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Ubik

4.08 of 5 stars 4.08 · rating details · 21,126 ratings · 1,089 reviews

Glen Runciter is dead. Or is everybody else? Someone died in an explosion orchestrated by Runciter's business competitors. And, indeed, it's the kingly Runciter whose funeral is scheduled in Des Moines. But in the meantime, his mourning employees are receiving bewildering - and sometimes scatological - messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping in ways...more

Paperback, 216 pages

Published December 3rd 1991 by Vintage (first published 1969)

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May 23, 2012 Kua rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, gdl, b-1-2

Come è possibile che Philip K. Dick sia stato nascosto ai miei occhi fino ad oggi? E io, in che parte dell'universo ho vissuto per non aver mai letto niente di suo? Sono allibita, sono sconcertata dalla mia ignoranza. Vergogna!
Certo che per avere delle paranoie simili, tanto bene Philip non doveva stare. Perchè un conto è non sapere se si è vivi o morti e va bè uno non lo sa e continua per la sua strada, un altro è non sapere che si è morti ma sospettarlo fortemente (brividi)... Questo romanzo...more

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Jan 03, 2011 RandomAnthony rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Phillip K Dick's Ubik flirts with perfection. I inhaled this novel over three days when one of my kids was sick and Christmas break was ending. I started the book on the couch during a Mythbusters marathon. By page fifty I wanted to shut the door and leave my kids to forage in the refrigerator for Gatorade and string cheese. And on Sunday night, when I closed the book, I felt satisfied and excited with a novel in a way that doesn't happen much. Ubik is fun, smart, and exhilarating.

Ok, let me...more Phillip K Dick's Ubik flirts with perfection. I inhaled this novel over three days when one of my kids was sick and Christmas break was ending. I started the book on the couch during a Mythbusters marathon. By page fifty I wanted to shut the door and leave my kids to forage in the refrigerator for Gatorade and string cheese. And on Sunday night, when I closed the book, I felt satisfied and excited with a novel in a way that doesn't happen much. Ubik is fun, smart, and exhilarating.

Ok, let me take a shot at the plot summary. Joe Chip works for a team that shields organizations and the general public from illegal super-psychological activity like, for example, the unethical use of precognition. I think. Anyway, Mr. Chip is down and out, almost too broke to pay the nickel necessary to operate his apartment door. He is charged by his employer (and his employer's wife, currently in “half-life”, a finite state in which the dead and living can interact) with leading a team to Luna in search of the criminals of whom they lost track. From there Ubik takes off into territory defying summarization. I'd need a chart to track all the turns and potentialities. The novel addresses Chip's attempt to separate multiple realities and discern exactly who he is, where he is, and when he is. Somewhere in there Dick batters around the I-Ching and Plato's form philosophy. Ubik's genius emerges in Dick's obsessive attention to detail. He's a remarkably disciplined writer for a guy who sounds completely messed up (more on his biography in a second). The novel never goes dry; Dick balances the esoteric, theoretical analysis with an urgent storyline. Joe Chip's inner monologue, his attempts to piece together the myriad of clues pointing to the establishment and resolution of his questions, is paranoid, desperate, and brilliant. Ubik, and PKD's work in general, is a significant element of the genre's template. This is the third PKD novel I've read, and although I don't want to snap them up in a rush, I'll hit more this year.

Oh, I should mention that I read the Library of America edition of this novel. The LOA edition (you know, those heavy black books with the nifty attached bookmark) includes three other novels, notes from Jonathan Lethem, and a detailed author timeline/biography. Holy hell, PDK lived a fucked-up life, between social anxiety, industrial strength drug use, and multiple stints in psychiatric care. That said, I love the fact this novel was published in 1969. Put Ubik in your summer of love pipe and smoke it, hippies.

I don't want to become a star-whore. Over the last year I've assigned four books five stars. Maybe I'm getting soft. The little note over the fifth star, however, reads “It was amazing”, and those three words fit Ubik, so I'm sticking with the fifth star. This novel is the poster child for the difference between workmanlike genre fiction (nothing wrong with that) and the kind that makes you want to jump and down with your hands in the air like you're a twelve year old at his first rock concert. I want to hang its poster over my bed and blow kisses to Ubik before I fall asleep.(less)

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Apr 14, 2013 Cecily rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-or-futuristic, humour

A clever, original and often very funny sci-fi story. It is about psychic power battles, the nature of death, alternative reality and changing the past. Or not.

