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The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Volume 2: Second Variety by Philip K. Dick, Norman Spinrad
sookieskipper's review
4.0
The Hood Maker: 4/5
The most fascinating aspect of PKD has been and remains in his talent to be relevant in his stories. In a short span of time, The Hood Maker establishes an alternate reality, the most obvious paths humans would take in such an eventuality - purely based on historical evidence and the inevitable rebellion that comes with it.
The Impossible Planet: 4/5
The story is less of a story but a probable distant future when Earth is a myth and lies in obscure legends and researchers spend resources trying to find this mythical place. A future where its well understood that evolution of human species took place in different parts of the universe and nowhere one place special. I must admit, it was a little bitter sweet to read this future story.
The Commuter: 3/5
This short story reminded me of Galactic pot healer, for some reason. The two are in no way similar content wise or in style but they both echo the necessity of belonging to a space and having our existence validated. Interestingly, the short story works much better given its tight boundaries where the commuter's existence is questioned, investigated and validated. The boundaries that we draw are often imaginary lines that's rarely inclusive. Does this piece of land with a name struggles along with the people it contains for identity?
Human Is: 4/5
There is something very similar by Bradbury that questions in the same lines as PKD does - what makes us human? Our physiology? Or whatever that gets broadly classified as humanity and yet very few exhibit that behavior? Compassion? Kindness? PKD's take on it is similar to that of Bradbury: its the expectation of a person of another, defines humanity to them. There is no broad brush strokes that paint humanity's picture. Its like peeking into a Kaleidoscope and trying to discern a pattern and try hard to understand why it looks to beautiful. In this short story, an alien being takes the form of a scientist whose ruthlessness is a matter of despair to his wife. The alien reads up literature and tries hard at being human. Isn't that sufficient?
The Adjustment Team: 4/5
There are no chances or fate but a network of intelligent operatives who control the way the world operates. They perform minor adjustments just to nudge the way people react, behave and perform actions that direct the course of the world. PKD exposes the plot and the background through dialogues and this tight three-act story goes to show how the world is intricately connected and what is the smallest and seemingly insignificant lever that has to be pulled to bring about a global change. This is probably the earliest implementation of chaos theory even before it was a thing.
This story has influenced the movie - The Adjustment Bureau.
The Cookie Lady: 2/5
Not really a fan of this line of story telling, or its supernatural content. An old woman lures children with cookies and takes their youth.
Beyond the door: 2/5
An oddity in this collection that has all signature Dick elements but comes off as a knock off. I didn't enjoy it much though the idea was interesting.
Second Variety: 3.5/5
War and Robots, Russians and moon base. PKD at his best exposing humanity in the middle of war that has become an everyday occurrence.
Jon's world: 3/5
Perhaps this was an early vision of Minority Report? The complicated topic of mental health inlaid within time travel science fiction amidst a war. Yeah.
The Cosmic Poachers: 3/5
The world runs on greed. Colonization in a nutshell.
Progeny: 3/5
A future where children are placed in custody of state and "protected" from parents. Children become future in absolute sense where the care and nuturing are
carried by robots and live in institutions.
Some kinds of life: 4/5
The commercialization of war - simplified and exploited at its root.
Martians come in clouds: 3/5
Similar to The Cosmic Poachers where greed runs the world.
The world she wanted: 2/5
The entire story seems to be a filler for the eventual plot twist. It reads quickly though the story is passable.
A surface raid:2/5
Kind of boring actually. The plot twist in the end makes the story for what it is and its a heavy burden to place on the twist rather than the story itself.
Project:Earth: 4/5
An interesting take on existentialism and search for a ground to call their "own".
The trouble with bubbles: 4/5
The horror that descends morally ambiguous decision is becoming a recurring theme in modern times.
Breakfast at twilight:4/5
What would one do if they found themselves in the middle of a war they don't remember starting. Is it possible to be completely out of chaos that unfolds in the world and live in oblique isolation?
A present for pat: 2/5
An underwhelming end to an interesting story line. Became boring midway.
Of withered apples: 3/5
PKD's brand of horror is generally interesting however this one didn't do justice to the expectations I had from this story and this author. Still decent though.
Imposter: 3/5
There is a familiar quality to this story though I've never read it before. The plot follows a pattern that I have come to associate with PKD, maybe that's why.
