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Philip K. Dick

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Ubik Paperback – January 1, 1991

by Philip K. Dick (Author)

4.3 6,079 ratings

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Philip K. Dick's searing metaphysical comedy of death and salvation is a tour de force of panoramic menace and unfettered slapstick, in which the departed give business advice, shop for their next incarnation, and run the continual risk of dying yet again.

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Amazon.com Review

Nobody but Philip K. Dick could so successfully combine SF comedy with the unease of reality gone wrong, shifting underfoot like quicksand. Besides grisly ideas like funeral parlors where you swap gossip for the advice of the frozen dead, Ubik (1969) offers such deadpan farce as a moneyless character's attack on the robot apartment door that demands a five-cent toll:

"I'll sue you," the door said as the first screw fell out.

Joe Chip said, "I've never been sued by a door. But I guess I can live through it."

Chip works for Glen Runciter's anti-psi security agency, which hires out its talents to block telepathic snooping and paranormal dirty tricks. When its special team tackles a big job on the Moon, something goes terribly wrong. Runciter is killed, it seems--but messages from him now appear on toilet walls, traffic tickets, or product labels. Meanwhile, fragments of reality are timeslipping into past versions: Joe Chip's beloved stereo system reverts to a hand-cranked 78 player with bamboo needles. Why does Runciter's face appear on U.S. coins? Why the repeated ads for a hard-to-find universal panacea called Ubik ("safe when taken as directed")?

The true, chilling state of affairs slowly becomes clear, though the villain isn't who Joe Chip thinks. And this is Dick country, where final truths are never quite final and--with the help of Ubik--the reality/illusion balance can still be tilted the other way. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk

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Philip K. Dick's searing metaphysical comedy of death and salvation is a tour de force of panoramic menace and unfettered slapstick, in which the departed give business advice, shop for their next incarnation, and run the continual risk of dying yet again.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; Reprint edition (January 1, 1991)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679736646
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679736646
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,336,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #26,499 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #111,849 in Science Fiction (Books)
- #161,806 in Mysteries (Books)

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4.3 6,079 ratings

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Philip K. Dick

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Over a writing career that spanned three decades, Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned toward deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film; notably: Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and in 2007 the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

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Scott Holstad

Great PKD Book!

Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2013

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Wow! Ubik was a wild ride, even by Philip K. Dick's standards. Or perhaps a better way of putting it is the book meets the high standards he creates for his works, and then some!

As the book begins, we meet Glen Runciter, head of the world's top anti-psi agency (to combat all of the psi organizations that have arisen now that it is 1992 -- heh!), located in New York City. He confers with his late wife, Ella, who is dead and buried in a Swiss moratorium, where she is in a suspended state of "half life," through "cold-pac" --- something like our cryogenics. The world's top psi's are disappearing, and Runciter wants his wife's opinion on what to do. She thinks they should advertise more.

We then go off to met Joe Chip, Runciter's top man, who is dirt poor and in debt. A Runciter scout has brought a young woman named Pat by to meet Joe. Pat has an unusual ability to nullify events before they even happen. Her psi tests are off the charts, and Joe marks on her report that she should be watched, that she could be dangerous.

Runciter has a visitor from a businessman with a business on Luna (the moon?), in need of immediate anti-psi help. Runciter agrees to overlook some typical preliminaries, since it's an emergency, and soon he's leading Joe, Pat, and nine others to Luna to save this company. Where they're sabotaged. A bomb goes off in the room in which they're gathered and Runciter takes it the worst. He's pretty much dead, and the team rushes to get him into cold-pac in the spaceship so he can be saved and consulted with his wife. Joe starts planning on how to get back at their enemies from that moment forward. And from that moment forward, things start unraveling. It gets really PKD-like as alternate realities are discovered and time moves backward. Joe starts receiving odd messages from Runciter while members of the team start dying off, decomposing quickly. Soon the surviving members find themselves back in 1939 in Des Moines IA -- Joe has to get there by bi-plane. They're there for Runciter's funeral, but by now, Pat is under deep suspicion for being behind this, plotting with their enemies, and Joe's really ticked. Soon the reader doesn't know who is dead and who is alive!

I won't give away the ending, but I'll just let you know that it's a typical PKD mind-f*** which is immensely satisfying while still being a bit confusing. It's a lot to swallow at once. Ubik rears its head at the beginning of each chapter in the form of an unusual ad for an unusual product, and Ubik plays a real role at the end of the book, but it's a bit mysterious at that. Suffice it to say that it's a miraculous spray can that is Joe's only way to stay alive.

