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What If Our World Is Their Heaven? The Final Conversations of Philip K. Dick
In the field of science fiction, the work of Philip K. Dick is unparalleled. His work formed the basis for the films "Blade Runner", "The Minority Report" and "Total Recall". The movie version of his masterpiece, "A Scanner Darkly", is scheduled for release in the summer of 2006. Dick's appeal and influence have reached the world over, creating the standard for the literary science fiction novel. In November 1982, six months before the author's death, journalist Gwen Lee recorded the first of several in-depth discussions with Philip K. Dick that continued over the course of the next three months. These extraordinary interviews are filled with the wit and aplomb characteristic of Dick's writing. It will be a must read for anyone interested in Dick's headlong pursuit of the truth and in the secret history of our times.
204 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
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734 people want to read
About the author
Philip K. Dick
2,001 books22.3k followersPhilip Kindred Dick was a prolific American science fiction author whose work has had a lasting impact on literature, cinema, and popular culture. Known for his imaginative narratives and profound philosophical themes, Dick explored the nature of reality, the boundaries of human identity, and the impact of technology and authoritarianism on society. His stories often blurred the line between the real and the artificial, challenging readers to question their perceptions and beliefs.
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
November 18, 2019
http://www.mytwostotinki.com/?p=7225
Although I'm not a big Science Fiction expert, occasionally I also read books of this genre. My preferences are here mostly with authors from Eastern Europe (Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Stanislaw Lem, and a few others), but now and then I also discover something new - lately often from the borderline between classical SF and "serious" literature or "speculative" fiction, such as the works of China Miéville or the novel The Future of Mars by Georg Klein, or works by authors who are brand new to me such as Arthur C. Clarke or Philip K. Dick.
If I say Clarke or Dick are new to me, then I have to admit that that's not exactly true, of course. Every moderately informed moviegoer is familiar with their works in their respective cinematographic version. Especially Dick is particularly popular with filmmakers, just think of Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, Impostor, Paycheck, or A Scanner Darkly, to name a few examples.
In January 1982, just months before his death, Dick gave a series of tape-recorded interviews that have been transcribed and published in the book What If Our World Is Their Heaven?
Two of the recordings deal with the movie Blade Runner, which is based on Dick's book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? During filming, Dick was in the final stages of writing a new novel and so did not accept the invitation of director Ridley Scott to attend the shooting. The two interview clips in the book deal with the relationship between the original novel and the film, and with how Dick judged the result (he saw a not yet finalized version in a private performance, the film was not yet in the cinema at the time of his death). In short, Dick was strongly impressed by what he saw and had the highest praise for both the director and the film crew and performers. Although an essential part of the action of the original book was dropped in the film, Dick saw clearly that this was the only way to realize an adequate film adaptation of his material.
I was also interested in Dick's co-operation with his agent and the sheer volume of inquiries from various merchandise producers he had to deal with - including a comic book version of Blade Runner. Although Dick didn’t live to see the great worldwide success of Blade Runner, he could at least be glad to know that it was a wonderful film adaptation. Until today, Blade Runner is a milestone in film history.
Of interest to me were also Dick's comments on the creative process of an SF writer. Dick was at times an extremely prolific writer. When he had made up his mind about the concept of a new book, he sat down, and then literally worked day and night, neglecting everything else, including sleep and the intake of food. We can imagine him as an absolute workaholic, who felt completely drained after the completion of a book under such circumstances. The famous writer's block, if it ever happened to him, was to Dick - contrary to most other authors - a blessing, not a curse. Literary works rarely served as a source of inspiration to him - he read hardly any novels -, but technical, philosophical or religious works - the latter in particular after a "spiritual revival experience" as a result of a serious illness of his son - triggered his literary output.
The transcription of the tape recordings is true to the original and virtually unedited. As a result, there are many redundancies, and every stutter of Dick or the interviewer is printed in the book. A careful editing would have made the text much more readable. In addition, the interviewer unfortunately repeatedly breaks off the conversation when it gets interesting, or interrupts Dick when he is in the process to explain something important. She is also occasionally inattentive and does not listen closely, often asks for things that Dick had said shortly before, and so on. It's a pity that the interviewer is rather unprofessional and not very focused at times.
