Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
127th out of 725 books
—
1,558 voters
The Dice Man (Dice Man #1)
In the beginning was Chance, and Chance was with God and Chance was God .... There was a man sent by Chance, whose name was Luke .... And Chance was made flesh ... and he dwelt among us, full of chaos, and falsehood and whim. -- from The Book of the DieSo begins this 1970s classic of sex, drugs, and, of course, dice. Bored psychiatrist Luke Rhinehart lives with his wife an...more
Paperback, 541 pages
Published
1999
by HarperCollins
(first published 1971)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
The basic plot of The Dice Man is simple. The hero, pretty drunk, is cleaning up one evening after a party. He sees a die lying under a playing card, and a thought comes into his head: if it's a one, I'll rape Arlene. He picks up the card, and it is, indeed, a one!
So he goes downstairs to his neighbor, and says he's going to rape her. As it happens, no rape is needed, since she'd anyway been thinking that he was rather hot, and what a shame he'd never tried anything. They begin an affair, which...more
So he goes downstairs to his neighbor, and says he's going to rape her. As it happens, no rape is needed, since she'd anyway been thinking that he was rather hot, and what a shame he'd never tried anything. They begin an affair, which...more
view all 7 comments
The Dice Man resembles comic narratives set in academia, such as David Lodge's Small World: An Academic Romance or Robert Grudin’s Book. However, this is not only a satire of the psychiatric industry in America; at times, it reads like the type of radical re-thinking of reality that often accompanies the emergence of a new religion. Its protagonist is Luke Rhinehart, a professional psychiatrist who decides early in the novel to let dice determine his actions. Before long, his dice-throwing has s...more
Author Too in Love with his Own Concept to See the Gaping Blindspots
This is a novel which was recommended to me by friends as "if you liked Fight Club you'll love this." Though I can see the comparison, I liked Fight Club and I really didn't like this one. Fight Club was lean and taut, this was bloated and outdated - like some lecherous late middle-aged guy you run in to at a party, who proceeds to trap you in a conversation you’d rather not be in.
Once I started reading I discovered that my fr...more
This is a novel which was recommended to me by friends as "if you liked Fight Club you'll love this." Though I can see the comparison, I liked Fight Club and I really didn't like this one. Fight Club was lean and taut, this was bloated and outdated - like some lecherous late middle-aged guy you run in to at a party, who proceeds to trap you in a conversation you’d rather not be in.
Once I started reading I discovered that my fr...more
Feb 06, 2008
Zubin
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone stuck in their ways
Recommended to Zubin by:
AT THE FUCKING GATES!!!!
this book fundamentally changed my perspectives on decision making, our roles in society, and the whole idea of the individual self. Rhinehart suggests that the idea of the self is a crutch that pigeonholes us and prevents us from experiencing things that we would not experience if we were "being ourselves".
the premise of the book is that luke rhinehart, a psychologist, decides one day to make all his decisions based on the roll of the die. he writes down six options for what he might do, then...more
the premise of the book is that luke rhinehart, a psychologist, decides one day to make all his decisions based on the roll of the die. he writes down six options for what he might do, then...more
Luke Rhinehart, l'uomo a caso. Per certi versi, l'oltreuomo. Un personaggio fittizio (il libro �� scritto come autobiografia, Luke Rhinehart �� in effetti lo pseudonimo di George Cockcroft) che descrive la sua esplosiva evoluzione come uomo e come psichiatra grazie ad una intuizione geniale: l'uso dei dadi per prendere decisioni. E' un libro scritto con alcune geniali intuizioni letterarie, divertente, a tratti scabroso e piccante, ma nel contempo profondo, che stimola il pensiero facendoci chie...more
The Dice Man was recommended to me by a friend a couple of years back. His brief synopsis sounded familiar - I'd definitely heard or read something about it, but that was all I knew. After discovering a few months ago that I still hadn't read it, he loaned me his own copy. Finally - feeling guilty about leaving it sitting around so long - I promoted it to the top of my "to be read" pile and got stuck in. I can't believe I put it off so long, and I'm glad my friend was so persistent.[return][retu...more
I'd like to say I decided how many stars to give this one by throwing dice, but I love it too much to take the risk of having to down-rate it. This is (all at once) a superbly entertaining book, an attack on the American dream, an expose of psychobabble, a story of personal growth, and a damn sexy read. And it may or may not be the most elaborately conceived literary hoax in history, but who cares?!
The plot concerns one Luke Rhinehart (Hmm, same name as the author - is that "meta", or what?), a...more
The plot concerns one Luke Rhinehart (Hmm, same name as the author - is that "meta", or what?), a...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
UPDATE: Given to charity shop! (yay, freeing up space)
I read this book for the first and only time as I was travelling back from a school debating competition. I'm not sure if I'm projecting the horrors of that day onto my impression of the book, but I remember being alternately intrigued and bored by the polemecising (that's a word, right?) within.
