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booksthatburn's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Child death, Violence, Grief, Drug use, Murder, Death, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse
cannot_cross_water's review
5.0
...damn, that reading list in the bibliography section is the sexiest bookshelf I've seen in a long time.
hilaritas's review
4.0
This book basically lights up all my circuits: PKD, RAW, and the McKennas, all run through the academic machine of deconstructionism, systems theory, and religious studies. Davis is clearly simpatico with the subculture of high weirdness, but he does an admirable job of balancing keen personal interest and disinterested and cool-headed critical analysis.
It's clear that his primary focus is PKD, and his best work lies in close textual readings of Dick's published works read in the light of the Exegesis. Davis is well-situated to shed light on this subject, as he served as an editor for the published edition of that wild welter of pages. He also admirably acquits himself in sketching the ideas and fixations of the McKenna brothers and RAW, although in a more straightforward way.
My only real ding to this fascinating book is that Davis advances only modest claims in his thesis, declining to take a strong stance in integrating these thinkers or adopting strong metaphysical claims. I understand the latter choice, as he's trying to hold open an aperture of weird Pyrrhonistic skepticism wholly in keeping with the projects of his subjects (especially Wilson). However, it leaves the book more descriptive than explanatory, where I think he has the chops to do more. There's some nod at comparativism in the conclusion, and a juicy hint of how his book could have tied the occult strangeness of 70's California counterculture to the explosion of Silicon Valley and its effects on our current reality (and explosion of reality tunnels and fake news). However, Davis is content to gesture at that connection without teasing it out in any depth. Regardless of those weaknesses, I found this a delightful read and a welcome reminder of the allure of many of my youthful obsessions. 4.5 stars.
It's clear that his primary focus is PKD, and his best work lies in close textual readings of Dick's published works read in the light of the Exegesis. Davis is well-situated to shed light on this subject, as he served as an editor for the published edition of that wild welter of pages. He also admirably acquits himself in sketching the ideas and fixations of the McKenna brothers and RAW, although in a more straightforward way.
My only real ding to this fascinating book is that Davis advances only modest claims in his thesis, declining to take a strong stance in integrating these thinkers or adopting strong metaphysical claims. I understand the latter choice, as he's trying to hold open an aperture of weird Pyrrhonistic skepticism wholly in keeping with the projects of his subjects (especially Wilson). However, it leaves the book more descriptive than explanatory, where I think he has the chops to do more. There's some nod at comparativism in the conclusion, and a juicy hint of how his book could have tied the occult strangeness of 70's California counterculture to the explosion of Silicon Valley and its effects on our current reality (and explosion of reality tunnels and fake news). However, Davis is content to gesture at that connection without teasing it out in any depth. Regardless of those weaknesses, I found this a delightful read and a welcome reminder of the allure of many of my youthful obsessions. 4.5 stars.
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