Rating: 
Summary: question
Review: Might someone please list the stories included in this volume? I really don't need editorial, just the titles. I can't exactly purchase something if I don't know what I'll be getting.
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Summary: excellent intro to the world of pkd!
Review: My first intro to philip k dick was at the end credits of of the film "bladerunner"...where i saw his name in small print...thus, i picked up this volume with some passing curiousity only to discover with pleasure, that within it's pages was another story made into the film "we can remember it for you wholesale". i thoroughly enjoyed the story in it's own right and proceeded to find another story called "second variety" which also became a film.Between stories i was hooked...in no time i was reading other great stories in this collection, such as "minority report"-which has been ruined by the overdone version of it for the screen...too bad....
anyway i found myself immersed in a world where the paths of dreams and reality were so confusing and thought provoking ...this volume is a collection of earlier works, and i think it's one of the best places to start; but the best, i think, is to be found in his latter longer works such as "do androids dream of electric sheep' and "the three stigmata...'....this volume is like an appetizer that may make you want to read pkd to the furthermost...
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty repetitive
Review: Philip Dick is okay in small doses, but trying to read an entire book of his short stories was too much to bear. They're somewhat enjoyable, but when all of the stories are based on paranoia and alienation, it gets old really fast. Plus, the stories are very dated, featuring travelling salesmen, happy housewives, and the red menace. The only story contained here that I truly enjoyed was "Second Variety". This book could be more easily stomached if it didn't contain so many stories dealing with the same theme. It reminds me of that one-trick pony, HP Lovecraft.
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Summary: Idea-driven Science Fiction
Review: PKD was one of those rare writers who captivated you w/ his "What if?" scenarios rather than w/ unique characters or tight plotting. You find yourself frantically turning the pages to find what mind-blowing extrapolation PKD will throw at you next, instead of what happens to the characters.Because of this, I think his short fiction is in many ways more enjoyable than his novels. His novels, although creative and imaginative masterpieces, tend to peter out plot-wise towards the end. His short stories are more focused, and thus less likely to stray from the path. This volume also saves the best for last, "We Can Remember...", "Minority Report", "Paycheck", and "Second Variety", and the opening stories are probably the weakest, "Fair Game" and "The Hanging Stranger". Yet even these two stories play off of PKD's paranoia and ironic metaphysics. The Matrix, Being John Malcovich, heck post-70s X-Men all found precedence in the creativity of PKD. PKD will put new thoughts in your head, show you things you couldn't show yourself -- that's what fiction should do. Highly Recommended.
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Summary: The Best Dick
Review: Some of Dick's best stories are in this volume. We'll Remember it for your Wholesale and Minority Report are simply great stories. I would give each of those stories five stars, and many others are excellent as well, although perhaps not as consistent. I feel that Dick shined as a teller of short-stories, and these exceed his longer works. One of the pleasures of reading Dick's short stories is that they seem to turn into a feature film every couple of years. It's fun to see a movie preview, and within a few seconds say, "That's a Dick story!" even though the ultimate film doesn't always measure up.
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Summary: Incredible collection
Review: The PKD reader is an excellent introduction to this seminal SF author's short fiction. Most all of his major pieces are here, as well as some enjoyable underrated works. Mr. Dick's greatness is shown here by the stories in this volume. Also, there are four (at least) movies or potential movies made from the stories here. It's not uncommon for an SF novel to be made into a movie, but a short story is something else again. And yet, from the wonderful "We Can Remember It For You, Wholesale" (a classic Dick story) the classic SF film Total Recall was made; likewise for Screamers from "Second Variety. Steven Spielberg is currently filming "The Minority Report" with Tom Cruise. "Paycheck" has been optioned. All four of these stories are excellent, top-notch science fiction. "Minority", in particular, is awesome, and stands as one of my all-time favorite pieces of short SF. One can also see, during the course of reading this book, just how much Philip K. Dick grew as a writer during his career. Early stories featured here such as "Fair Game" and "The Hanging Stranger" while certainly good, have a VERY pulp-ish feel. This is offset by wonderful later stories such as the one mentioned, and other such as "The Father-Thing", "The Last of The Masters", and "War Veteran." Dick's writing style is compelling, fast-paced, readable, and thought-provoking, and you can see why he is held in such high regard by fans and critics alike. These are some of the best SF shorts written since the likes of Heinlein and Clarke ruled the roost. It's sad that he only started receiving real recognition after his untimely death in 1982 (just before Blade Runner was released. Pick up this book, and see why it has been said that "100 years from now, Philip K. Dick may be looked back upon as the greatest writer of the second half of the 20th century."
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Summary: forget about the movies
Review: The short stories of Philip Dick perhaps do not reach the levels that the best of his novels do. However they are just as inventive, just as challenging, just as stimulating. For those readers who claim his characterisation is poor, and his descriptions are insufficiently well formed I suggest you let your own mind fill in the details - it is not necessary to have every detail spelled out by the author. In fact, I find it a far graver insult to go the other way and describe, describe, describe - as Henry James sometimes does.