FUN
It was published in 1969 and starts off in a sufficiently plausible but amusingly implausible 1992. In particular, the clothes take the flamboyance of the late '60s to extraordinary heights, for no obvious reason, other than fun. On the second page, we meet a man wearing "a tabby-fur blazer and pointed yellow shoes", which is fair enou...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Giulia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Il filosofo spagnolo George Santayana disse: “L’esser sani non è che pazzia tesa al buon uso, la vita da svegli è un sogno sotto controllo”.

A volte, mentre senza farci troppo caso, si vive inerzialmente la propria vita, capita ad un certo punto che ci si blocchi, afferrati da un atroce dubbio.. Almeno, capita a me. E mi chiedo, quasi inconsapevolmente, se davvero esisto, se la materialità che avverto intorno a me sia reale.

In questi momenti, che amo etichettare come “epifanie”, avverto la mia c...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Marvin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

This is one of Philip K. Dick's strangest novels. Those who have read his novels know that is saying a lot. But there were a few surprises for me. This is one of his wittiest novels. There are a lot of clever moments especially at the beginning. Yet sooner or later Dick will take you into the weird dimension and he does it with finesse. I do not have the patience to describe the plot. Even the Goodreads description at the top is lacking. But all the necessary ingredients... frustrated protagonis...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Kibisis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ubik E':
Apparecchio elettrico. Birra di Cleveland. Caffè tostato. Condimento per insalate. Digestivo. Rasoio. Pellicola extralucida. Consulente bancario. Balsamo per capelli. Deodorante spray. Sonnifero. Cibo per tostapane. Reggiseno. Pellicola quadristrato per alimenti. Dentifricio. Cereali tostati. Ed è anche... niente di tutto questo.

Perchè non ha forma né nome. Si trova in bomboletta, è vero, ma è solo l'involucro che serve a contenerne l'essenza. In un universo che tende in ogni modo a cost...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Giuseppe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1960-s, literature-american, genre-science-fiction

Se il buongiorno si vede dal mattino, questo 2012 si presenta ottimamente con una lettura scoppiettante.

Dopo essermi cimentato con Un oscuro scrutare, Le tre stimmate di Palmer Eldritch, La svastica sul sole, è arrivato il momento di affrontare uno dei capisaldi della narrativa dickiana: Ubik.

A detta di molti è il capolavoro di Dick. Onestamente ho preferito "Le tre stimmate di Palmer Eldritch". Ma usare il verbo preferire è ingiusto, visto che stiamo parlando di due capolavori che hanno diversi...more Se il buongiorno si vede dal mattino, questo 2012 si presenta ottimamente con una lettura scoppiettante.

Dopo essermi cimentato con Un oscuro scrutare, Le tre stimmate di Palmer Eldritch, La svastica sul sole, è arrivato il momento di affrontare uno dei capisaldi della narrativa dickiana: Ubik.

A detta di molti è il capolavoro di Dick. Onestamente ho preferito "Le tre stimmate di Palmer Eldritch". Ma usare il verbo preferire è ingiusto, visto che stiamo parlando di due capolavori che hanno diversi punti di contatto.

Per quanto riguarda la mia esperienza personale con Dick, trovo sferzante la constanza con il quale questo autore riesce a riproporre temi a lui cari usando angolazioni e punti di vista diversi. Temi che si tramutano in veri e propri topoi, tra i quali la parte da leone la fa l'immanenza della realtà che viviamo quotidianamente.

E' reale quello che ci circonda? E se si, cosa si intende per reale? Queste sono le domande che il lettore porta a farsi leggendo i romanzi di Dick ed in particolare Ubik. L'autore rielabora questo concetto usando diversi viatici: in un "Oscuro scrutare" è l'uso della droga che fa dubitare il protagonista della veridicità di ciò che vede, tocca e sente; ne "Le tre stimmate di Palmer Eldritch" è sempre la droga il viatico creando una realtà parallela; ne "La svastica sul sole" Dick gioca con calchi imperfetti di dimensioni contigue. Tutte realtà tangibili ma effimere.

In questo caso le dimensioni-realtà viaggiano sui binari della vita e della morte (o meglio della semi-vita). Durante le peripezie del protagonista svilupperemo una certa empatia nei suoi confronti, chiedendoci dove finisca la vita ed inizi la semi-vita.

