Pete Teaches Science Fiction --Class #4

Next week in honor of the release of Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to Blade Runner which is based on the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K Dick, we'll skip ahead and talk about Philip K Dick. 

We plan to read "Beyond lies the wub" which is in the book.

If you prefer to read it online, it's easily available online.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28554/28554-h/28554-h.htm

It would also be nice if you read one other thing by him. On line stories are here. 

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Philip_Kindred_Dick

a list of movies is here: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick_bibliography#Film_adaptations 

Please be aware that the movies tend to slide away from the philosphical aspects of the work and more into action but that's the nature of movies. 

There are a lot of good documentaries and biographical materials available on Philip K Dick. The challenge for this class was to find one that was short ehough so that it did not take up all our class time. 

Here's some more biographical material on Philip K Dick.

This is an interesting discussion of the film adaptations of Philip K Dick

However, this is the best documentary I have seen yet on Philirp K Dick. Unfortunately, it's an hour long so we won't be watching it in class, but I definitely recommend you take a look at it if you have the time. 

Philip K Dick is a very interesting and controversial writer. 


In class, I will very quickly share some thoughts on Philip K Dick that came from Stephen Miller, a science fiction writer. Miller and his wife, Sharon Lee, are very nice people who write a space opera series set in what they call "The Liaden Universe." Their website is here: http://korval.com/  Their work is very, very different from Philip K Dick's.  

In the above documentary, "Phiiip K Dick, A Day in the Afterlife," Thomas Disch is featured prominently. He is a science fiction writer who also wrote an interesting book on science fiction called The DREAMS OUR STUFF IS MADE OF: How Science Fiction Conquered the World. Although the book is far reaching and discusses many things, Philip K Dick is often discussed in it and in many contexts

https://www.amazon.com/DREAMS-OUR-STUFF-MADE-Conquered/dp/0684859785/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1507927248&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=disch+stuff+our+dreams+are+made+of