Customer Reviews

We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (Vol 2)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It is a credit to Philip K. Dick's talent that even in his early days - at a time when he was cranking out stories just to keep food on the table - that he was able to write so much fiction that is not only good, but great.

In this second volume of a five book set that includes essentially all his short works, we get to read more of his earliest tales and find there is little to disappoint here. The title piece is the short story which was adapted into the movie Total Recall. I like the movie well enough, but outside the premise, there is little that is really similar to the original story, which has much more of an emphasis on the comic than on action.

In fact, the majority of these stories have a comic touch. Since these are tales of dark futures - most involve Earth's that are either environmentally wrecked or repressive dictatorships - the humor prevents things from getting too depressing.

You don't have to be a Dick fan to enjoy these stories, nor even much of a science fiction fan (though it helps); this is just a fantastic collection of short stories that are both fun and thought-provoking. What more could you want?

While Philip K. Dick never fails to impress me with his brilliance, the publisher succeed in writing a sketchy edition of these short stories. Every story has its own thought behind it - a deeper meaning. My favorite stories were "Some Kinds of Life", "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale", and "Adjustment Team" which each story brings a whole new concept that has been exploited in recent media. However, while entranced in these short bursts of envigorating stories, one can become distracted with the large amount of typos in this edition. The abscence of characters and grammatical errors often caused me to stop reading smoothly and re-read the sentence. Ultimately, I was disgusted by this bad representation of such a masterpiece.

I would recommend people to buy this book who are interested in Dick's works, but do not have the time to immerse themselves in a full-fledged novel. These stories take approximately twenty minutes each and are all amusing. A wonderful read, but the publisher might want to proofread the writing.

In May of 1987 Underwood-Miller published a five volume set titled "The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick", with the second volume being subtitled "Second Variety". In September of 1990 the Carroll Group republished the second volume with a few of changes including changing the subtitle to "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale". In addition to the change of title, they removed the title story from the original volume and replaced it with the new title story. This was probably done to take advantage of the release of the movie "Total Recall" which was based on the story. The last change they made was to move the story "Prominent Author" from the last story to the third story.

This is another great volume in the collection of Philip K. Dick's early short fiction. The original intent of the series was to present the stories in the order in which they were believed to have been written instead of the order in which they were published. However, by switching stories and changing the order in this book, the stories are now no longer in either order. There are 27 stories here, so it doesn't make sense to go through them all in detail, but there are several ones of note:

The title story, as mentioned earlier, was the basis for the movie "Total Recall", and for those familiar with the movie the first part of the story matches the first part of the movie very well. Douglas Quail is unsatisfied with his life and has a desire to go to Mars, he decides to check-out Rekal and is convinced to get the memories of a trip there as a secret agent implanted. At some point the two stories diverge though, and while the movie turns into an action film, the story takes a different twist at the end. The story was written in 1965 and first published in 1966, so it is much newer than the rest of the stories in this book which were mostly written and published in 1953 and 1954. In 1999, this story tied for 32nd on the Locus All-Time Poll for novelettes.

There are stories about our humanity such as "Progeny", which takes a look at what our society might be like if parents are taken out of the business of raising their children. There is "Human Is", which looks at what it really means to be human. "Breakfast at Twilight" involves at a family which is pulled into the near future to witness a war which appears to be the end of civilization. Lastly, there is James P. Crow, which looks at a future society which has forgotten that humans created robots and instead believes the reverse.

This is a very good collection, despite the decision to break away from the chronological order of the stories. The original collection was ranked 3rd on the Locus poll for collections in 1988. The diversity is greater here than in the first volume. Some of the stories may be a bit predictable, however that is largely due to other writers copying Dick's style and ideas. This volume leaves the reader looking forward to volume 3 and the continued evolution of Dick's writing.

I started reading PKD's work 6 years ago and I had a... copy of this book. Looking back, I was very glad I picked this superb volume to begin with. The amount of entertainment and thought-provoking ideas I got out of the ...book made me buy every book (new or old) I could find of PKD.

Now I just hope I have the time to read all of them...at least once.

Don't miss any of PKD's books, especially the short stories.

As I recall the movie Total Recall, it was a more interesting than usual Summer blockbuster, though still marred by excessive special effects and overlength. It had an intriguing basic premise, but the nuances of the story kept getting lost amidst all the exploding heads. The movie is based, like the equally uneven Blade Runner (see Orrin's review of the book), on the work of the cult favorite sci-fi author, Philip K. Dick. But while movie tie-in versions of Blade Runner abound (Dick's original, more descriptive, title was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall is based on just a short story, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, which is harder to find. Until that is I stumbled upon this cheesy looking, but gem filled, collection of stories by various authors, each of which is the basis for a recent science fiction film.