Basically, this book is Two-face from Batman with a little more variety. The protagonist, Luke Rhinehart (omg, the author's given the protagonist hi...more
I read this book for the first and only time as I was travelling back from a school debating competition. I'm not sure if I'm projecting the horrors of that day onto my impression of the book, but I remember being alternately intrigued and bored by the polemecising (that's a word, right?) within.
Basically, this book is Two-face from Batman with a little more variety. The protagonist, Luke Rhinehart (omg, the author's given the protagonist hi...more
The hero of this novel (sharing the author’s name) is a psychologist who, jaded and sunk into ennui, decides on a whim based on the turn of a die to “rape” (read: seduce) his colleague’s wife. After the success of his seduction, he turns to aleatory direction more and more (creating his own options and letting the die decide which to do), until he’s built a whole religion or cult after the Dice, complete with nationwide centers where inductees are required to cast away all inhibitions and identi...more
Traditional autobiographies wish to help you understand how the adult was "formed." I suppose most human beings, like clay chamber pots, are "formed" - and are used accordingly. But I? I am born anew at each green fall of the die, and by die-ing, I eliminate my since. The past - paste, pus, piss - is all only illusory events created by a stone mask to justify an illusory stagnant present. Living flows, and the only possible justification of an autobiography is that it happened by chance to be wr...more
I wasn't sure what to expect as I borrowed The Dice Man from my favorite humanities teacher's bookshelf....
A whole life's decisions revolving on the probabilities of a set of dice? sounds absurd. well, it is absurd. I don't think I could ever empirically live as the "dice woman," thus I found this book an interesting way to understand how psychiatrist, Luke Rhinehart, makes decisions both short term and long term with his revolutionary set of dice. A typical decision making with dice experience...more
A whole life's decisions revolving on the probabilities of a set of dice? sounds absurd. well, it is absurd. I don't think I could ever empirically live as the "dice woman," thus I found this book an interesting way to understand how psychiatrist, Luke Rhinehart, makes decisions both short term and long term with his revolutionary set of dice. A typical decision making with dice experience...more
Aug 08, 2011
Sam Woodfield
added it
This really is an interesting book. I had heard lots about this book and it's concept prior to reading and had quite high expectations and it was almost as good as I expected. I found Luke Rhinehart's charcter really interesting, with his multiple personalities dictated by the roll of a dice. The actions that Rhinehart is prepared to undertake based upon his dice rolls are also very interesting, but it did raise many questions for me such as how much of the action is indeed down to chance, and h...more
I wish this book talked more about the mathematical qualities of randomness that it uses, and also more on how randomness is encountered and used in common (i.e. non-diceperson) everyday life. Psychologically speaking, I think a lot of the choices/opinions/actions we make/hold/perform are largely random. Which book will I read next? Do I write the next paragraph here or check my email first? Why do I dis/like any particular actor/politician? etc. (These actions may not be entirely random, the op...more
Well this book provided me with a first - it is the first book (as an adult) I have started reading and not finished. Usually, no matter how dull a book gets, I plough on to the end in hope of a revival 3/4 of the way through, but of The Dice Man, 140 pages were all I could bear before it was thrown in a charity shop bag.
On reading the back of the book I had high hopes - the concept sounded fantastic, really interesting and fun - I thought I'd found a real page-turner.
But no - how wrong I was....more
On reading the back of the book I had high hopes - the concept sounded fantastic, really interesting and fun - I thought I'd found a real page-turner.
But no - how wrong I was....more
This has sat on my shelves for an age and despite knowing the premise, the book was nothing like I expected.
I was expecting a light hearted romp about someone using a dice to make key decisions. It was actually a pseudo serious attempt at pschyotherapy. An interesting premise but my god, how its dated from its 70s style.
I mean, can you really get away with using the dice to rape a family friend. Unless the 70s definition of rape is seduce! I dont know.
In an interesting expose of the practice of...more
I was expecting a light hearted romp about someone using a dice to make key decisions. It was actually a pseudo serious attempt at pschyotherapy. An interesting premise but my god, how its dated from its 70s style.
I mean, can you really get away with using the dice to rape a family friend. Unless the 70s definition of rape is seduce! I dont know.
In an interesting expose of the practice of...more
The Dice Man is a book I'd heard about and was happy to read when it was suggested for book club. It started off well; a depressed psychiatrist roles a dice to determine his fate, starting a random chain of events that challenge his identity and steer him further and further from his comfortable middle class life. In it's anarchic and comic way, the novel asks why we stick to the narrow scripted roles we're familiar with, when we have the ability to chose from a much wider range of life's possib...more
I found out about this book through a friend, who had a copy and was going to see a theatre production of it (yes, you read correctly). So I asked if I could borrow it and swapped my just read biography of Steve Jobs for "The Dice Man". I had not heard of this guy Rhinehart before and had no preconceived ideas about the book or "diceliving".