In spite of the above-mentioned objections, this is a book that I can recommend to all readers with an interest in one of the major SF authors of the 20th century. Contrary to my expectation, Dick comes over in these conversations as a rather grounded and sometimes self-ironic and warm person without the usual grandstanding attitude of many successful authors.
Although I'm not a big Science Fiction expert, occasionally I also read books of this genre. My preferences are here mostly with authors from Eastern Europe (Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Stanislaw Lem, and a few others), but now and then I also discover something new - lately often from the borderline between classical SF and "serious" literature or "speculative" fiction, such as the works of China Miéville or the novel The Future of Mars by Georg Klein, or works by authors who are brand new to me such as Arthur C. Clarke or Philip K. Dick.
If I say Clarke or Dick are new to me, then I have to admit that that's not exactly true, of course. Every moderately informed moviegoer is familiar with their works in their respective cinematographic version. Especially Dick is particularly popular with filmmakers, just think of Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, Impostor, Paycheck, or A Scanner Darkly, to name a few examples.
In January 1982, just months before his death, Dick gave a series of tape-recorded interviews that have been transcribed and published in the book What If Our World Is Their Heaven?
Two of the recordings deal with the movie Blade Runner, which is based on Dick's book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? During filming, Dick was in the final stages of writing a new novel and so did not accept the invitation of director Ridley Scott to attend the shooting. The two interview clips in the book deal with the relationship between the original novel and the film, and with how Dick judged the result (he saw a not yet finalized version in a private performance, the film was not yet in the cinema at the time of his death). In short, Dick was strongly impressed by what he saw and had the highest praise for both the director and the film crew and performers. Although an essential part of the action of the original book was dropped in the film, Dick saw clearly that this was the only way to realize an adequate film adaptation of his material.
I was also interested in Dick's co-operation with his agent and the sheer volume of inquiries from various merchandise producers he had to deal with - including a comic book version of Blade Runner. Although Dick didn’t live to see the great worldwide success of Blade Runner, he could at least be glad to know that it was a wonderful film adaptation. Until today, Blade Runner is a milestone in film history.
Of interest to me were also Dick's comments on the creative process of an SF writer. Dick was at times an extremely prolific writer. When he had made up his mind about the concept of a new book, he sat down, and then literally worked day and night, neglecting everything else, including sleep and the intake of food. We can imagine him as an absolute workaholic, who felt completely drained after the completion of a book under such circumstances. The famous writer's block, if it ever happened to him, was to Dick - contrary to most other authors - a blessing, not a curse. Literary works rarely served as a source of inspiration to him - he read hardly any novels -, but technical, philosophical or religious works - the latter in particular after a "spiritual revival experience" as a result of a serious illness of his son - triggered his literary output.
The transcription of the tape recordings is true to the original and virtually unedited. As a result, there are many redundancies, and every stutter of Dick or the interviewer is printed in the book. A careful editing would have made the text much more readable. In addition, the interviewer unfortunately repeatedly breaks off the conversation when it gets interesting, or interrupts Dick when he is in the process to explain something important. She is also occasionally inattentive and does not listen closely, often asks for things that Dick had said shortly before, and so on. It's a pity that the interviewer is rather unprofessional and not very focused at times.
In spite of the above-mentioned objections, this is a book that I can recommend to all readers with an interest in one of the major SF authors of the 20th century. Contrary to my expectation, Dick comes over in these conversations as a rather grounded and sometimes self-ironic and warm person without the usual grandstanding attitude of many successful authors.
August 7, 2009
These last interviews with Dick were conducted just a few months before he died unexpectedly. The interviewer is a friend of his, a young woman who he also once had romantic dalliances with. She's not a professional interviewer, but his personal acquaintance, and so these conversation transcriptions are extremely casual. A skilled journalist would have done a better job of mining the depths of Dick's weird, warped mind, and also getting him to talk about the fascinating elements of his background, including his rampant drug use and crazy writing routine. But Dick obviously feels comfortable around Gwen Lee, the interviewer here, and provides some fascinating insights amidst the rubble. Fans are probably familiar with Dick's crazy, pseudo-religious book, Valis, which contains, among many things, an entirely invented religion replete with religious text and doctrines. Dick's belief that he was channeling one of Christ's disciples and that our Christian idea of "God" is a message sent from aliens who are trying to butter us up before contacting us makes it easy to write him off as bat-shit crazy. And he very well might have been, but in What If Our World he provides some pretty interesting evidence for why he believes what he does. He may have been bat-shit (not to mention addled by years of hallucinogenics and probably stroke) but he also had a logical mind until the very end, and his crazy ideas didn't just spring from nowhere.