Dick's original short story is, predictably, a great improvement over the film, idea-filled rather than action-packed. While Douglas Quail may be a miserable little salaried employee, for the West Coast Emigration Bureau, he has one abiding dream, "Before I die I'll see Mars." Such a trip though would be enormously expensive and his wife constantly derides his ambition. Lucky for him, Rekal, Incorporated, can implant it's customers with false memories that will make it seem as if they've actually experienced their fondest dreams:

Was this the answer? After all, an illusion, no matter how convincing, remained nothing more than an illusion. At least objectively. But subjectively--quite the opposite entirely.

So Quail goes to Rekal for the Mars "extra-factual memory implant," complete with a scenario that has him acting as an agent for Interplan. Then, as the process gets underway, an unusual thing happens; under sedation he begins to recover genuine memories of a past trip to Mars. As one of the technicians explains:

He wants a false memory implanted that corresponds to a trip he actually took. And a false reason which is the real reason. He's telling the truth; he's a long way down in the narkidrine. The trip is very vivid in his mind--at least under sedation. But apparently he doesn't recall it otherwise. Someone, probably at a government military-sciences lab, erased his conscious memories; all he knew was that going to Mars meant something special to him, and so did being a secret agent. They couldn't erase that; it's not a memory but a desire, undoubtedly the same one that motivated him to volunteer for the assignment in the first place.

Realizing the gravity of their situation, the folks at Rekal hustle him out the door and refund half his money. But now Quail starts to get fragmentary memories of a Mars trip, some from the implant and some from the real trip, so he returns to Rekal to get the matter straightened out. Meanwhile, agents from Interplan, who have been monitoring his thoughts against just such an eventuality, show up to try and kill him before he can reveal the details of his secret mission to Mars. Quail convinces them to have another try at implanting false memories, but this time the genuine memories that are recovered are even more bewildering.

It's a clever, twisty story, somewhat reminiscent of a really good Twilight Zone. In addition, over the space of just twenty or so pages, Dick raises some unsettling questions about memory, desire, delusion and reality, and how they all interact in the human mind. Total Recall is a perfectly adequate way to kill a couple hours; We Can Remember it For You Wholesale, though it takes just a half hour to read, will keep you pondering for a good long while.

GRADE: A

Philip K. Dick's short stories are the best work of one of the greatest ( science) fiction writers in the history of the genre. His spare style leaves plenty for the imagination, as opposed to those writers who feel it necessary to fill their pages with endless technological detail. His staid characters are straight out of the Eisenhower Years, and are put through hoops such as no one has dreamed up before or since. Brilliant premises create psychological dilemmas that almost always resolve unexpectedly. As testament to his fertile imagination, five movies directly credit his short stories, and many more arguably rip him off. This five volume set comprises half of my ten most treasured books; if you like fiction, short stories, or genius social commentary, buy these stories.

Anyone who has read Phil K Dicks novels before will love this, it is as if he had so many exciting ideas and not enough time to write all of them as full novels. He wrote hundreds of short stories, these are some of the best. If you are new to PKD then this is like the best episodes of the twilight zone but written with a touch of paranoia and perhaps a small amount of Hallucinagens. I can't think of a better introduction to the world of such a prolific writer.

These 27 paranoid delusions are normal fare for author Philip K. Dick but are world turning upside down kind of stories for the rest of us. In his usual fashion, Dick is brilliantly remarkable and his stories are frightening and inspiring.

I love Phillip K Dick but some of his issues as a writer really come out in his longer works. That is why a collection like this is essential reading for any sci-fi lover. You get a taste of his unique perspective and ideas with stronger stories and more even plot flows. I really would recommend this book (or any other of his short story collections) to anyone. They are sci-fi at it's best.

I'm a big fan of Philip K. Dick so this was a delight. The stories are short and quick to read, which is great for short road trips or riding on the bus or train. I will be honest and say a few of the stories weren't as good as usual, but seeing as they don't take long to read, it isn't much of a waste of time, plus it may be a matter taste. Just about every story had a very clever twist, the kind you tend to find in episodes of Twilight Zone, which I love. This is a great edition to have if you enjoy sci-fi shorts or are a P.K. Dick fan!