The World Jones Made

by Philip K. Dick

Floyd Jones is sullen, ungainly, and quite possibly mad, but in a very short time he will rise from telling fortunes at a mutant carnival to convulsing an entire planet. For although Jones has the power to see the future -- a power that makes his life a torment -- his real gift lies in his ability to make people dream again in a world where dreaming has been made illegal, even when the dream is indistinguishable from a nightmare.

In Philip K. Dick's unsettling chronicle of the rise and fall of a postnuclear messiah, readers will find a novel that is as minutely realistic as it is prophetic. For along with its engineered mutants, hermaphroditic sex performers, and protoplasmic drifters from the stars, The World Jones Made gives us nothing less than a deadly accurate reading of our own hunger for belief.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Novels, Dystopia, Science Fiction Fantasy, American

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1956

About the author

Philip 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

Reviews

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published in 1956 when the author was a mere twenty-eight years old, The World Jones Made contains a bushel basket full of Philip K. Dick's signature sf wackiness. The novel also features an eerie foreshadowing of Pastor Jim Jones and the 1978 mass suicide and mass murder in Jonestown, Guyana. Holy hair-raising! PKD's Floyd Jones - even the same last name. Uncanny and creepy in the extreme.

We're in a future time in the aftermath of a vast nuclear worldwide war. Jones is a major thread but there is much, much more - no fewer than five intertwining storylines propel this tale. In no particular order, here's a modest sampling of what a reader will encounter:

Doug Cussick: Member of the Fedgov’s police force. In many ways, the hero of the novel, an ordinary kind of guy who values tolerance and a respect for others as well as wanting a world where future generations can grow and flourish. However, Cussick is in a tight spot – following the nuclear war caused in large measure by Mohammedans and Christian fanatics, Fedgov, the ruling power, has taken on the character of totalitarianism with its many forced labor camps, prisons and detention centers. The foundation of their ideology is what is termed “relativism,” where an individual should not voice an opinion that can’t be supported by concrete facts. According to Fedgov, citizens are best remaining silent. Sound inviting? As for me, not only would I not want to live under such suffocating conditions, I wouldn't even want to visit.

Keepers of the Status Quo: Security Director Pearson heads up the secret police and the weapons police. Also part of the Fedgov police force is a friend of Cussick - Max Kaminski, a surly, heavyset man whose lethargy and moroseness typify the mindset of the established order. Kaminski is disgusted with the direction society has taken and at one point lets Cussick know, “Fedgov is still in business. Trying out a few last tricks before it goes down in ruin.”



Jones, One: Cussick meets Floyd Jones for the first time at a carnival where Jones doesn’t tell personal fortunes but answers questions about the future of mankind. Jones can do this since he is a precog, that is, someone who knows the future; for Jones, he can see one year into the future. Such unique knowledge gives him real power. Jones can be killed but he can’t be taken by surprise. Pregcogs - a major ongoing PKD theme, men or women who are not shackled with one big drawback of “normal” human experience– not knowing the future. Just imagine what it would be like to have such ability. Oh, how your life would charge. If nothing else, you could go to Las Vegas and play roulette.

Jones, Two: "End the tyrannical reign of alien relativism. Free men’s minds!" One of the slogans shouted by fanatical followers of the swelling movement lead by Floyd Jones. Jones urges the world to follow him in “The Crusade” – a futurist philosophy that will not be bound by the inertia of the Fedgov or relativism, an exciting movement and philosophy that seeks to explore worlds beyond our own, to send settlers out to colonize the stars. Oh, yes, in the new world order Jones proposes, since he can see into the future, he himself will hold sole authority and power as absolute ruler.

Nina Cussick: Pretty, independent-minded Danish lady, wife of Doug and mother of their baby boy, Jack. Nina is bored with the lackluster, dull, dreary world of Fedgov; she yearns for excitement and change, thus she turns to the Jones movement. The inclusion of Nina in The World Jones Made adds real zest to the story.



Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n Roll: We witness one captivating scene at an underground club where crowds of young people dance to frantic rhythms, a scene where Nina is served capsules of heroin and Cossick smokes marijuana, all the while watching hermaphrodites go through their act – a man and a woman having sex, then changing into two lesbians and then a final change: the man becoming the woman and the woman becoming the man. Even in the suppression of a totalitarian society, young people will discover outlets for their creative energy and imagination.

Custom-made Mutants: There are eight miniature, mutant humans living in a “refuge" outside San Francisco. All of these mutants are inquisitive as to why they are provided with such a lavish, specialized habitat. Is their mutation a consequence of the nuclear war? There’s a Doctor Rafferty who oversees their living arrangements. The more pages we turn, the more these mutants are central to story. To say anything more would be to say too much.

War Mutants: A novel written in those paranoid 1950s I remember so well, the decade of fallout shelters and duck and cover drills. Nuclear attack could happen any day resulting in extreme genetic mutation. PKD picks up on this with Cussick seeing mutant freaks in a carnival freak show; “There were many-headed babies, a common sport. He passed by the usual display of parasites living on sibling hosts. Feathered, scaled, tailed, winged humanoid freaks squeaked and fluttered on all sides: infinite oddities from ravaged genes. People with internal organs situated outside the dermal walls; eyeless, faceless, even headless freaks; freaks with enlarged and elongated and multi-jointed limbs; sad-looking creatures peeping out from within other creatures.”

Drifters: Huge migrating protozoa, many feet in length, float down to earth from another solar system. Fedgov passes laws to protect these organisms; Jones and his followers burn them with gasoline. What course of action is best for us humans? One of the more quizzical parts of the tale.

Venus: The planet in our solar system holding a key to the solution of survival. How? You will have to read for yourself. Highly recommended for both readers new to Philip K. Dick or those fans who want to visit the author’s earlier work.



"My friends," Jones shouted, "the entrenched plutocracy has tried to silence me. But they have grown soft; like great parasites they sit behind their desks running the world. They have gown fat on us; they have feasted well. But it is going to end. I can see it."
Shouted approval.
"We must strike out!" Jones raved on. "Beyond the world, beyond the dead systems. It is our destiny. The race cannot be denied its future. Nothing will stop us. We cannot be defeated."


American Science Fiction author Philip K. Dick, 1928-1982

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of weird, possibly insane Floyd Jones' rise to power, using his power of foresight, but that's not his only power! Dick's thought provoking tale of post-nuclear messiah sees the power of foresight appears to be PKD's, as this book was written in 1956!!! 5 out of 12, Two Star read.

2010 read

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Philip K. Dick’s earliest novels, The World Jones Made demonstrates the author’s great ability and reveals his potential mastery if not yet his virtuosity as a storyteller.

Bradburyesque PKD, this is dark, brooding and humanistic; reminiscent of Messiah by Gore Vidal and also, vaguely, of H.P. Lovecraft. Several sub-plots are loosely woven together to create an atmosphere of shadows, fascist visions and alien mystery. The reader sees erudite observations of social, political and theological dynamics in a dystopian, totalitarian society, themes that would later characterize his work, as well as common PKD elements such as secret or above the law police systems, paranoia, drug use and isolation.

Like his later masterpiece Dr. Bloodmoney he describes a sentient fetus, and explores situations unique to this imaginative vehicle. And this is after all PKD, resplendent with his signature imagination, the reader will enjoy the scenes with the pornographic mutant hermaphrodites.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 20th PKD novel.

One of Dick's most accessible works, as it more or less falls in line with traditional SF storytelling, although the plot is still unique. Working with a straightforward blueprint, Dick is allowed quite a few opportunities to keep momentum running along the lines of drama, as opposed to SF. It's a bit more like, say, watching 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', as Dick refrains from use of the kind of disparate elements that would steadily run through many of his subsequent novels.

That's not to say the book is totally free from Dick-esque surprises. This story has one major one about midway. It dovetails intriguingly with the main thrust, chiefly as an ill-defined distraction. There's a decided conflict - only we're not sure what it means until much later on.

