Rating: 
Summary: Give up Freedom for Safety? Clearly, the answer is no.
Review: There is an incredible amount of insight that went into this short story. Everyone likes the idea of fighting crime: politicians get re-elected fighting it; police receive praise for attacking it at every nook and corner; citizens feel safer when, as a society, we are defeating it. Given this context, what would happen if a politician were to endorse the idea of locking up criminals before they engange in their criminal acts? It sounds good: after all, aren't they likely to engange in the act if they are locked up? Forget the issue as to whether such acts are constitutional (they clearly they are not), the question is, is it good policy? Dick points to the idea that it clearly isn't, and that while it may seem like a good idea to completely eradicate crime, the practice of doing so would clearly create far more harm than good. For instance, if we label someone as extremely likely to engange in the act and arrest them before they committ it, we are saying that people essentially have no free-will and we eliminate the possibility that they may change their thinking before they engange in the behavior. What we would be doing is, in a sense, locking people up for poor thoughts--no--dangerous thoughts. This is an important lesson for all those closet utopians who believe that an intellectual can come up with an idea and cure all of society's ills. This book clearly errs in being skeptical of those in power who would sacrifice our freedom in the name of temporary security. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "Those who would sacrifice a little freedom for temporal safety deserve neither to be safe or free." Michael Gordon
Rating:
Summary: Give up Freedom for Safety? Clearly, the answer is no.
Review: There is an incredible amount of insight that went into this short story. Everyone likes the idea of fighting crime: politicians get re-elected fighting it; police receive praise for attacking it at every nook and corner; citizens feel safer when, as a society, we are defeating it. Given this context, what would happen if a politician were to endorse the idea of locking up criminals before they engange in their criminal acts? It sounds good: after all, aren't they likely to engange in the act if they are locked up? Forget the issue as to whether such acts are constitutional (they clearly they are not), the question is, is it good policy? Dick points to the idea that it clearly isn't, and that while it may seem like a good idea to completely eradicate crime, the practice of doing so would clearly create far more harm than good. For instance, if we label someone as extremely likely to engange in the act and arrest them before they committ it, we are saying that people essentially have no free-will and we eliminate the possibility that they may change their thinking before they engange in the behavior. What we would be doing is, in a sense, locking people up for poor thoughts--no--dangerous thoughts. This is an important lesson for all those closet utopians who believe that an intellectual can come up with an idea and cure all of society's ills. This book clearly errs in being skeptical of those in power who would sacrifice our freedom in the name of temporary security. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "Those who would sacrifice a little freedom for temporal safety deserve neither to be safe or free." Michael Gordon
Rating: 
Summary: Don't read to better understand the movie
Review: This artsy published book may be authentic Philip K Dick, but its prose deviates strongly from Spielberg's movie rendition with all its razzle-dazzle. Better to see the movie two or more times at a budget theatre, ie dollar on Tuesdays in the MSP metro. This book is useless; especially compared to the Star Wars books help to understand the fast paced movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Layout--Interesting Story--but for that price?
Review: This is a quick read. I found the layout inventive and fun, although a bit distracting. Don't read it to compare it to the movie, because they are nothing alike.
Rating:
Summary: short story
Review: This is a quick read. I found the layout inventive and fun, although a bit distracting. Don't read it to compare it to the movie, because they are nothing alike.
Rating:
Summary: A short story turned into a book (?)
Review: This story and the Spielberg are associated by name only. And if that wasn't odd enough, this is a short story published as a book. Philip Dick had hundreds of short stories, yet this one gets published with a handbound cover? If you buy the anthology of short stories with this inside, you will see that it takes up only about 30 pages or so.
Having seen the movie first, the details of the book threw me off a great deal. I won't spoil it for you, but there are a great many things that Spielberg and company took liberties with. You are forewarned!
This is a decent product to pick up used or at your local library, but the short story collections are a much better deal.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Layout--Interesting Story--but for that price?
Review: With all the hype of the movie coming out, I wanted to read the original story beforehand. Being that I work at a book store, I was able to read it during my 1 hour lunch break. The layout is definitely unique and eye-catching, but hard to read (and hold) vertically. If it was a book of pictures then maybe it wouldn't be so bad. However, the story itself deserves the unique layout to complement it. It is a very intriguing story and since it is a short story the events kept moving along at a nice pace. As a short story, it is more likely that the movie will actually expand on the original story. Nevertheless, the story does make you think along with Anderton as he figures out what happened in the reports. With that said, I don't think our store has sold a copy of this version yet. But we have sold out of the book containing "The Minority Report" and other stories by Philip K. Dick. Obviously, people know a better value when they see it. Buying this version would simply be for the novelty of the layout--at least at this price.
| 