He also talks about Bladerunner (adapted from his book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) and other interesting topics. Definitely worth reading for Dick fans. Non-fans should start with his books.
He also talks about Bladerunner (adapted from his book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) and other interesting topics. Definitely worth reading for Dick fans. Non-fans should start with his books.
November 25, 2017
If you are wanting a biography, career retrospective, or literary critique/analysis then there are other options. What makes this cool and unique is it is essentially a transcript of recorded interviews in a relaxed casual form with PKD often rambling on, giving a view into the man and his mind. These were months before his death and the release of Blade Runner.
Topics discussed the most are the Blade Runner film; PKD's writing habits; his most recent novels The Divine Invasion and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, and his plot summary and plans for his next never written novel The Owl In Daylight; religion (both Dick's studies and personal experiences); philosophy; and mathematics.
Interesting forwards by young writer protege friend Tim Powers and long time girlfriend and housemate (I forget if they were ever married) Doris Elaine Sauter give futher insight into Dick's writing madness.
After reading you'll feel like spent a weekend with PKD rambling on non-stop all weekend.
Topics discussed the most are the Blade Runner film; PKD's writing habits; his most recent novels The Divine Invasion and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, and his plot summary and plans for his next never written novel The Owl In Daylight; religion (both Dick's studies and personal experiences); philosophy; and mathematics.
Interesting forwards by young writer protege friend Tim Powers and long time girlfriend and housemate (I forget if they were ever married) Doris Elaine Sauter give futher insight into Dick's writing madness.
After reading you'll feel like spent a weekend with PKD rambling on non-stop all weekend.
November 25, 2017
I'm not sure this can be considered "edited" as it is really transcription of Dick's last interviews before his death. Buried within the materials are some neat insights into Dick's outlook on life and his writing, particularly regarding The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, admittedly one of my favorite books. Still, the book is a persuasive argument for the value of effective editing. How we listen and engage in conversation and how we read are, at least for me, very different processes. I wish I had bookmarked the pages on which Dick's intellectual self shone through so I could go back and read them without sorting through the conversational sediment in which those insights are buried.
April 16, 2020
"It is one of those things which could have been averted and yet at the same time was absolutely destined. But the Greek word for "chance" is the same word as for "fate". Chance and determinism were the same word: "anonche" in Greek. In fact, it's not known which they meant or if they even distinguished the two."
September 16, 2021
This is a text for Philip K. Dick junkies. Having only read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," I was not familiar enough with the author to find this enthralling. It was interesting, however. The man clearly had either pathological and/or drug-induced mania contributing to his intense focus and creative thinking and you get to see a lot of fascinating stream-of-consciousness in this interview.
July 7, 2023
When Philip K. Dick died In March 1982 it was a shock to his friends and the world. Those of us who study his work are still left with questions decades later. Two months before he died journalist Gwen Lee lived in Carlsbad here in San Diego County. She had a friend Doris Sauter, who had for half a decade lived in the apartment next to the infamous Science Fiction writer. Doris had met Phil when she was dating fellow genius writer Norman Spinrad. After they broke up she struck up a friendship with Phil around the time of her cancer diagnosis. Her battle with cancer and her relationship with Phil became the meta inspiration for his two novels VALIS and The Divine Invasion. During the primary years when Phil was writing his exegesis, Doris was having dinner with Phil nightly and talking about Religion.
Doris had moved away but returned to introduce her friend Gwen who planned to interview Phil. This was two months before he would die. This is after he went to LA to watch the first 20 minutes of Blade Runner, the only movie he got to see based on his work in his lifetime. The interview done on January 10th, 1982 is mostly about Blade Runner. This is in the period after he turned in his last (written) novel The Transmigration of Timothy Archer but it was not released yet. He was in the phase of planning his next book and that is why it is important to me.
The production of this book is rather cheap. The 2001 edition has a generic starscape and a random picture of a field of cows. The back cover description is inaccurate having the date of the interviews and Phil's death date off by a year. The Foreword by sci-fi colleague Tim Powers is good, but simple. The conversation on Blade Runner might be of great interest to Blade Runner super nerds but the thing that interested me is the Owl in the Daylight stuff.