The main storyline involves the enigmatic Floyd Jones, who appears during the post-apocalyptic period that has settled into Relativism - an ethos embraced as the logical panacea to war; a live-and-let-live principle that shuns indoctrination into any particular ideological belief system. People are exhausted from war and basically just want to... chill... maybe zone out in a cloud of casual hedonism, that kind of thing.

Jones is a charismatic carny fixture who will move on to a ministerial position - before establishing his singular ability as the cornerstone to his threat to the New World Order. (Since I just read it recently, I noticed that Stephen King, in 'Revival', made use of a similar type - only he reverses the carny / minister twist and his antagonist's goal isn't one of world power.)

I wonder what the economic reality of PKD's career must have been like before he was largely 'discovered' as a result of 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' being filmed as 'Blade Runner'. Yes, his SF titles (as opposed to his ignored, non-SF titles) were being published with regularity - but it must have been a considerable struggle for him: dealing with his agent and publishers in both placing his particular brand and making concessions in order to appease the marketplace and get published at all.

'TWJM' reads like an attempt at a 'crowd-pleaser': nothing all that risky in terms of content (the hermaphrodite sex show sequence notwithstanding); the envelope being pushed with acceptable parameters.

For those of us who prefer PKD when he's more daring, this effort may come off as a bit ho-hum. Still, in its own way, it's solid, engaging; swiftly moving (with a fair amount of rather lively dialogue) and immensely readable.

Jones is a vibrantly complex and formidable opponent (the allusion to Hitler makes him so) - and PKD fans may enjoy the author's foray into 'learning the rules in order to break the rules later on'.

[Susan Budd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to read all six of Philip K. Dick’s 1950’s science fiction novels and this is my second.

The World Jones Made is like four different stories stitched together by a plot that serves little purpose other than to stitch those four stories together. So instead of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, the whole is nothing more than the sum of its parts. However, some of those parts are amazing.

First there is the philosophical backdrop of relativism. Philip K. Dick posits a society that has adopted relativism as its official philosophy. Disgusted by the evil produced by absolutist ideologies and religions, Hoff’s Primer of Relativism becomes the handbook that guides law and policy. Tyler sums up the appeal of relativism:

“It was quite revolutionary; many of us had never heard of the multiple-value system. The idea that everybody might be right, that everybody was entitled to his own way of life, had a startling effect on us. The Hoff concept of personal style of living . . . it was exciting. Neither religious dogma nor anti-religious dogma; no more wrangling over which interpretation of the sacred texts was correct. No more sects, splinter groups, factions; no more heretics to shoot and burn and lock up” (86-87).

In one scene, Cussick’s wife takes him and his colleagues to a dive in San Francisco. In this seedy underground bar, robots serve heroin and marijuana and absinthe while hermaphrodite mutants perform a sex show on stage ~ all legal because of relativism.

Cussick finds it unsavory, but he understands why relativism must permit it. Outside of the realm of fact, there is no right or wrong, no good or evil. While he’s not always pleased with the results of relativism, he considers it better than the alternative. He tells his wife Nina:

“I suppose Relativism is cynical. It surely isn’t idealistic. It’s the result of being killed and injured and made poor and working hard for empty words” (31).

The lesser of two evils, so to speak. Yet it doesn’t seem to be a satisfying philosophy to live by and it is Nina who expresses the reason why in the simplest of terms: “... most people want certainty” (85). If she’s right, and of course she’s right, then people will surely be receptive to someone who can promise them certainty.

Enter the Messiah.

It’s Kaminski who uses this word, calling Jones a “prophet” and the “Second Coming,” likening him to Jesus Christ.

Jones can see the future and this is the second and best part of the story. Precognition is clearly an interest Dick returns to again and again. (I know because I cheated from chronological order by reading Ubik in advance.)

