Rating: 
Summary: The punishment is too great
Review: This book should be studied by all senior grade students (despite the not inappropriate language). It is an engrossing yarn with the inventive twists so characteristic of Philip Dick's writing. And it reflects the author's attitude, at the time he wrote the novel, towards the impact of drugs on a person's life - and yet for that it is not judgemental or hectoring. It's not even really critical. The afterword that Philip Dick added to the novel has some of the most sensible and caring words about drugs that I have ever read - "these people wanted to keep on having a good time forever, and were punished for that .... [but] the punishment was far too great ...."
Rating: 
Summary: These are your brains on drugs
Review: A strange little trip into the mind of Bob Arctor -- an actor/mole/double agent/junky/nark whose brain literally splits in two. A kind of subtle, small story. I was expecting it to grow into a huge plot about aliens or a mega corporation seeking to control the minds of all humans. It's really not that. It's just about a few people tangled up in the world of Slow Death. A strange little ending. The dialog is a tad dated. Think 70's hippy slang (even though the story takes place in the 'future' of 1992). Funny to think that people in the future would be using words like "foxy" but that's my only real complaint about the book.
Rating:
Summary: Damned if you do, damned if you don't...
Review: The first time I read this book left me with somewhat ambivalent feelings. I was and still am a great fan of Dick's work, and Scanner Darkly is clearly one of his best, brimming with black humour and insane plot concepts. However, I was somewhat irritated by some of its elements, which sounded like a typical ex-addict's attempt to evade all responsibility by blaming drugs. "It wasn't my fault that I wrecked my whole life and hurt everyone around me, it was those horrible drugs! I'm going to write a book about them so that everyone will see how bad they are!" Evil drug dealers injecting hard drugs into innocent girls who then deteriorate into old hags in six months... just like the stuff I heard in school, but not necessarily true. Later I realized that the novel is far deeper than that, though. First of all it isn't a document, but rather a depiction of how it felt to be involved in the disaster that was 60-70's drug culture, and of the agonies of addiction. And second, it showed the true tragedy of the hippie era. In the book, everyone's basically either a head, wasting their brains with a plethora of substances and burning their life away, or then a straight, existing in a plastic limbo that cannot properly called a life at all. Bob Arctor chose the career of undercover narc when he realized how empty his proper life was, and his comment about the Lions Society (?) he was lecturing to about drugs was quite revealing too. "Substance D cannot destroy their brains, because they have none" (taken from memory) So I think the book is a criticism aimed at the emptiness of society which drove masses of bright young people to drop out and play around with power tools without care... and with results that the book depicts disturbingly well. Luckily there is a third way, but I don't think it was a real option for most people then.
Rating:
Summary: Afterword
Review: This book should be studied by all senior grade students(despite the not inappropriate language). It is an engrossing yarnwith the inventive twists so characteristic of Dick's writing. And itreflects the author's attitude, at the time he wrote the novel,towards the impact of drug's on a person's life - and yet for that itis not judgemental or hectoring. It's not even really critical. Theafterword that Dick added to the novel has some of the most sensibleand caring words about drugs that I have ever read - "thesepeople wanted to keep on having a good time forever, and were punishedfor that .... [but] the punishment was far too great ...."
Rating:
Summary: A Question of Identity
Review: Much has been said about this book in other reviews, but I find the loss of identity to be interesting. By the end of the book, before it's final amazingly well set up twists and turns that make it an extraordinarily well done novel, the main character seems to have completely lost his true identity as a result of the combination of his occupation and the drug he is addicted to. It is something to ponder. Is it possible to really lose yourself that way?
Rating:
Summary: incomparable
Review: This is the best book Phil Dick ever wrote. He himself thought so, and who am I to argue? Other readers have discussed the book, it's themes and qualities at length, so I will only add a couple of points:I hope you will find, for example, the British edition of this book as the Vintage cover is an abomination (I'm sure amazon.co.uk can help you there). Worth the extra money and extra wait. You shouldn't start reading Dick here, save it for later and start with his other brilliant work; UBIK, if you're ready for his time/space shifts (he'll pull the reality right out from under your feet), MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE if you require a read closer to normal, MARTIAN TIME-SLIP for his quirky off-planet brilliance. But you probably should hurry up with the program before the film Charlie Kaufman (of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH fame) is writing a script for comes out. What else? If you haven't read it, you need to. It's shattering, it's quirky, it's hysterically funny and terribly tragic.
Rating:
Summary: Through A Scanner Darkly
Review: A Scanner Darkly is the only book on drugs, besides Go Ask Alice, that resembles reality. It shows that drugs are niether good or bad; it is the user that makes them, so. Any one that has been heavily involved in the drug culture can identify with this book. The drug infested romance, distinguishably good and bad atmosheres, terminology,etc. should all be familiar to those who once lived the life described. But the most penetrating part of the book for anyone who knows what it's like to be addicted is Arctor's trangression. Arctor's speech including " Do I see my self through a scanner darkly...." is a poignant and penetrating dialogue that cannot, repeat cannot, be understood by those who have never been addicted. If you've ever been on the outside looking in, unable the see through the barrier you've created for your self, enveloped in the confusion of the human experience, than you can relate to Bob Arctor. As a recovering addict, I am glad that someone understands.
Rating:
Summary: Unnerving
Review: Wow. This is one of those books that just reaches into the core of your being and shocks you. The drug-induced deterioration of Fred/Bob Arctor is extremely well written - the way that the narration actually disintegrates at the same rate as the character - makes it more real. None of the characters turn out to be who you thought they were, and the ending is immensely satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: 6-foot solar-battery powered review repeating "Marvelous"
Review: I'm gonna be brief. Philip K. Dick tells funnystories. Philip K. Dick tells tragic stories. Philip K. Dick tellsthought-provoking stories. Philip K. Dick tells bizarre stories. Philip K. Dick tells beautiful stories. A Scanner Darkly has it all. And perhaps the most moving afterwords ever. Read it. That's all I have to say.
Rating:
Summary: The best Dick drug book
Review: Philip K. Dick's drug problem aided him in creating a superb story on drug dealers/narcs/split-personality combination. The characters are at times tragic, selfish, suicidal, hilarious and 3-dimensional. Readers who are familiar with Dick should love this.
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