That is the infamous Science Fiction novel that Phil was planning to write next. The two interviews in this book done five days apart are extremely important because in the January 15th interviews (Lee brought more tape and was better prepared)Phil explains the novel he was planning to write. It is clear he had just a kernel during the first interview and had been thinking it through for the five days in between.
It should be noted this is the second concept he threw around under the title “The Owl in the Daylight.” That is not unusual for Phil, who tried to use the title “Earth’s Diurnal Course" for some unexplainable reason three times. Because this is the majority of what we know about Phil’s last Unfinished idea I am not going to say anymore as I am building the final chapter of my book Unfinished PKD around The Owl in the Daylight.
That said if you want a preview. This book has Phil outlining what I believe could’ve been a masterpiece of Science Fiction. Anyhoo I am writing my Owl in the Daylight chapter soon. You’ll have to wait for my thoughts on that. But you can buy this now for Phil’s thoughts on it.
It is a bit of a sad experience reading this. I read this entire book waiting for a bus to LA and on the bus. I finished reading just before we passed the exit in Santa Ana where this interview was recorded. I am not sure it will be as interesting for others as it was for me with this specific interest in the unfinished works but it was a quick powerful read. You get a little bit of Phil’s humor and his nervous energy. It is just sad knowing he was so close to the end.
Doris had moved away but returned to introduce her friend Gwen who planned to interview Phil. This was two months before he would die. This is after he went to LA to watch the first 20 minutes of Blade Runner, the only movie he got to see based on his work in his lifetime. The interview done on January 10th, 1982 is mostly about Blade Runner. This is in the period after he turned in his last (written) novel The Transmigration of Timothy Archer but it was not released yet. He was in the phase of planning his next book and that is why it is important to me.
The production of this book is rather cheap. The 2001 edition has a generic starscape and a random picture of a field of cows. The back cover description is inaccurate having the date of the interviews and Phil's death date off by a year. The Foreword by sci-fi colleague Tim Powers is good, but simple. The conversation on Blade Runner might be of great interest to Blade Runner super nerds but the thing that interested me is the Owl in the Daylight stuff.
That is the infamous Science Fiction novel that Phil was planning to write next. The two interviews in this book done five days apart are extremely important because in the January 15th interviews (Lee brought more tape and was better prepared)Phil explains the novel he was planning to write. It is clear he had just a kernel during the first interview and had been thinking it through for the five days in between.
It should be noted this is the second concept he threw around under the title “The Owl in the Daylight.” That is not unusual for Phil, who tried to use the title “Earth’s Diurnal Course" for some unexplainable reason three times. Because this is the majority of what we know about Phil’s last Unfinished idea I am not going to say anymore as I am building the final chapter of my book Unfinished PKD around The Owl in the Daylight.
That said if you want a preview. This book has Phil outlining what I believe could’ve been a masterpiece of Science Fiction. Anyhoo I am writing my Owl in the Daylight chapter soon. You’ll have to wait for my thoughts on that. But you can buy this now for Phil’s thoughts on it.
It is a bit of a sad experience reading this. I read this entire book waiting for a bus to LA and on the bus. I finished reading just before we passed the exit in Santa Ana where this interview was recorded. I am not sure it will be as interesting for others as it was for me with this specific interest in the unfinished works but it was a quick powerful read. You get a little bit of Phil’s humor and his nervous energy. It is just sad knowing he was so close to the end.
May 8, 2008
Wow! I haven't yet read any fiction by Philip K Dick, but decided to read this interview just to get a feel for what he was like. And.. wow. He was such an enthusiastic person. He can go on for pages and pages (this was a spoken interview- so they were really just long ranting tirades) about things that are all at once fascinating, confusing, and just.. fucking weird. I think he was a very creative guy, and some of his ideas, about biochips and all that, are certainly unique and well expressed and actually fairly logical. Some of his explanations, though, I find hard to follow. Mostly anything that deals with his religious experiences. Because, not to be rude (because I do think he seemed to be a clever and highly intellectual man), I think he was a bit delusional. Literally.