The book is entertaining enough, hilarious in parts, offensive in many others but otherwise a good diversion from the everyday. If you want to be entertained...more
The book is entertaining enough, hilarious in parts, offensive in many others but otherwise a good diversion from the everyday. If you want to be entertained...more
I read this in the 80s and loved it -- so much so that when I had the flu again recently, I stayed in bed and recovered again with it.
I remember part of the appeal when I read it in the 80s was that it was a banned book. I lived in HK and it did not take much notoriety for an import book to be banned. Like so many things, the less it is available, the more I want it! (Thanks Hong Kong - otherwise I may not have read American Psycho and Satanic Verses!) but I digress...
What would life be like wi...more
I remember part of the appeal when I read it in the 80s was that it was a banned book. I lived in HK and it did not take much notoriety for an import book to be banned. Like so many things, the less it is available, the more I want it! (Thanks Hong Kong - otherwise I may not have read American Psycho and Satanic Verses!) but I digress...
What would life be like wi...more
SPOILER LEVEL: Moderate.
I met an interesting girl at a party once. Certainly not the world’s most unique of circumstances, but what drew my interest to her was what drew me to this book.
There this person stood, drink in hand and no stranger to hobbies branded as unusual. She it turned out was a contortionist and juggling extraordinaire. But most fascinating of all, she referred to herself as The Dice Lady. My eyes darted to her ears where the sides of a mutilated die punched holes and mutilated...more
I met an interesting girl at a party once. Certainly not the world’s most unique of circumstances, but what drew my interest to her was what drew me to this book.
There this person stood, drink in hand and no stranger to hobbies branded as unusual. She it turned out was a contortionist and juggling extraordinaire. But most fascinating of all, she referred to herself as The Dice Lady. My eyes darted to her ears where the sides of a mutilated die punched holes and mutilated...more
The book tells the story of Luke Rheinheart, a psychiatrist from NY who feels that is getting increasingly frustrated with his little impact on his patients thrgough non-invasive therapy
He also feels quite bored with his good life in general as he feels repetitive and confined. He thus begin a slow but progressively accelerating journey in getting free by obeying to the will of the dice that he discovery.
His options are mundane and inoffensive at first but they then may become increasingly harsh...more
He also feels quite bored with his good life in general as he feels repetitive and confined. He thus begin a slow but progressively accelerating journey in getting free by obeying to the will of the dice that he discovery.
His options are mundane and inoffensive at first but they then may become increasingly harsh...more
Thank goodness that's over.
I re-read this book as preparation for a talk that I'm giving about chance. I remember hating the book the first time I read it (probably about a decade ago). I hate it more now.
Essentially, the plot is that a psychotherapist (named Luke Rhinehart, as is the author of the book) is bored of his mundane life, and decides to improve it by assigning options to a 6-sided dice, rolling it, and then living his life according to the options. Unfortunately, the options that Rhi...more
I re-read this book as preparation for a talk that I'm giving about chance. I remember hating the book the first time I read it (probably about a decade ago). I hate it more now.
Essentially, the plot is that a psychotherapist (named Luke Rhinehart, as is the author of the book) is bored of his mundane life, and decides to improve it by assigning options to a 6-sided dice, rolling it, and then living his life according to the options. Unfortunately, the options that Rhi...more
Sep 10, 2009
Lisa
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Lisa by:
David
Shelves:
2009
Hmmm, I'm really not sure about this one.
What started off as rather interesting and highly amusing got rather flabby around the midsection, and the novelty of Luke's random adventures as Dice Man soon started to wear off. The numerous (and sometimes seemingly endless) discussions surrounding the psychiatry of the dice and it's use as a therapeutic tool also grew rather tiresome and by the end, although intermittently entertained, I was rather relieved to have finished it.
It didn't help that the...more
What started off as rather interesting and highly amusing got rather flabby around the midsection, and the novelty of Luke's random adventures as Dice Man soon started to wear off. The numerous (and sometimes seemingly endless) discussions surrounding the psychiatry of the dice and it's use as a therapeutic tool also grew rather tiresome and by the end, although intermittently entertained, I was rather relieved to have finished it.
It didn't help that the...more
An interesting piece, though not as interesting as many have claimed, the narrative dips in and out of brilliance as the protagonist abandons his own personality and all of its various hangs-up mysogyny (which is so acute that the first 120 pages are like wading through tar), hetrosexuality, marriage, fatherhood etc. There are lot of interesting games played with the reader in the dialogue about the dice system presenting us with evidence and arguments against it whilst showing it as exciting an...more
Sep 27, 2011
Nikolai
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who can enjoy offbeat satire without attacking an intentional lack of realism.