Philip K. Dick's eye for minutia is especially good in this novel as he highlights magazines from 1939 (real ones), early cars, etc. And this book is a fast paced thriller too. I read it in less than a day. I couldn't put it down. No wonder Time magazine chose it for inclusion as one of their "100 best English-language novels!" No argument there. I don't know if this is my favorite Philip K. Dick book, but if not, it's close. It's got the usual PKD themes like unreliable and alternate reality, time running backward, precognition (Minority Report, anyone?), telepathy, paranoia, hallucinations, and even spirituality. It's got a fantastic ending. It's a great introduction to Dick, if you're unfamiliar with him, and if you're a fan, it's a must read. You won't be able to put it down. Highly recommended.

13 people found this helpful

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DaveL

Kafka meets the Twilight Zone in the Matrix

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2013

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I'd always heard Phillip K. Dick mentioned in the pantheon of sci-fi writers like Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke and Le Guin. But even though these authors are some of my favorites, I'd never read anything by Mr. Dick. So I decided it was time. When I researched his works, I found that Ubik is considered one of his best and that Time magazine had named it one of the 100 all-time novels (written during Time's publication years 1923-2005).

Starting out, I wondered why. While the plot and world building were intriguing, I found the writing a bit clunky (lots of adjectives and made-up words) and the attempt at future technology dated. (not surprising--it was written in 1969 and takes place in 1992). The style reminded me of a sci-fi version of a Phillip Marlowe detective story--a bit cliché even though it may have been the prototype for the cliché.

But as the book progressed, the mood took hold of me, an unsettling feeling like the kind you get in those seconds between dreaming and awakening, when you struggle to figure out which is which. By the end, I knew I'd been treated to a great book, a complex, well-crafted and intertwined story of multiple realities, none of which is ever grounded enough to let you sort through them. But there's something more: these realities make you question your sense of life, like The Matrix without the machines, a floating reality that is the state of being itself.

The ideas rather than the characters are central to this story. Most of the characters are pretty flat. But once you get used to the world (psychic powers, colony on the moon, dead people in half-life), the mood takes over, as what appears to be reality fluctuates and changes.

It's a slow start, but as I stuck with it, I found it well worthwhile, an original work with a deeply unsettling feel. Think Kafka plus Twilight Zone in the Matrix.

Down-to-earth folks whose world view is grounded in what they perceive to be reality should probably avoid this book. But despite some rough edges, I found it to be a great read.

72 people found this helpful

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Toby Price

amazing

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2024

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This is not only great science fiction, but a great novel, one of Dick’s best. If you’ve never read anything of his, this is a great place to start.

One person found this helpful

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Sy

for PKD fans

Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2012

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This book will definitely be more appreciated by the die hard PKD fans who are familiar with both his work and his personal life. This book approaches one of Dick's most recurring problems: what is real and how do we know? What the casual reader may not know is that for Dick this problem wasn't a literary exercise, apparently he really had trouble distinguishing reality, so this book, like the others, is most of all a fascinating tour of a disturbed mind. Unfortunately some of his problems manifest themselves in his writing, which can be quite disorganized. Ubik starts being about this future world of telepathic espionage and supernatural gifts only to take a sharp turn in a completely different direction before you know it. Those who appreciate PKD for what he is, warts and all, won't be too upset and will obediently follow the author in whatever ride he has in store for them. And quite a ride it is! A ride in a reality that is as fragile and ephemeral as a cardboard movie set (remember those? Before CG?), a constantly changing reality that more often than not makes little sense to both the characters and the reader. There is, of course, some kind of resolution to the mystery, which may not be a resolution at all, and not all readers may appreciate it.
All in all, I disagree with those who call this Dick's best book, it is enjoyable but not his best. The characters are terrible, the story is schizophrenic and disorganized with the distinct feeling the author started it without knowing where he was going to go with it. But as always with PKD, the basic ideas are fascinating and entertaining and the quirks of the future he never fails to pepper his books with are clever and slightly unsettling in their plausibility.

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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Maria Eugenia Ordoñez Vazquez

Leer de engrandese

Reviewed in Mexico on January 29, 2023

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Excelente compra

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Too Cool For School

Great book

Reviewed in Canada on March 3, 2022

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This book is awesome. Very PKD if you like his style. The book cover is not glassy smooth, there is a texture to it... Like silly smooth sandpaper. A very pleasing texture. Although "A scanner Darkly" has a slightly more coarse cover that has an even better tactile quality.

One person found this helpful

LN51

Bon rapport qualité prix

Reviewed in France on December 19, 2023

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Utilisation dans le cadre des études.
Expédition rapide et bon conditionnement.

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Entirely harmless if used as directed

Reviewed in India on February 18, 2022

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Initially it is hard to dwell into the world that is being experienced by characters, the nomenclature of the near future world might seem intimidating at first. I was certainly worried about, missing trivial details that might be of greater importance. As you get along with the plot, you'll be as confused as the characters themselves are of their own reality.
"a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you'll never be sure you've woken up from" this pretty much sums it up.