"But for almost eight years I’ve been in touch with some kind of mind that has given every evidence of being God, including the words and everything. And I know now that it’s another species of life. That would seem to us like apes, subhuman. They have been preparing us all this time, for several thousand years through our religion to accept them because they are really different from us. I mean, they are not like anything on this earth. And it’s literally taken three thousand, four thousand years, to acclimatize mankind, now, for this meeting between us and them. Because they don’t want us to pull away from them. And they know from experience that when one civilization, when one planet meets another the shock is unbelievable...And now the time has come when we are going to see them as they are. They don’t look like Jesus. They’re ugly, they’re horrible but they are like Jesus spiritually...But they are something so awful-looking. They don’t have any ears. They can’t talk. Doesn’t have any hands. Looks like a praying mantis. Looks like a praying mantis. I mean, that’s- I know, I know like, right, yeah, see? But that’s how they know they’re going to look to us"
Alright then. He also had other "visions" which I wont explain in depth. He also claimed that things happened in reality that he had written in the past in his books- like he'd "meet" one of his characters. Definitely all very spiritual/religious/wacky, his personal experiences.
But whether or not you agree personally with his ideas/understand his experiences, I totally recommend this. Though, just as a warning, he summarizes (in a rambly kind of way) a lot of his books, so if you don't want them to be "spoiled" I'd hold off on reading this.
Oh, and he was so excited about the movie Blade Runner (Based off of his book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) which was in post-production, I believe, at the time of this interview. He kept going on about how the movie didn't use special affects, wasn't a "movie", it was it's own world. Literally. Which is an interesting take- he definitely had a well developed sense of the fantastic, the other-wordly. Shame he died before getting to see the movie. Or writing his novel "The Owl in Daylight", which he talks very excitedly about- it sounded like it would have been amazing.
Ohoh, and the whole idea of our world being a heaven for other beings.. and our heaven being someone else's world. Totally fascinating. And the way he ties together color/music/mathematics. Just plain rad. I could keep going but I'll stop.
"But for almost eight years I’ve been in touch with some kind of mind that has given every evidence of being God, including the words and everything. And I know now that it’s another species of life. That would seem to us like apes, subhuman. They have been preparing us all this time, for several thousand years through our religion to accept them because they are really different from us. I mean, they are not like anything on this earth. And it’s literally taken three thousand, four thousand years, to acclimatize mankind, now, for this meeting between us and them. Because they don’t want us to pull away from them. And they know from experience that when one civilization, when one planet meets another the shock is unbelievable...And now the time has come when we are going to see them as they are. They don’t look like Jesus. They’re ugly, they’re horrible but they are like Jesus spiritually...But they are something so awful-looking. They don’t have any ears. They can’t talk. Doesn’t have any hands. Looks like a praying mantis. Looks like a praying mantis. I mean, that’s- I know, I know like, right, yeah, see? But that’s how they know they’re going to look to us"
Alright then. He also had other "visions" which I wont explain in depth. He also claimed that things happened in reality that he had written in the past in his books- like he'd "meet" one of his characters. Definitely all very spiritual/religious/wacky, his personal experiences.
But whether or not you agree personally with his ideas/understand his experiences, I totally recommend this. Though, just as a warning, he summarizes (in a rambly kind of way) a lot of his books, so if you don't want them to be "spoiled" I'd hold off on reading this.
Oh, and he was so excited about the movie Blade Runner (Based off of his book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) which was in post-production, I believe, at the time of this interview. He kept going on about how the movie didn't use special affects, wasn't a "movie", it was it's own world. Literally. Which is an interesting take- he definitely had a well developed sense of the fantastic, the other-wordly. Shame he died before getting to see the movie. Or writing his novel "The Owl in Daylight", which he talks very excitedly about- it sounded like it would have been amazing.
Ohoh, and the whole idea of our world being a heaven for other beings.. and our heaven being someone else's world. Totally fascinating. And the way he ties together color/music/mathematics. Just plain rad. I could keep going but I'll stop.
July 30, 2012
This book is the next best thing to sitting in a room and having a conversation with Philip K Dick. He was famous for his long speculative conversations. This presents 3 interviews with a young woman with a tape recorder. It is a continuous conversation they had over a few months.
He talks about visiting the set of the movie "Bade Runner". He talks about his writing process. He gives an example by working out ideas for a novel that he did not put to paper before he died.
Oh, and this is his last interview before dying. This is an excellent little book that would be appropriate for anyone with any interest in PKD.
