The Ganymede Takeover

Rating:
Summary: Minor novel with major ideas
Review: A minor Dick novel of the late 60s, The Ganymede Takeover was written in collaboration with Ray Nelson, and is derivative of The Game-Players of Titan, a much better book, with the situation of evil telepathic aliens who have conquered Earth. Here the aliens are large worms, who despite their form have a weakness for human culture: one collects model airplanes, another named Mekkis develops an obsession with the work of psychologist Dr. Rudolph Balkani. Balkani's "oblivion therapy" involves sensory deprivation treatment and makes a schizophrenic of the chief female character, Joan Hiashi. It also short-circuits the Ganymedian Great Common to which Mekkis connected mentally. The reason for this devastating effect seems to be that the Nothingness at the basis of reality is too much for any mind, human or alien, to bear. Even in this slight novel, Dick's philosophical concerns with the nature of subjectivity and consciousness march right to the forefront.

Rating:
Summary: Reads like an imitation PKD novel
Review: After reading a string of mostly top-notch PKD novels I was expecting the same from this but my expectations were only half-met. 'The Ganymede Takeover' is interesting and varied enough to get to the end without losing interest, but Phillip K Dick produces much better results on his own. Something seemed a little off with this novel to me and I think the two authors probably said "Hey, let's write a novel together" rather than "I've got this great idea for I novel, I need your help with this one". This is the first book Ray Nelson was involved in, his only claim to fame prior to this was being the inventor of the propeller-hat.
If you're on a mission to read the entire Phillip K. Dick catalog I'd put this a long way down on the list, there are better PKD books out there to be read.

Rating:
Summary: A pure masterpiece! Dick is really deep inside this one!
Review: Hello. My name is Albert Godphrey and I love Phillip K. Dick. Dick uses basic writing techniques for this book, yet something about it grasps me. He really gets deep inside the human mind and shows why we act the way we do. He shows that some people will never give up and they will do whatever they need to survive, yet it also shows the meek and the weak. This book is also humorus. I was cracking up when Dick made Percy X, the leader of a rebellion from an alien invasion of earth, used the mind machine to imagine killer girl scouts tearing apart the alien troops. Then he imagined killer boy scouts. Then the boy scouts raped the girl scouts! That was classic. The amount of time he put into this book is so obvious! He uses futuristic devises that we have now! Phillip K. Dick is amazing. My hands were literaly glued to this book. I couldn't put it down, I didn't sleep for 2 1/2 days because I was reading this. I really am glad that I met Phillip K. Dick before he died. I remember we listended to the clasical music together while we discussed his books. He was ingenius. The day he died, i cried. It was a sad day for science fiction lovers, for they lost the king... DAMMIT!!!! Not Elvis!!!!