Re:Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)
by jimmygrapes on Saturday May 29, 2021 @07:57PM
(#27329332)
I don't disagree!
I really do feel like the only reason I was able to get through it all is because I was in a mentally/emotionally/spiritually compatible state when I read it proper. I am quite positive that if I had tried to read it when I was sure of anything that I would reject it exactly as you describe.
The only way I can see it being rewarding for someone (who isn't in the midst of the same affliction PKD suffered at the time of writing) is to treat it almost like archeology alongside his published works: read the fiction, then read his mindset about it, and abstractly note things like "ok this week he thinks it was because his spirit was memetically reincarnated"
Re:Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)
by bsedlm on Saturday May 29, 2021 @07:48PM
(#27329287)
Here's a summary of sorts https://www.tekgnostics.com/PDK.HTM
It's basically a really, really, reaaaaaaly looong, barely coherent book of random ramblings. It's fine to dip in to now and then to see what PKD was thinking about on any random day, but really hard to stomach reading very much of, as unlike a fiction work it has no structure, no characters, no plot, and was not intended for anything but a private sounding-ground for the author to spitball ideas, many of them having to do with one event that PKD probably dearly wanted to be a mystical experience and that he just couldn't seem to drop and move past.
To truly die-hard PKD fans this might be endlessly fascinating, but to me it's only worth peeking in for maybe a few pages every few years or so. I can't imagine reading the whole thing, even if it was the only book I had on a desert island.