This and "The Exegesis" are opportunities of doing the next best thing to sitting in on one of PKD's conversations. I would only recommend "The Exegesis" to PKD aficionados. It is long and you really need to have read at least 18 of his novels (the editor said so and I think it is true.) But "What if Our World..." is something anyone with an interest in PKD can read and enjoy.
He talks about visiting the set of the movie "Bade Runner". He talks about his writing process. He gives an example by working out ideas for a novel that he did not put to paper before he died.
Oh, and this is his last interview before dying. This is an excellent little book that would be appropriate for anyone with any interest in PKD.
This and "The Exegesis" are opportunities of doing the next best thing to sitting in on one of PKD's conversations. I would only recommend "The Exegesis" to PKD aficionados. It is long and you really need to have read at least 18 of his novels (the editor said so and I think it is true.) But "What if Our World..." is something anyone with an interest in PKD can read and enjoy.
May 24, 2019
At the time of this interview Blade Runner was about to be released—adapted from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep—though he never lived to see it. Their conversations touch on the plot of the novel he never lived to write The Owl in Daylight, music, philosophers, and writing. He discusses the mystical visions he had in 1974-1975 that ultimately saved his child's life.
What I liked: The best parts for me were hearing about the plot of the book he'd not live to write, his mystical visions and at the very end of the interview he is talking about the beings from the unwritten novel, beings that existed according to him. What an interesting mind! It leaves you with more questions and wishing he had had more time.
What I didn't like: It was choppy and didn't flow at all. Had he lived it might have benefited from some editing.
I give this book a 3 out of 5 star rating.
What I liked: The best parts for me were hearing about the plot of the book he'd not live to write, his mystical visions and at the very end of the interview he is talking about the beings from the unwritten novel, beings that existed according to him. What an interesting mind! It leaves you with more questions and wishing he had had more time.
What I didn't like: It was choppy and didn't flow at all. Had he lived it might have benefited from some editing.
I give this book a 3 out of 5 star rating.
March 24, 2013
Afraid PKD is looking more and more like a nut; the ranting, babbling quality is unfortunate (at least, when he's talking about his religious mumbojumbo). But the stuff about Blade Runner is pretty fun--especially how he's like a little kid with this great big opportunity and everything. But then, when the plot of The Owl In Daylight merges with his real-life experiences...ouch. Cuckoo--cuckoo--cuckoo--and I've never seen him be a bigger nut about the Big Iron Empire stuff. Also he makes some silly assertions and scholarly contentions--it's like overhearing a bunch of brainy stoned 15-year-olds talking in their room downstairs.
August 10, 2021
I never realized how many books Phil Dick had written, or that Blade Runner and Total Recall were based on his books.
This book is short. It is the last few taped interviews he has with a friend before his death. This is just before Blade Runner is released so he talks about it quite a bit.
He also discusses a deep religious or philosophical idea for his next book or two. I think it may have been fascinating.
I don't hear much about him anymore but in the 1970's he seemed to be everywhere and I am glad I found this and was able to revisit him.
This book is short. It is the last few taped interviews he has with a friend before his death. This is just before Blade Runner is released so he talks about it quite a bit.
He also discusses a deep religious or philosophical idea for his next book or two. I think it may have been fascinating.
I don't hear much about him anymore but in the 1970's he seemed to be everywhere and I am glad I found this and was able to revisit him.
November 26, 2007
This was so fun to read, because it was transcribed from taped conversations with Philip K. Dick, and so you get a sense of all the verbal tics and imperfections as the effusive ideas spill from his genius-addled brain.
He also gives the bare-bones framework for a novel he was planning, one that he was still thinking out even as he gave the interview, but which he died too soon to write.
I can't recommend it enough.
He also gives the bare-bones framework for a novel he was planning, one that he was still thinking out even as he gave the interview, but which he died too soon to write.
I can't recommend it enough.
January 1, 2008
i was introduced to the world of Philip K Dick on my last night in minneapolis. my friends from work (only was there 1 month) were telling me he was so amazing, and they had this book with them, interview with phil during his last days of life. i opened it to the middle and started to read a moving discourse on the points of perception and consciousness that had been troubling me that same day. to my surprise.
the situation continued to answer me after i went home.
the situation continued to answer me after i went home.
July 16, 2016
I adore PKD's novels and short stories and I was expecting perhaps a little too much from this interview. He does discuss interesting things, and his erudition and flexible might really show, but in the end, it's it bit too aimless to really grasp the attention. PKD does, however, provide a rather elaborate synopsis of his unwritten novel, The Own in the Daylight.