Knowing the future is more of a curse than a gift for Jones. When asked if his knowledge of the future allows him to change the future he replies:

“Change it? It’s totally fixed. It’s more fixed, more permanent, than this wall” (37).

“Don’t kid yourself . . . the less you know about the future the better off you are. You’ve got a nice illusion; you think you have free will” (37).

This is where The World Jones Made earns its five stars ~ in the description of Jones as a child discovering that his ability is unique, in the musings on his birth and death, both of which he experiences a year in advance. What would it be like to experience fetal development, birth, and three months of infancy before egg and sperm even meet? What would it be like to experience death and a year post-mortem while still alive and fully conscious? In both his birth and his death, Jones experiences existence and non-existence simultaneously. Mind-blowing stuff!

The next two stories that make up the plot are less philosophical and more fully science fiction. One concerns aliens. These lifeforms are a mystery for most of the novel and when the truth about them is finally revealed it’s brilliant. This story is tied in with that of Jones and relativism because the decision about how to respond to the drifters must be based on either relativism or on absolutism. Relativism will not allow a defensive response because, of course, who’s to say if the drifters are good or evil? To go to war with them would be to say humans are right and the aliens are wrong (83). For Jones and his people, however, an absolutist response is possible. If Jones is the Messiah, then the drifters are evil.

The religious theme that runs through the book in centered on Jones. When Nina becomes a follower of Jones, she shows Cussick her room. Ironically located in the decadent bar of the earlier sex and drugs scene, it resembles the cell of a medieval monk and this is exactly how she speaks of it to Cussick: “Chastity, poverty, obedience . . . a sort of spiritual cleansing, for me. For all of us” (98).

Jones likewise sees himself in religious terms: “He had sinned, and retribution had come” (163).

The final piece of the plot is the story of the mutants destined for Venus ~ representatives of a New Eden. They open and close the book, bringing it full circle. They represent a new hope in a world gone hopelessly astray, but the tie-in between this and the other three parts of the plot is not strong. Nevertheless, there’s so much that’s good in this novel that it’s easy to overlook some minor flaws. After all, this is only Dick’s third science fiction novel.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't eggsactly (prior readers will get my pun) a classic PKD novel, but it has some rather interesting ideas scattered within it. Or upon it.

It's almost hermaphroditic in its construction. lol

OKAY, fine, I'll stop being weird.

This world that Jones made is brought about by a one-year foreknowledge of his own life. It's always one year ahead in time, too, so when the alien invasion comes, Jones gathers a ton of followers who believe in him and his vision of how to save the world.

Jones is not the protagonist. :)

There's a ton of interesting reveals and twists in the novel that would ruin prospective readers' enjoyment. Probably. So I'll skip them, but maybe just one. The aliens are RATHER interesting and I loved the whole concept. To think of humanity as a virus is pretty spot on, and using a biological process to fix it is also pretty brilliant. This came out in 1956. It's pretty cool to see various themes stolen by later novels and movies. *coughmatrixcough* Or some great David Brin stories. Or perhaps some of you might point to your own great examples. :)

The legend of Jones will not live forever, unlike the prediction in the novel, but I still think that PKD will. :)

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Jones will kill us all," Kaminski said. "But at least it'll have meaning. We'll be doing something."

Brimming with wild ideas, The World Jones Made nonetheless generally has less madcap and frenetic energy than PKD's later fare. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and it's still an excellent story, in which Dick explores themes of free will, determinism, isolation and the fallibility of rigid, blind belief.

At it's heart, The World Jones Made is a dark tale concerning the self-destruction of human society from a devastating war resulting from clashing "isms". A world government emerges, abolishing all of them via the thought control secret police, thus creating an emotionally sterile world devoid of dreams and ideals. Along comes Jones, a tormented precog mutant, who ascends rapidly as a cult figurehead and then proceeds to overthrow the government to become global dictator, promising hope to an otherwise destitute humanity. That hope comes in the form of galactic conquest and the annihilation of giant alien "drifters" that are seen as invaders.