As an example of writing that approaches genius there is a description of the aftermath of a nuclear explosion - 'The World Jones Made'? - in which he doesn't say of the character who climbs out of the basement that has protected him 'he could hear in the far distance a car horn blaring continuously in the uncanny stillness'. What he does say is that everything is quiet and suddenly a car horn sounds (there are other living people?), far in the distance (are they reachable?), continuously (and we see in our mind someone slumped dead over the steering wheel). Of course the bracketed comments are mine - but what a journey we are so quickly taken on - hope, doubt, despair. All without the author 'explaining' anything. Compare that to the bland alternative description and you can see that this man is using writing in a very evocative way.
When you sit down with these stories, please forget the movies - even the good ones - let your mind go on its own adventure!
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Summary: A Pocketful of Miracles
Review: There's a great line in the short story "Paycheck" that goes: "Rethrick was here all right. And apparently the trinkets were going to see him through. One for every crisis. A pocketful of miracles, from someone who knew the future!" The same could be said of Philip K. Dick's short stories as a whole. For none of the stories in this collection did Philip K. Dick earn more than 250 dollars. "Paycheck" the movie (as of writing this review) has grossed over $53,000,000 worldwide. A pocketful of miracles, indeed. Philip K. Dick may have been the best _idea_ fiction writer who ever lived. His ideas for plots are at once pulpish, deeply metaphysical, and as original as any 20th century writer, and the stories in The Philip K. Dick Reader are as good an introduction to Dick as any other collection I've been able to find. Here you'll find the original stories that inspired Total Recall, Screamers, Paycheck, The Minority Report, and part of the fun in reading this collection comes with seeing the differences between what Philip K. Dick originally wrote and what was realized on film. But there are many quality stories here, too, that haven't been filmed. A few of them include: "Strange Eden" -- a wonderfully imagined, eerie story of a space pilot who finds an alluring woman on a peaceful, Eden-like planet where nothing is as it seems. "Sales Pitch" -- a hilarious story about an automatic sales robot that drives a man over the edge. I couldn't help but think about the 20+ emails I receive each day trying to sell me stuff, on-line pop-up windows, and, to me, the story seems prophetic. "Exhibit Piece" -- the quintessential Philip K. Dick story; a futuristic museum curator stumbles into a 20th century exhibit only to find that it is utterly real to him. The emotion that Dick employs when the George Miller's co-workers at the museum don't believe his story was heartrending to read. "Foster, You're Dead" -- turns a satirical eye to the nuclear paranoia of the 50s and 60s, a time when people actually bought bomb shelters for their homes the way you might buy a TV or new washer machine. The highlight of this collection, though, are the stories "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," "Second Variety," "Paycheck,", and "The Minority Report," which have each been made into highly successful movies. These stories are flat-out as good as any science fiction stories out there. Dick wrote of hugely metaphysical ideas in a language that was prosaic and fun, and he placed his ideas in plots that combined mystery and intrigue as well as any science fiction writer before or since. I highly recommend "The Philip K. Dick Reader" to any short story fan as well as to anyone looking for a solid introduction to the fiction of Philip K. Dick. It is a great collection, one of those rare few you'll come to time and time again. It truly is a pocketful of miracles! Stacey
Rating:
Summary: THIS is the collection to get
Review: This collection contains ALL of these short stories: Fair game -- Hanging stranger -- Eyes have it -- Golden man -- Turning wheel -- Last of the masters -- Father-thing -- Strange Eden -- Tony and the Beetles -- Null-o -- To serve the master -- Exhibit piece -- Crawlers -- Sales pitch -- Shell game -- Upon the dull Earth -- Foster, you're dead -- Pay for the printer -- War veteran -- Chromium fence -- We can remember it for you wholesale -- Minority report -- Paycheck -- Second variety. The final four in the book inspired the films "Total Recall," "Minority Report," "Paycheck," and "Screamers." This is certainly the best collection for people unfamiliar with PKD to get first.
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Summary: A saucerful of secrets
Review: This collection of PKD's work is a great introduction into the vast depth with which PDK writes. Each story is told within 20 pages and gives great character, plot and emotional development that each story takes you down a different perspective. I found myself throughout the collection saying there was nothing new he could write about, yet each story brought forward a sci-fi concept that I had not thought of. I do question one of the lead-in stories "Roog" which is short and at times pretty pointless. If you are new to sci-fi, a story such as that, could lead you to stop reading further, as "Beyond lies the Wub" is not one of the best stories in this collection as well. After you make it beyond these two, the stories, plot twists and characters are more refined and much more enjoyable. Paycheck was my favorite in this collection, and has me anxious to see the movie, even though John Woo will twist this masterpiece around. Interesting note, four of the stories inspired films, Second Variety - "Screamers"; Paycheck - "Paycheck"; We can remember it for you wholesale - "Total Recall"; and The Minority Report - "Minority Report"
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