Ubik
UbikPhilip K. Dick
Buy on Amazon

Ubik (1969)

Philip K. Dick

Others: Overwhelmingly positive

Named one of Time's 100 Best Books, Ubik is a mind-bending, classic novel about the perception of reality from Philip K. Dick, the Hugo Award-winning author of The Man in the High Castle. “From the stuff of space opera, Dick spins a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you’ll never be sure you’ve woken up from.”—Lev Grossman, Time Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business — deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in “half-life,” a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter’s face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time. As consumables deteriorate and technology gets ever more primitive, the group needs to find out what is causing the shifts and what a mysterious product called Ubik has to do with it all. “More brilliant than similar experiments conducted by Pynchon or DeLillo.”—Roberto Bolaño

ISBN:
9780547572291
Length:
212 pages

Genres: science fiction, literary fiction

Lists: …

Similar books

1 of 6
  • Flow my tears, the policeman said

    Philip K. Dick

    1974 · 231 pages · 5 reviews

    Others: Mostly positive

    Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is a 1974 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The story follows a genetically enhanced pop singer and television star who wakes up in a world where he has never existed. The novel is set in a futuristic dystopia, where the United States has become a police state in the aftermath of a Second Civil War. It was nominated for a Nebula Award in 1974 and a Hugo Award in 1975, and was awarded the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1975. TV star Jason Taverner is no more. Overnight, he looses his ID cards, the records about him in the official databases have strangely vanished and no one seems to know him any more. Even the songs he recorded don’t exist any more. In an oppressing police state, Jason struggels not to get arrested.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    On 5+ of the same lists
    61%
    Also literary fiction and science fiction
    34%
    Similar descriptions
    5%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • Childhood’s End

    Arthur C. Clarke

    1952 · 220 pages · 9 reviews

    Others: Leaning positive

    Childhood's End is a 1953 science fiction novel by British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival ends all war, helps form a world government, and turns the planet into a near-utopia. Many questions are asked about the origins and mission of the aliens, but they avoid answering, preferring to remain in their ships, governing through indirect rule. Decades later, the Overlords eventually show themselves, and their impact on human culture leads to a Golden Age. However, the last generation of children on Earth begin to display powerful psychic abilities, heralding their evolution into a group mind, a transcendent form of life.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    On 5+ of the same lists
    69%
    Also science fiction
    21%
    3 creators loved both
    10%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • A Scanner Darkly

    Philip K. Dick

    1977 · 254 pages · 8 reviews

    Others: Overwhelmingly positive

    see https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2172516W/A_Scanner_Darkly

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    On 5+ of the same lists
    78%
    2 creators loved both
    11%
    Also science fiction
    11%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • Solaris

    Stanisław Lem

    1961 · 220 pages · 13 reviews

    Others: Overwhelmingly positive

    The cult-classic by Stanislaw Lem that spawned the movie is now available for your Kindle! Until now the only English edition was a 1970 version, which was translated from French and which Lem himself described as a "poor translation." This wonderful new English translation (by Bill Johnston) of Lem's classic Solaris is a must-have for fans of Lem's classic novel. Telling of humanity's encounter with an alien intelligence on the planet Solaris, the 1961 novel is a cult classic, exploring the ultimate futility of attempting to communicate with extra-terrestrial life. When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the living physical likeness of a long-dead lover. Others examining the planet, Kelvin learns, are plagued with their own repressed and newly corporeal memories. The Solaris ocean may be a massive brain that creates these incarnate memories, though its purpose in doing so is unknown, forcing the scientists to shift the focus of their quest and wonder if they can truly understand the universe without first understanding what lies within their hearts.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    On 5+ of the same lists
    64%
    Also science fiction
    22%
    3 creators loved both
    14%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • The Stars My Destination

    Alfred Bester

    1956 · 236 pages · 8 reviews

    Others: Overwhelmingly positive

    In this pulse-quickening novel, Alfred Bester imagines a future in which people "jaunte" a thousand miles with a single thought, where the rich barricade themselves in labyrinths and protect themselves with radioactive hitmen—and where an inarticulate outcast is the most valuable and dangerous man alive. The Stars My Destination is a classic of technological prophecy and timeless narrative enchantment by an acknowledged master of science fiction.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    On 5+ of the same lists
    65%
    Also science fiction
    23%
    2 creators loved both
    12%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • The Lathe of Heaven

    Ursula K. Le Guin

    1971 · 184 pages · 3 reviews

    Others: Overwhelmingly positive

    “The Lathe of Heaven” ; 1971 ( Ursula Le Guin received the 1973 Locus Award for this story) George Orr has a gift – he is an effective dreamer: his dreams become reality when he wakes up. He is aware of his past and present, two or more sets of memories, although the people around him are only aware of the current reality. This science fiction story is set in Portland, Oregon, in/around the late 1990s - early 2000s. Orr begins to take drugs to suppress dreams but eventually he is sent to a psychotherapist, Dr. William Haber, who has developed an electronic machine, the Augmentor, which records the brain patterns of a person as they dream. When Haber realizes that he can use Orr's unique ability to change their world, the consequences are both beneficial and frightening, both locally and globally. Orr seeks out the help of a civil rights lawyer, Heather Lelache, who attends a treatment session, and sees Portland change before her very eyes as Orr awakens. In a strange turn of events, Heather helps Orr by putting him in a dream state where Orr can undo some of Haber's actions. The result – Aliens on the Moon land on Earth ! A special affinity exists between George Orr and the Aliens, who seem to understand his unique gift. Ultimately Haber decides to impose Orr's brain patterns on his own, so that he can bring about world-wide changes. Orr and Heather feel the chaos and a sense of a void as Haber dreams. Orr rushes back to Haber's office and turns off the Augmentor. The world returns to April 1998.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    On 5+ of the same lists
    68%
    Also science fiction
    24%
    Words in Time loved both
    8%
    Personalize your recommendations

Reviews4

Loved it

Ubik feels like one big mind game it gets off to a little bit of a slow start but when strange things start to happen the nature of reality starts to shift it feels like one big rabbit hole that I just couldn't help but go down once things really take off in the second half I think I finished this book in one sitting

Review 1 of 4
Loved it

I freaking loved ubic and I was so surprised because I've had a really tortuous relationship with Philip K dick and by tortuous I mean maybe tortured this was the third book of Philip K dick that I've ever read and it's the only one that I really enjoyed