How do i get into Philip K. Dick?

>>8435980

Unzip his pants and use lots of lubrication.

>>8435990
Don't be such a Dickhead.

>>8435980
You don't, you let the Dick into you.

>>8435990
Wow... that was very helpful

>>8435980
His family name sounds like a common synonym for Penis

>>8435980

One distinction you can make is between his early pulp short stories and his later novels; to me they're practically like they're from different people. Check out some of the early stories that are available online.
One commonality between the two aspects of his work is the sheer amount of stuff he wrote (he was chasing the paycheck, especially early on), so the lesser-known works are lower in quality. For novels, stick to what is well-known until you're inclined to being a completist. Man in the High Castle is a little overrated in my opinion. Do Androids Dream is interesting to compare/contrast with Blade Runner. VALIS is very good but don't start there.

>>8436020
Cool man, thanks, amongst his well-known, what are some of his easiest to read?

File: FB_IMG_1469403844232.jpg (29KB, 640x640px) Image search: [Google]

29KB, 640x640px

>>8436020
>VALIS

Now you're talkin'!

>>8436026

As far as readability, High Castle is probably a good starting point since it's maybe his earliest well-known work; others would include Martian Time-Slip, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, The Penultimate Truth. Ubik, from maybe the middle phase of his novels, is the favorite of many; others would be Flow My Tears and A Scanner Darkly. The VALIS trilogy (and Radio Free Albmuth before it, which became expanded into the trilogy) are from the time after his Pink Light experience and are the strangest of his work.
Really all of can be generalized as amazing ideas expressed with less than the best craft in writing.

open the casket and slllllip! yourself in

>>8435980
How I'd rate the four novels of his that I have read

1. Do Androids Dream
>robots, humanity and religion
2. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
>celebrity culture, memory/identity loss in a surveillance state, every woman is neurotic
3. Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
>life on mars is cramped, boring and shit, competing drug companies peddle escapist drugs to them
4. The Man In The High Castle
>america is carved up between victorious nazis and japan

So I would rate his most critically acclaimed novel, the Hugo award winning Man In The High Castle, the least. Even so, it was enjoyable, while being forgettable. It seems to be different from his other novels in method and style: painstakingly researched, edited, and less exuberant.

I'm overdue to get into his short fiction, which I am unfamiliar with. It is possible that an edited collection of his best short stories would be a good introduction to his work, but I couldn't say, not until I read a certain book due in the mail.