Ovviamente il finale è aperto, come in ogni romanzo letto finora. E come in ogni romanzo, tutti i vari espedienti dimensionali, temporali e via dicendo sono sempre utili per una critica della immanente società contemporanea. Dick disse che nemmeno lui sapeva bene quale fosse il significato in timo di questo libro. Non è però impossibile leggerci una critica alla società consumistica, alle cosmogonie religiose o un'allegoria della fantascienza stessa, come suggerito da Pagetti nella prefazione (che ovviamente mi son letto come postfazione per farmi influenzare da eventuali interpretazioni).

Se non avete mai letto Dick, Ubik è perfetto per iniziarne la lettura.
Se avete già letto altro di Dick, non potete ritardarne la lettura.
Se non avete intenzione di leggerlo, fate un errore madornale.(less)

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Jul 03, 2011 Kat Hooper rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Warning: Use only as directed. And with caution.

Written in 1969, Ubik is one of Philip K. Dick’s most popular science fiction novels. It’s set in a future 1992 where some humans have develop psi and anti-psi powers which they are willing to hire out to individuals or companies who want to spy (or block spying) on others. Also in this alternate 1992, if you’ve got the money, you can put your beloved recently-deceased relatives into “coldpac” where they can...more ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Warning: Use only as directed. And with caution.

Written in 1969, Ubik is one of Philip K. Dick’s most popular science fiction novels. It’s set in a future 1992 where some humans have develop psi and anti-psi powers which they are willing to hire out to individuals or companies who want to spy (or block spying) on others. Also in this alternate 1992, if you’ve got the money, you can put your beloved recently-deceased relatives into “coldpac” where they can be stored in half-life and you can visit with them for years after their death.

As Ubik begins, Glen Runciter, the head of one of New York City’s top anti-psi organizations, discovers that all the operatives of the top psi organization (whose telepathic fields they like to keep track of) have disappeared. This means less work for Runciter’s employees and he’s concerned about how they’re going to get paid. When Runicter’s company is offered a big job on the moon, he figures they’ve found the missing telepaths and he’s eager to hire out as many of his inactive inertials as he can, including the new one who has a strange and disturbing power: she can nullify events before they happen. But when Runciter’s inertials get to the moon, disaster strikes, and when they return to Earth, they find that life is not how they left it. In fact, time seems to be going backward and something is killing them off one by one. The only thing that might help is Ubik — a mysterious product in an aerosol spray can... If only they can find it!

Ubik is a fast-paced SF thriller full of classic PKD themes such as an unreliable reality, time running backward, precognition, telepathy, paranoia, drug abuse, hallucinations, and spirituality. The story is quite funny in places and includes a bit of horror, too.

There are several plot twists in Ubik, including a big one at the end, which means that the reader is as unsure about what’s going on as the characters are until the big reveal and, still, there are some questions left unanswered. Mainly we're left contemplating what PKD is suggesting about death, salvation, and God. Ubik is one of those books where, at the end, you have to review the plot in light of your new knowledge just so you can try to put it all together.

I listened to Blackstone Audio’s version read by Anthony Heald. Heald successfully handles a rather large cast of alive and dead humans, not to mention the talking appliances and doors. Thanks to Heald’s skills, Ubik on audio was thoroughly entertaining.

Ubik has been named by Time Magazine as one of the Top 100 English-Language Novels From 1923 (list compiled by Lev Grossman). I can’t say that I agree with this accolade, but I can say that I enjoyed Ubik and can recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction. For Philip K. Dick fans, Ubik is an essential read.(less)

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Sep 09, 2009 Kemper rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 100, sci-fi, spooky-powers

I don't know why but I always get a huge kick out of reading an older sci-fi story that was set in the near future, but it's a date I've lived through. In 2001, I'd just randomly shout, "Kubrick and Clarke were wrong,! We don't have bases on the moon! Those fools!" This is another one where Phil didn't exactly nail 1992 writing in 1969, but it's still a pretty good story.