I'd recommend it to PKD fans, but not to casual readers interested in the man.
I'd recommend it to PKD fans, but not to casual readers interested in the man.
July 13, 2007
The wonderful thing about this book is that they do not edit PKD's speech. It's interesting to read because you can hear the quirks and catch the patterns in how he talks; this book gives a glimpse into a brilliant and tortured mind, indeed. I enjoyed hearing about his creative process, seeing his humorous side, and ultimately understanding more about one of my favorite writers.
June 24, 2009
An amiable and largely unrevealing chat with the author, in which his impulse to write is acknowledged as a self-destructive compulsion, his reaction to early footage of Blade Runner is discussed (he knew awesomeness when he saw it), and a work-in-progress called "The Owl in the Daylight" is discussed, which doesn't sound like another classic but is weird and fascinating. For devotees
July 31, 2016
A half-assed interview with PDK transcribed from tapes. Dick casually touches on various aspects of his writing, sometimes going deep into his internal thinking processes, but mostly not caring too much about sounding like a genius. I only recommend this for hardcore PDK fans as a primary source document. You've been warned.
June 13, 2013
this is fascinating
November 16, 2025
Se trata de las últimas entrevistas que le hizo su amiga Gwen Lee para un proyecto de su escuela de periodismo, casi dos semanas antes de morir. Los libros sobre el pensamiento de Dick no solo son entretenidos sino muy lúcidos y estas entrevistas muestran a Dick haciendo lo que le gusta hacer: filosofar y escribir libros de ciencia ficción.
— En las entrevistas encontraremos las impresiones que le causó visitar el taller de efectos especiales y un avance de la primera película basada en uno de sus libros: Blade Runner. Podemos, prácticamente, ver a un Philip K. Dick verdaderamente entusiasmado. "¡Es algo que nunca se había visto antes!"
— Habla sobre su novela, "La transmigración de Timothy Archer" y las dificultades y sacrificios que le trajo escribirla, pues era una novela de literatura general. Obviamente, y el lo declara, se sentía mucho más a gusto en la ciencia ficción. Su experiencia con el desarrollo de su personaje protagonista, Angela Archer, es muy interesante.
—Desarrolla junto con nosotros, desde sus bases, la novela que no llegará a escribir "El búho a la luz del día" y nos ofrecerá una reflexión sobre lo místico y el contacto con aquello qué está más allá de la realidad, porque se encuentra en una dimensión que nos esta vedado experimentar de forma normal. De aquí proviene el titulo del libro "Y sí nuestro mundo fuera su cielo".
—Phil vuelve a relatar sus dos experiencias extrañas: la alerta telepática que tuvo sobre la hernia escrotal de su bebé y el encuentro con la chica del dije en forma de pez, que lo hizo recordar, no un pasado lejano, sino un presente extraño, donde dominaba el anticristo. Además habla de otra experiencia sobrenatural que no había contado antes.
Claro que vale la pena.
— En las entrevistas encontraremos las impresiones que le causó visitar el taller de efectos especiales y un avance de la primera película basada en uno de sus libros: Blade Runner. Podemos, prácticamente, ver a un Philip K. Dick verdaderamente entusiasmado. "¡Es algo que nunca se había visto antes!"
— Habla sobre su novela, "La transmigración de Timothy Archer" y las dificultades y sacrificios que le trajo escribirla, pues era una novela de literatura general. Obviamente, y el lo declara, se sentía mucho más a gusto en la ciencia ficción. Su experiencia con el desarrollo de su personaje protagonista, Angela Archer, es muy interesante.
—Desarrolla junto con nosotros, desde sus bases, la novela que no llegará a escribir "El búho a la luz del día" y nos ofrecerá una reflexión sobre lo místico y el contacto con aquello qué está más allá de la realidad, porque se encuentra en una dimensión que nos esta vedado experimentar de forma normal. De aquí proviene el titulo del libro "Y sí nuestro mundo fuera su cielo".
—Phil vuelve a relatar sus dos experiencias extrañas: la alerta telepática que tuvo sobre la hernia escrotal de su bebé y el encuentro con la chica del dije en forma de pez, que lo hizo recordar, no un pasado lejano, sino un presente extraño, donde dominaba el anticristo. Además habla de otra experiencia sobrenatural que no había contado antes.