I'm planning to add a more thorough review later, but for now, I want to defend a few things about this book that seem to have made people utterly furious. It can be summarised thus: this is not meant to be a work of realism and careful psychological characterisation, with clear and sensible motivations. It is meant to illustrate an interesting, imperfect theory while poking fun at every facet of psychiatric tradition, and many of human nature.
I have no idea how so many people could misread this...more
I have no idea how so many people could misread this...more
Sitting between the chairs of a self-help-advice satire and an honest discussion of a (dishonest) philosophy, The Dice Man extracts copious amounts of humour from it's internal bifurcation. Colourful characters and generous heaps of improbable sex drive the absurd plot, as psychiatrist Luke Rhinehart and his growing entourage surrender increasingly important choices to the whim of random chance. The often unpleasant decisions of the die, as well as the passion with which the characters accept th...more
I don't know quite why this book annoyed me so much. Delicate sensibilities per se are an unlikely cause as I've read and enjoyed a ton of Hunter S Thompson, and have certainly been known to laugh at Jeremy Clarkson, despite my politics.
Maybe it was the sheer unoriginality of most of Rhinehart's adventures. Or just the "new lad" thing seeming tired, ten years since it started. (Like a certain section of the British media and culture in the mid 90s, the protagonist wants to break out of civilised...more
Maybe it was the sheer unoriginality of most of Rhinehart's adventures. Or just the "new lad" thing seeming tired, ten years since it started. (Like a certain section of the British media and culture in the mid 90s, the protagonist wants to break out of civilised...more
Pyyyh, er lige blevet hjernekneppet af en terning.
Den her bog er Fight Club på bogform. Desværre er den også meget rodet og alt for lang. Der var flere hundrede sider, som snildt kunne være skåret.
Den starter rigtig godt, for så egentlig at gå langsomt ned af bakke hele vejen igennem. Når først præmissen er etableret var jeg flere gange i tvivl om, hvad bogen egentlig handlede om.
Pseudopsykologisk vås?
Ansvarsfralæggelse?
Satirisk blik på tilfældighedernes spil?
Pegen fingre af psykiatriindustrie...more
Den her bog er Fight Club på bogform. Desværre er den også meget rodet og alt for lang. Der var flere hundrede sider, som snildt kunne være skåret.
Den starter rigtig godt, for så egentlig at gå langsomt ned af bakke hele vejen igennem. Når først præmissen er etableret var jeg flere gange i tvivl om, hvad bogen egentlig handlede om.
Pseudopsykologisk vås?
Ansvarsfralæggelse?
Satirisk blik på tilfældighedernes spil?
Pegen fingre af psykiatriindustrie...more
Summary: Dice Man is an enjoyable read with some lengths at times, but a fascinating underlying idea.
Dice Man is about a very successful psychiatrist, who is utterly bored with his life. One day he decides to roll a dice and, in case of a 1, go rape his neighbor's/friend's wife. Of course the dice result is 1 and he finds out, that his neighbor's wife actually enjoys having an affair with him. From then on, he continues to have more and more parts of his life to be decided by dice and feels grea...more
Dice Man is about a very successful psychiatrist, who is utterly bored with his life. One day he decides to roll a dice and, in case of a 1, go rape his neighbor's/friend's wife. Of course the dice result is 1 and he finds out, that his neighbor's wife actually enjoys having an affair with him. From then on, he continues to have more and more parts of his life to be decided by dice and feels grea...more
This book can change your life.... if you let it.
When writing my review I gave the die a 1 in 6 chance that I would praise it, 3 in 6 that I would condemn it as a disruptive and dangerous to the great reading public and 2 in 6 that I would forget the review and instead go out into the street and dance around like a monkey for an hour. Sadly, the dice chose the first option, so here goes.
I came to this book recommended by a friend who said that it was hilarious. What he didn't say was that 100 pa...more
When writing my review I gave the die a 1 in 6 chance that I would praise it, 3 in 6 that I would condemn it as a disruptive and dangerous to the great reading public and 2 in 6 that I would forget the review and instead go out into the street and dance around like a monkey for an hour. Sadly, the dice chose the first option, so here goes.
I came to this book recommended by a friend who said that it was hilarious. What he didn't say was that 100 pa...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Share This Book
5 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“ Give up all hope, all illusion, all desire..I've tried. I've tried and still I desire, I still desire not to desire and hope to be without hope and have the illusion I can be without illusions..Give up, I say. Give up everything, including the desire to be saved.”
—
6 people liked it
“Why did children seem to be so often spontaneous, joy-filled and concentrated while adults seemed controlled, anxiety-filled and diffused? It was the Goddam sense of having a self.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