In this 1992, there are people with psionic powers like telepathy or precognition that are used for industrial sabotage, and r...more

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Feb 25, 2008 Mike Philbin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ubik is a brilliant book mixing horror with humour in such a deep and poignant way. What I was most inspired by were the chapter headings, those little UBIKverts - this was a concept I butchered for self-marketing purposes back in the Hertzan Chimera daze:

UBIQUITOUSLY, HERTZAN CHIMERA

Hertzan Chimera Vaseline
The best way to ask for vaseline is to sing out Hertzan Chimera. Made from select goose grease, morons, slow-aged for perfect smoothness, Hertzan Chimera is the nation's number-one choice i...more

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Jun 27, 2008 Bryce Wilson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, literature

My favorite PKD book. No mean feat considering I've read it five or six times and still barely have an understanding of what the hell is going on in the first third of the book.

Still once things get metaphysical it becomes a flat out masterpiece. Rarely has Dick's vision of the apocalypse of atrophy been given such a stirring rendition. Like Palmer Eldritch this is the story of the apocalypse on an internal scale rather then the usual external one, and its pretty freaking tremendous.

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Jan 11, 2013 Marco Tamborrino rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Io sono vivo, voi siete morti."

Ascoltate un attimo. Ognuno di noi ha una concezione di realtà differente. Se le varie concezioni di realtà si mischiassero, cosa ne uscirebbe? Un miscuglio di realtà. Una non-realtà. È difficile da spiegare. In sintesi, potremmo aver fondato tutte le nostre vite su un'illusione che comprende ogni cosa che ci circonda. Quindi occorre uscirne. O tentare di guarire da questa scoperta dall'illusione. Nasce quindi Ubik. Vedete, Ubik è ogni cosa. Potrebbe essere Dio....more

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Oct 14, 2011 Mitchel Broussard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, mystery, sci-fi, for-college, mind-equals-blown

Sort-of mind-blowing. And sort-of a let-down. Let me try to set this up for you.

It's an alternate 1992, where psychic powers are common, and Joe Chip works for a company that employs anti-psychics. The people that prevent real psychics from using their powers. So an anti-cog to block pre-cogs, and so-on. Joe's boss is building a team of these anti-pyschics to go to the moon and secure a client's lunar facility of telepaths. One of the team is a girl, Pat, who can change the past. Not travel into...more Sort-of mind-blowing. And sort-of a let-down. Let me try to set this up for you.

It's an alternate 1992, where psychic powers are common, and Joe Chip works for a company that employs anti-psychics. The people that prevent real psychics from using their powers. So an anti-cog to block pre-cogs, and so-on. Joe's boss is building a team of these anti-pyschics to go to the moon and secure a client's lunar facility of telepaths. One of the team is a girl, Pat, who can change the past. Not travel into the past, but place an idea in your had that makes you believe the past is different. And not just you, everyone she targets, essentially creating an alternate reality.

The lunar base mission turns out to be a trap, an explosion rocks the facility, and everyone but their boss, Mr. Runciter, is killed.

Or are they? Dunh duh duhhhh

Oh and did I mention Runciter's wife is in cold-pac? In this world anyone who dies just goes into this state, at which they have limited consciousness and communication abilities with the outside world. It is also suggested that those in cold-pac near one another occupy the same alternate reality (that inside their own mind) in this state of limbo.

Confused yet?

As the book progresses, strange shifts in reality start to force the group to question what's happening. Odd messages from Runciter appear everywhere, a product, UBIK, is promoted anywhere they go, and any member of the group who strays from everyone is found in an advanced state of decomposition.

I won't give away the mind-numbing spoiler here, but this book has so many utterly cool ideas going for it, in the end it almost was too much. Inception meets Memento meets The Matrix meets Existenz meets season three and onward of Fringe.

It's a huge reward for reaching the end and figuring everything out, but it can be talky in some places and downright cruel in its confusion in others. But is it worth it? Yes. If you're in to this sort of book that questions the very fabric of reality, you owe it to yourself to read the book that pretty much wrote the rules for modern writers. Just be prepared to have to re-read whole chapters in figuring out just WTH is going on.(less)

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Mar 30, 2008 Jaci rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who want to think hard

Shelves: read-in-2008, own

This was the first book that I have read by Philip K. Dick, and I was not disappointed. This novel was a page-turner and relatively quick read. It is hard for me to explain what I got out of this book because it dealt with some very abstract concepts, but here are my thoughts (as disjointed as they may be).

How do we know if what we are experiencing right now is life, and not half-life, death, or a reincarnation of ourselves? This was the main question that the characters of Ubik faced.