James P Crow: 4/5
PKD's response to racism.
Planet for Transients: 4/5
When natives reject the notion of engaging with seekers of new land, adventurers, sorrowfully accept that not every land can be inhabited as their own.
Small Town: 4/5
There is a similar Bradbury story similar to Small town. The ominous end to a rather benign start is extraordinary.
Souvenir: 3/5
Narration style is quite similar to a mix of A present for Pat and Project Earth. The ending didn't go the way I expected it to and that was subtly disappointing.
Survey Team: 5/5
With the state of things the way they are on this planet, humanity is incapable of withholding greed and the need to exploit, abuse and overextend than necessary. The only rational voice in the story is thwarted for the sake of progress. Wanting progress for progress sake - is this a human condition?
Prominent author: 3.5/5
There is a certain level of predictability in these short stories in the way they are concluded. PKD uses red herring quite often and a "shock" inducing plot twist at the very end of the story. This way the dramatic effect is left hanging and surprisingly has been quite satisfactory. The repetitiveness isn't exploitative because the elements that make the reveal have remained unique.
The most fascinating aspect of PKD has been and remains in his talent to be relevant in his stories. In a short span of time, The Hood Maker establishes an alternate reality, the most obvious paths humans would take in such an eventuality - purely based on historical evidence and the inevitable rebellion that comes with it.
The Impossible Planet: 4/5
The story is less of a story but a probable distant future when Earth is a myth and lies in obscure legends and researchers spend resources trying to find this mythical place. A future where its well understood that evolution of human species took place in different parts of the universe and nowhere one place special. I must admit, it was a little bitter sweet to read this future story.
The Commuter: 3/5
This short story reminded me of Galactic pot healer, for some reason. The two are in no way similar content wise or in style but they both echo the necessity of belonging to a space and having our existence validated. Interestingly, the short story works much better given its tight boundaries where the commuter's existence is questioned, investigated and validated. The boundaries that we draw are often imaginary lines that's rarely inclusive. Does this piece of land with a name struggles along with the people it contains for identity?
Human Is: 4/5
There is something very similar by Bradbury that questions in the same lines as PKD does - what makes us human? Our physiology? Or whatever that gets broadly classified as humanity and yet very few exhibit that behavior? Compassion? Kindness? PKD's take on it is similar to that of Bradbury: its the expectation of a person of another, defines humanity to them. There is no broad brush strokes that paint humanity's picture. Its like peeking into a Kaleidoscope and trying to discern a pattern and try hard to understand why it looks to beautiful. In this short story, an alien being takes the form of a scientist whose ruthlessness is a matter of despair to his wife. The alien reads up literature and tries hard at being human. Isn't that sufficient?
The Adjustment Team: 4/5
There are no chances or fate but a network of intelligent operatives who control the way the world operates. They perform minor adjustments just to nudge the way people react, behave and perform actions that direct the course of the world. PKD exposes the plot and the background through dialogues and this tight three-act story goes to show how the world is intricately connected and what is the smallest and seemingly insignificant lever that has to be pulled to bring about a global change. This is probably the earliest implementation of chaos theory even before it was a thing.
This story has influenced the movie - The Adjustment Bureau.
The Cookie Lady: 2/5
Not really a fan of this line of story telling, or its supernatural content. An old woman lures children with cookies and takes their youth.
Beyond the door: 2/5
An oddity in this collection that has all signature Dick elements but comes off as a knock off. I didn't enjoy it much though the idea was interesting.
Second Variety: 3.5/5
War and Robots, Russians and moon base. PKD at his best exposing humanity in the middle of war that has become an everyday occurrence.
Jon's world: 3/5
Perhaps this was an early vision of Minority Report? The complicated topic of mental health inlaid within time travel science fiction amidst a war. Yeah.
The Cosmic Poachers: 3/5
The world runs on greed. Colonization in a nutshell.
Progeny: 3/5
A future where children are placed in custody of state and "protected" from parents. Children become future in absolute sense where the care and nuturing are
carried by robots and live in institutions.
Some kinds of life: 4/5
The commercialization of war - simplified and exploited at its root.
Martians come in clouds: 3/5
Similar to The Cosmic Poachers where greed runs the world.
The world she wanted: 2/5
The entire story seems to be a filler for the eventual plot twist. It reads quickly though the story is passable.
