworks)
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (S.F. Masterworks)
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?: The novel which became 'Blade Runner' (S.F. Masterworks)
That said, as with the short stories, though some of PKD's works are better than others, to my mind they are all well worth reading.
Also of interest may be Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick (Gollancz S.F.).
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
By Atlantiss
Format:Paperback
I must admit I only bought this book for the title story "We Can Remmber It For You Wholesale" as this was the story which became the film "Total Recall". This is a great short story and is as different from the book as is "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep" to the film "Blade Runner". If you have never considered reading any of Dick's novels then I would recommend starting with one of his short story compendiums (of which this is one). His writing style is simply fantastic... Some of the reading is heavy going but is well worth reading. (I remember reading "Do Androids..." for the first time and having to re-read several pages as I thought i'd missed something). This can still happen but once you have read several of his stories you become accustomed to his style and even look forward to having you mind messed with! Overall I would say that this is a great compendium of short stories and should be a part of your collection.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I haven't read all of the stories in this collection but the ones that I have read are just brilliantly imaginitive and hillarious. Philip K. Dick felt that he was possessed by an angel or some other kind of higher intelligence, (see Colin Wilson's "The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries"), and this is not entirely un-evident in Dick's writings. One of my favourite stories in this volume is "War with the fnools", which is about three foot businessmen haunting the Earth with their strangeness. (The following may spoil the story a little...): the problem is that if one of the fnools eats a certain piece of food or something, all of the fnools in existence will double in size. This happens once and the fnools are exactly the same size as humans, and are indistinguishable, ... but what could happen if they doubled in size again?! The story on which the film "Total Recall" was based is very fast and difficult to follow, and is called "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale". I would recommend this collection of short stories to anyone with an active imagination and with an absurd sense of humour. Not all of Dick's stories are intended to be humourous though, and some are perhaps even deeply philosophical, and can be quite haunting. I would not only recommend these short stories, but also the accompanying volume of short stories: "Beyond Lies the Wub".
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
We can recommend it to you wholesale
A quite fantastic collection of short stories from a brilliant philosophical mind.
I have found since reading this collection that I can now only think of things in a... Read more
I have found since reading this collection that I can now only think of things in a... Read more
Published 4 months ago by washington_irving
5.0 out of 5 stars
we can remember it for you wholesale
i wanted to read this story by Philip K Dick. it is the story the Total Recall was based on. the book has lost of short stories and is great for night time reading although some of... Read more
Published 6 months ago by diva bubble
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best volume
Philip K Dick's short stories are some of his very best work. As a writer whose talent was in crafting imaginative stories filled with mend-bending ideas rather than developing... Read more
Published 17 months ago by David Clarke
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Storytelling: PKD
This is a cllection of science fiction's greatest masterpieces.
Even if you are a fan of sci fi but not Phillip K Dick, it is worth at least one read. Read more
Even if you are a fan of sci fi but not Phillip K Dick, it is worth at least one read. Read more
Published on 16 May 2011 by Andy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hang on that sounds familiar...
Whilst watching the recent compelling adaptation of Lehane's 'Shutter Island', I was struck with a profound sense of deja vu. Read more
Published on 3 July 2010 by Mr. Timothy W. Dumble
5.0 out of 5 stars
Far Out Sci-Fi
These were not the first Philip K Dick stories that I had read (the first was the rather amazing "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep") but were the first book of his short stories... Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2007 by Mr. A. Elliott
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book of great stories
A fantastic book of short stories by the finest science fiction writer of all time.These stories are full of great ideas and humour and many were the launchpad for the ideas Dick... Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2006 by hfromspace
4.0 out of 5 stars
Much more than 'just that Total Recall book'
This is a very interesting and thought provokingly collection of short stories. PKD investigates consciousness, god, perception and well... Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2003 by "ttodd_1"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Book
This is the book includes the short story that became "Total Recall" the 1980s film staring Arnold Schwarzenegger - which was one of the reasons that I bought it! Read more
Published on 7 July 2003 by N308
5.0 out of 5 stars
We Can Remeber it forever
Yet another excellent book of short stories from the Master Himself. Each story has it's own theme and not the usual sequence of events that you may find. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2002 by "job3210"
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