The book...more This was the first book that I have read by Philip K. Dick, and I was not disappointed. This novel was a page-turner and relatively quick read. It is hard for me to explain what I got out of this book because it dealt with some very abstract concepts, but here are my thoughts (as disjointed as they may be).

How do we know if what we are experiencing right now is life, and not half-life, death, or a reincarnation of ourselves? This was the main question that the characters of Ubik faced.

The book presents a juxtaposition between two worlds, real life and half life. Those who are "alive" exist as we know life to be. Those who are in "half life" have died and been placed in a cold-pac, similar to the cryogenics that we have today, except that the cold-pac keeps the essence or spirit of the person alive. In this state, the deceased can still communicate with the living as well as other deceased people in the cold-pac facility.

After a massive explosion, the protagonist Joe and his coworkers try to get their dead employers body to cold-pac and then experience series of events that lead them to believe that they are deceased. They are able to communicate with their boss, who they believe is alive. By the end of the novel, however, the employer begins to see signs in the changing environment around him that indicate that the deceased employees are influencing the "real world". Or is HE the one who is deceased? The novel ends without providing a resolution or clearing up who is dead and who is alive.

While this lack of resolution can be frustrating to many readers, I saw it as a stroke of genius. Ubik, derived from the word ubiquitous meaning "everywhere", hints that perhaps we can exist in multiple ways and places at once. It is possible that we continue to exist in some form, or many forms, once we die, but it is also possible that the same could be true for our existence while we are alive. This concept reminded me of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, where doors could be opened to different "whens" and the same characters existed in multiple "whens".(less)

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Mar 11, 2008 Tony rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pulp-fiction, literary-fiction

Ubik is the best of the novels I've read by Philip K. Dick, the classic sci-fi writer whose works have inspired a series of movies, such as Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report. About Dick, Ursula K. LeGuin writes, "The fact that what Dick is entertaining us about is reality and madness, time and death, sin and salvation--this has escaped most critics. Nobody notices that we have our own homegrown Borges." This seems to me right on. Dick is the great postmodern author of the simulacrum...more

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Mar 15, 2009 Maureen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, novels, speculative

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 05, 2009 Ben Loory rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people with a firm grasp on reality

Recommended to Ben by: gene swift

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 02, 2011 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Ubik" is one of those rare astonishing science fiction novels filled to the brim with such perplexing and fascinating ideas but is actually supported by the author's literary flair and authoritative story telling abilities. How the hell does this guy continually come up with such mind-altering and visionary stories? My guess is drugs, lots and lots of drugs. Or maybe he's a genius. Nonetheless, anyone who happens to be ambivalent towards the genre should certainly check out "Ubik" which is boun...more "Ubik" is one of those rare astonishing science fiction novels filled to the brim with such perplexing and fascinating ideas but is actually supported by the author's literary flair and authoritative story telling abilities. How the hell does this guy continually come up with such mind-altering and visionary stories? My guess is drugs, lots and lots of drugs. Or maybe he's a genius. Nonetheless, anyone who happens to be ambivalent towards the genre should certainly check out "Ubik" which is bound to eradicate any preconceived notions that science fiction is nothing more than poorly written space operas lacking any substance. I would also suggest that this would be a far more enjoyable first read without having any prior notions of the premise; there are far too many surprising twists and turns. Besides, this is Philip K. Dick so you know that you are in the hands of a master story-teller.

The novel can be approached simply as a wickedly entertaining and darkly humorous pre-cyberpunk extravaganza but of course, there is much more going on below the surface: a religious parable, an existential, philosophical an epistemological exploration of human nature and consciousness along with the elusive nature of reality. After finishing this novel, I kept thinking to myself: Why do we read and what is the point of reading fiction? It seems like a frivolous and transitory exercise most of the time; you pick up a book and maybe it lingers with you for a while after you finish it but then it is usually forgotten. You invest precious time and energy into a literary work to what purpose? Perhaps the acquisition of knowledge, to gain insight, to reflect on one's humanity or maybe just to be entertained. But then again, what does it mean to be entertained by fiction? I don't have the answers but personally, reading great fiction such as "Ubik" is capable of leaving and indelible impression by offering a unique perspective of life that makes me question the very essence of my being; a type of cathartic experience that confirms and/or radically undermines the very fabric of my existence. Literature rarely has that effect on me but this is one powerful novel that rocked my world.(less)

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Jun 30, 2010 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the first book by Philip K. Dick that I have ever read, not knowing that he was behind many iconic movies of my lifetime, such as Blade Runner and Minority Report. I, therefore, was not acquainted with Dick and style as I am now. I am still eagerly pursuing that even now.