Claro que vale la pena.
January 6, 2023
This unedited series of interviews with Dick are not for the casual fan. In fact, as implied in Tim Powers’ introduction, without a broader knowledge of Dick and his mental states over the years, you may come away from this thinking this man was clearly insane or, at the very least, delusional. And, as Powers makes clear, Dick wasn’t above thinking the same about himself. What differs Dick from someone who needed to be institutionalized, however, is exactly that he questioned this himself. He had an experience that he struggled to understand—possibly religious, possibly alien, possibly a latent drug hallucination. Whatever it was, it profoundly affected him and changed his writing in the last ten years of his life. These interviews give the reader an insight into how he thought about both the experience, his new writing, and what he thought about the movie Blade Runner based on his book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Because they are unedited, you get a flavor of Dick’s natural voice, his inflections and quick turn of thoughts.
July 12, 2020
This is a transcription of some interviews with Philip K Dick that were taped by a friend shortly before his death in 1982.
Topics discussed include the filming of Blade Runner, the never-finished novel he was working on at the time, The Owl In Daytime, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, and his psychotic break or religious experience, depending on what you believe, starting in 1974. But there's a lot of rambling, too.
What comes across is a witty, disciplined, compassionate and somewhat flawed human being.
He speaks of the toll Transmigration took on his health and expresses his worries over the book he's getting ready to start, but ultimately he is powerless to resist his muse.
Topics discussed include the filming of Blade Runner, the never-finished novel he was working on at the time, The Owl In Daytime, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, and his psychotic break or religious experience, depending on what you believe, starting in 1974. But there's a lot of rambling, too.
What comes across is a witty, disciplined, compassionate and somewhat flawed human being.
He speaks of the toll Transmigration took on his health and expresses his worries over the book he's getting ready to start, but ultimately he is powerless to resist his muse.
February 9, 2019
This fascinating and illuminating set of very informal conversations with Philip K. Dick really shed light onto the man, his life, and a couple of his last novels, The Divine Invasion and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. Dick was a brilliant man with a huge breadth of knowledge...also batshit crazy, I suspect. He died shortly after these conversations were recorded, apparently from a series of strokes....but just possibly because an alien biochip, embedded in him by deaf, insect-like aliens who speak in colors and believe we are gods, burned his brain out. We’ll probably never know at this point...
September 11, 2023
Essential for the PKD fan, great for writers who have this sense of mysticism at the moment when the idea pops up in their heads
It would be cool if the audio tapes are online, one could grasp the tone in which PKD talks about his plot. And yes, here we have like 70% of the summary of "The Owl in Daylight", which sounds great as an idea, of course there were things that Phil needed to polish. Either way, holy shit now i'm more intrigued to read Divine Invasion & Timothy Archer cause of what he told about it here!
It would be cool if the audio tapes are online, one could grasp the tone in which PKD talks about his plot. And yes, here we have like 70% of the summary of "The Owl in Daylight", which sounds great as an idea, of course there were things that Phil needed to polish. Either way, holy shit now i'm more intrigued to read Divine Invasion & Timothy Archer cause of what he told about it here!
April 28, 2021
What an interesting look into the world and mind of Philip K Dick. I wish it had focused more on his experience in '74 and what transpired after that, but I will try to find a book about him that does. I enjoyed this book, because I felt like I was sitting in his living room with him and the interviewer. I wonder what he would say if he were around today...
April 1, 2020
The Blade Runner chapters weren't terribly interesting to me; however, the chapters of him discussing his unfinished final book were great. As close to getting to read his final work as I imagine we'll ever get, a must read if you're a fan of his final novels.
January 4, 2021
I enjoyed this quite a lot. It presents as a very raw transcription rather than edited like a normal interview or set of interviews are, so follows the vagaries and eddies of real conversation. I think you have to be a Philip K. Dick fan to get along with this book, though.
October 6, 2022
Excellent book-length interview with Dick from right at the end of his career, offering insights into his plans for his unwritten next planned novel and his excitement about Blade Runner. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
February 20, 2019
Egads, the man was a little all over the place by the time they did this. Very interesting, but not the usual bag of goodies for other writers.
June 17, 2020
If you've ever wondered what it would be like to sit down and have a conversation with PKD, this is the book for you.
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