A surface raid:2/5
Kind of boring actually. The plot twist in the end makes the story for what it is and its a heavy burden to place on the twist rather than the story itself.
Project:Earth: 4/5
An interesting take on existentialism and search for a ground to call their "own".
The trouble with bubbles: 4/5
The horror that descends morally ambiguous decision is becoming a recurring theme in modern times.
Breakfast at twilight:4/5
What would one do if they found themselves in the middle of a war they don't remember starting. Is it possible to be completely out of chaos that unfolds in the world and live in oblique isolation?
A present for pat: 2/5
An underwhelming end to an interesting story line. Became boring midway.
Of withered apples: 3/5
PKD's brand of horror is generally interesting however this one didn't do justice to the expectations I had from this story and this author. Still decent though.
Imposter: 3/5
There is a familiar quality to this story though I've never read it before. The plot follows a pattern that I have come to associate with PKD, maybe that's why.
James P Crow: 4/5
PKD's response to racism.
Planet for Transients: 4/5
When natives reject the notion of engaging with seekers of new land, adventurers, sorrowfully accept that not every land can be inhabited as their own.
Small Town: 4/5
There is a similar Bradbury story similar to Small town. The ominous end to a rather benign start is extraordinary.
Souvenir: 3/5
Narration style is quite similar to a mix of A present for Pat and Project Earth. The ending didn't go the way I expected it to and that was subtly disappointing.
Survey Team: 5/5
With the state of things the way they are on this planet, humanity is incapable of withholding greed and the need to exploit, abuse and overextend than necessary. The only rational voice in the story is thwarted for the sake of progress. Wanting progress for progress sake - is this a human condition?
Prominent author: 3.5/5
There is a certain level of predictability in these short stories in the way they are concluded. PKD uses red herring quite often and a "shock" inducing plot twist at the very end of the story. This way the dramatic effect is left hanging and surprisingly has been quite satisfactory. The repetitiveness isn't exploitative because the elements that make the reveal have remained unique.
lordofthemoon's review
3.0
This volume contains a hefty collection of Dick's early work from the 1950s. Despite being from early in his career, there's only the odd clunker, with most of them being well-polished, although the latter ones moreso, as he continues to develop as a writer. Themes of what it means to be human and individuality vs systems recur aplenty (themes that he would return to throughout his career).
Standouts for me included Jon's World, which is one of the few stories in which Dick returns to the world of a previous story (Second Variety, also in this collection) and which sees the invention of a time machine; Some Kinds of Life, a satire about unending war for resources and the inevitable conclusion; A Present for Pat in which a man brings back a very unusual present from a business trip for his wife; and Planet for Transients about the changing nature of humanity after a global nuclear war.
Most of the stories are quite short and there's a lot to enjoy from dipping in and out of them. A good read both for existing fans of Dick and for people who want a taste of his work.
Standouts for me included Jon's World, which is one of the few stories in which Dick returns to the world of a previous story (Second Variety, also in this collection) and which sees the invention of a time machine; Some Kinds of Life, a satire about unending war for resources and the inevitable conclusion; A Present for Pat in which a man brings back a very unusual present from a business trip for his wife; and Planet for Transients about the changing nature of humanity after a global nuclear war.
Most of the stories are quite short and there's a lot to enjoy from dipping in and out of them. A good read both for existing fans of Dick and for people who want a taste of his work.
arbieroo's review
3.0
PKD - one of the most inventive SF authors ever and a prolific writer of novels and short stories. Unfortunately some of these stories have become predictable because since they were written the ideas have been recycled too many times. Others are unintentionally amusing as 1950s gender roles survive unchanged several centuries into the future - but people will say the equivalent about much contemporary SF in 70 years from now, too. Although some of the stories are conventional (e.g. consequences of nuclear war) Dick, like Bradbury, also wrote a different kind of SF from most of his contemporaries. Not interested in pulp adventure stories or stories that turn on some application of science, Dick instead starts to question identity and reality. These themes began in this volume (1950s) and came to dominate later. Of course, this is a new viewpoint on the age-old question of what it is to be human? An angle that also was adopted and developed into a staple SF theme by those who came after.
Which is all to say PKD was a pioneer in many ways and I should read more.
Which is all to say PKD was a pioneer in many ways and I should read more.
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