Sometimes you get used to books that are too idealistic. In the case of reading Ubik, soon, you realize that this book is not quite idealistic, with certain characters being the first to die, that you wish died last. Al...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Saša Tomislav rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, novels, sf

Wanting to read this for a long time, it took me two reading sessions, as I was unable to leave the book after I got past half of it, reading it until 5am.

PKD at his best, a paranoid, psychotically sophisticated SF story (probably written on one of his amphetamine binges) which made me feel the panic attacks I used to have where it seems that entire reality is falling apart and death seems imminent.

My wife bought this paper edition and I love it so much.

The "Valis" is next, and "Flow My Tears, T...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Andrew rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic classic from Philip K. Dick.

The year is 1992 and humans have evolved. Some have psi abilities allowing them to perceive the future, read minds, etc. Some have developed anti-psi abilities able to block those with these powers. Regular humans are left in the middle. As the book explains, it's a circle of life. Each group feeding off the other.

Joe Chip works for one of the Anti-Psi coporations that protects businesses from those with Psi getting in and mucking about. His job is to bring...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Piccolamimi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In principio fu il caos O_O [innocuo se usato secondo le istruzioni :D]

Ok, torniamo indietro nel tempo.

E' il 3 settembre 2009..mi accingo ad iniziare a leggere questo romanzo per una sfida anobiana (Sfida dell'anno di nascita, ndr) e voglio gustarmi al massimo questo nuovo (per me!) autore.

Dopo poche righe, il panico si impossessa della mia mente da lettrice...
Capisco di essere nella New York del 1992 (sono proiettata nel futuro se penso che PKD ha scritto questo romanzo nel 1969), in una calda...more

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Mar 18, 2011 Benji rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, potentially-life-changing, read-in-morocco, the-less-you-know-the-better, time-100, movie-relation

Updated: It's been quite some time since finishing this, and yet teh book remains with me. I like it even more, I look back on it fondly and think it is fun and sort-of cute. This is one that for me the resonance continues for quite some time afterwards.
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My first Philip Dick novel. I liked it, a good 24-hour's read. And it is fun and well done and fresh, and it inverts the sci-fi landscape by taking us progessively into the past, seeing the things around us in our world, with a fresh ey...more Updated: It's been quite some time since finishing this, and yet teh book remains with me. I like it even more, I look back on it fondly and think it is fun and sort-of cute. This is one that for me the resonance continues for quite some time afterwards.
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My first Philip Dick novel. I liked it, a good 24-hour's read. And it is fun and well done and fresh, and it inverts the sci-fi landscape by taking us progessively into the past, seeing the things around us in our world, with a fresh eye (which is what sci-fi is supposed to do). The less you know the better, and its not a heavy read, its not too fantastical or hard to locate yourself in the world. Could have gone on for another 700 pages if he wanted to. Good also for its influence on some of my most dear movies.

And the small touches: Bliss is one characer, asking about world history and, the never-referred to joke is, the less you know, the better: Ignorance is Bliss.
Though this TIME 100 review says a lot, it doesnt distract from the work. But I wonder, why did they choose this sci fi novel over others to put on the list? The literary merits are not touched on at all, compared to other times where the whole review is the painstaking efforts they take to demonstrate why one book is chosen over others.

From the TIME 100 list:

An accident has occurred. Joe Chip and his colleagues—all but one of them—have narrowly escaped an explosion at a moon base. Or is it the other way round? Did Joe and the others die, and did the one fatality, Glen Runciter, actually survive? If Glen is dead and Joe alive, why does Joe keep getting weird messages from Glen? Is Joe's experience of his post-accident life just a hallucination, played out as his flash-frozen body lies in suspended animation? Joe's reality begins to fall apart, and a mysterious, vaguely mystical substance called Ubik—available in a handy spray can—appears to be the only thing that can stabilize it. From the stuff of space opera, Dick spins a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you'll never be sure you've woken up from.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/pac... #ixzz1AO1anzEC
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Oct 08, 2007 Catherine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't think that this is my favorite Philliip K. Dick book, but neither is it my least favorite. I liked it better than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep but less than A Scanner Darkly; but the fact that I like Scanner better than Androids is probably an indication that I am not among the majority of PKD fans and critics, who generally prefer his earlier works. Ubik falls in the category of PKD books that contain brilliant, wild sci-fi theories but are hard to decipher plotwise.

