Series: Alternatives | Publication Date: March 1, 1986
What is human? What is a machine? How do they differ? Or do they?
In these 15 stories about robots and androids, Philip K. Dick asks these questions. The answers differ with each story—in the fictional world and in the exploring mind of Dick the only certainty is change—but the author establishes some guidelines: “To be human, one must maintain his intellectual and spiritual freedom at all costs. He must refuse obedience to any ideology; he must remain unpredictable, unfettered by patterns and routines.”
5.0 out of 5 starsAn excellent visionary view into the future!, January 10, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: Robots, Androids, and Mechanical Oddities: The Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick (Alternatives) (Paperback)
Philip Dick's collection of "android-oid" short stories is an excellent collection
of the demons that haunted not just his mind, but the collective consciousness. Each story
delves into intriguing ways that robots will run amok in the future. There are some precious
gems in this collection which represent Dick at his best. Many of the stories are infused
with his fascination of what makes a human human and a robot not. Two eloquent stories are
"The Little Movement" (my personal favorite), and the short story that the awful "Screamers"
was based on which I believe is called "New Model".
If you love SciFi and have a Bradbury bent towards alternate futures, this is a must read!
If you have never read Philip Dick, this is an excellent introduction!
Bon Apetite!
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