Ubik is tale...more

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Aug 15, 2007 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sci Fi fans, PKD fans

Glen Runciter is dead, or maybe he isn't. In a future where every appliance is coin operated, the dead are kept cryogenically frozen in "Half Life", and companies offer the services of psychics while other companies offer the services to protect against psychics; business is cut throat. That is why there was an accident on the moon that may or may not have killed Glen Runciter.

This book is very interesting and it is quite funny. The book makes reference to the Tibetan Book of the Dead and borrow...more

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May 27, 2008 Jeff Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-stories, science-fiction, fiction

This was a very chaotic read. Many of the concepts from Dick's short stories make their way into this book. Precogs (ESP), cold pac (like cryonic freezing except you can talk to the person, they are called half-lifers), and more.

Spoilers below

Glen runciter is the head of runciter associates, an inertial group formed to thwart those with precog talents. Is someone reading your mind? Call runciter associates.

Runciter and his group are given an assignment on Luna. It ends up being a trap when an an...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Cathy Heathcliff rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I found this book by chance at a book fair and I'm embarassed to say I had no idea who Philip K. Dick was. Until a friend told me he had written a lot of books that were later turned into movies, movies that I had seen without ever knowing they had been books first, I thought, shame on me, that he was one of these one novel writers and that Ubik was all I would get from him. I can't say how happy I am that I was wrong and that I now have dozens of Dick's novels and short stories to read.

It's saf...more

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Mar 10, 2009 Erich Franz Guzmann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: klassiker, dystopian, mystery, science-fiction, supernatural, fiktion, favourite, horror, humoristische, speculative-fiction, time-magazine-award, 1960s, award-winner, philip-k-dick, meisterwerk, nordamerika, sf-masterwork, own, fable, fantasy, dramen, 63-top-books

Well… another PKD masterpiece! Ubik was amazing! This is the kind of novel that will never leave me, physically and mentally. I am still trying to figure it out and that’s what I love about it! I have heard that Philip K. Dick has trouble concluding his novels, but I think he concluded Ubik perfectly. By not necessarily ending it, I have created five more chapters in my mind and they are changing constantly, in the same way my memories and dreams do. This is a book that you’ll want to highlight...more

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Mar 18, 2009 Hugh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It’s been a few weeks since I finished Ubik -- and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I’m probably going to echo a few comments already made. I agree with Brian’s comment on how wonderfully PKD’s books are like a screwdriver poking around in the circuitry of your brain.
I learned after finishing it that PKD had expanded it from a short story/novella into a full blown novel and in some ways that explains some of my frustration with the novel. By about Chapter 12, the ever spinning top of possibilities...more

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Feb 23, 2009 Tama Wise rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this up on a wim. Hell, it's Phillip K Dick and he's done more than good by me lately with Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream. He has a great way of dumping you into the bizarre, yet a few chapters in you are happily riding along, ok with the slang and the weirdness.

This one would make a great film, but I bet they would hash it up.

A very cool first half of the book unfortunately (for me at least) boiled down into a bit of a let down of the eventual answer. The last quarter twi...more

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Watson, who picke...: Ubik	3	5	May 09, 2013 07:39am
Watson, who picke...: Use only as directed may cause spoilers.	1	4	May 09, 2013 07:34am
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Spoiler Filled Discussion of the book.	7	69	Jan 16, 2013 04:54pm
The movie is inception is basically this book.	22	313	Nov 24, 2012 06:17pm
The Verge Book Club: Verge Book Club Podcast: Ubik	2	26	Oct 03, 2012 10:41am

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About Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. He briefly attended the University of California, but dropped out before completing any classes. In 1952, he began writing professionally and proceeded to write numerous novels and short-story collections. He won the Hugo Award for the best novel in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle and the John W. Campbell Memo...more

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Trivia About Ubik

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Quotes from Ubik

“We are served by organic ghosts, he thought, who, speaking and writing, pass through this our new environment. Watching, wise, physical ghosts from the full-life world, elements of which have become for us invading but agreeable splinters of a substance that pulsates like a former heart.” — 13 people liked it

“He felt all at once like an ineffectual moth, fluttering at the windowpane of reality, dimly seeing it from outside.” — 9 people liked it

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