Even with his extraordinary ability to see one year in the future Jones ultimately proves to be far from the infallible figure his devotees believe him to be, demonstrating that blind, total belief in a person or leader can be just as ruinous as unyielding belief in an ideal.

[Tristram Shandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“[A] man with infinite power. A man with infinite hatred.”

If you really want to get to know such a man, I suggest you shake hands with Floyd Jones, rural prophet, the man with the plan, in fact the man who does not need any plan at all because he is gifted with the curse, or cursed with the gift, of precognition. And therefore, he knows exactly what the future will bring – as long as it happens within the span of one year, which is as far as he can see into the mists of time. Jones is a bitter and a resentful man, because his ability to see the future has made him realize that there is no such thing as free will, that, as he puts it, ”[w]e are all chained up like cattle. Like slaves.” What is going to happen is going to happen, anyway, and his knowledge of it does not put him into a position to change it. However, this is somewhat strange since at the same time, it is said by Jones’s opponents that his gift of precognition makes it impossible for an assassin to put an end to Jones’s life, simply because Jones would always be one step ahead of his potential killer. Jones is not able to change the course of events on a large scale, however – and yet, is there not that fascist-religious movement of his, whose success largely rests on the premise that for Jones, the prophet, everything is an open book and there is no guessing done by him –, and he is forced to live his life twice, every year in precognition and then being compelled to live through physically what he has lived through mentally already.

Obviously, the pain and mental anguish resulting from such a strain have added acerbity and spite to his already cold nature, and therefore he sets out to sweep away the system of Relativism which has been set up world-wide in the wake of a nuclear war fought over what ideology is the only one to live, or die, for. Why does Jones want to make an end of live-and-let-live? Probably because he is full of hatred and lusts for power.

Floyd Jones may be the eponymous hero of PKD’s 1956 novel The World Jones Made, but the real protagonist is Doug Cussick, a Fedgov security agent, who is actually convinced of the superiority of Hoff’s Relativism, as the only way to secure peace in a world that has all-to-often been turned into the shambles of fanaticism (or idealism, which may be the same thing). Cussick is the first to notice that there is something uncanny about Floyd Jones, who, at that time, works as a kind of fortune-teller on a carny, and he actually turns him in to the authorities, but his superiors soon realize that there is little they can do about Jones. Later, however, Cussick has to stand by and watch his family disintegrate when his wife Nina, bored with the lacklustre hedonism of Relativism, feels attracted to Jones’s fanatic show of giving people a direction in life, and joins his “movement”.

How will this antagonism between Jones and Cussick end? And, on a wider level, will a society based on Relativism be strong enough to stand up to the onslaught of angry and hateful idealists? If you read this fascinating novel, you will get the answer to these questions, but not only to these because as usual, like a hospitable and enthusiastic Italian chef, who surprises his guests with a vast variety of dishes, Dick throws a lot of different ideas into the arena and really succeeds in tying them all up with each other in the end. In The World Jones Made, we are not only invited to think about precognition and the pros and cons of relativism but we are also made to witness the arrival of strange extraterrestrial beings, the so-called drifters, which are one primary target of Jones’s hatred. Nobody is really able to figure out why these drifters float around and land apparently for no other destiny but to dry up in the sun and die, but when we finally get the solution, it comes as quite a surprise. There are also some mutants – eight in number – kept in a special life-cell and watched over by a scientist, and the question we might be asking ourselves is what might be so special about these eight mutants in a post-war society that has its fair share of mutants due to nuclear contamination.

So as usual, PKD starts a fireworks show of ideas, but the most fascinating point he makes is, I think, the ambiguity concerning Relativism and Idealism. At first sight, considering that a large number of the planet’s population had been killed during an ideologically motivated war, it seems sensible for the new government to make sure that ideologies will never again turn people’s heads and set nations against each other.

”’[…] The danger isn’t in the war; it’s in the attitude that makes the war possible. To fight, we have to believe we’re Right and they’re Wrong. White versus black—good versus evil. […]’”

Consequently, according to Hoff’s tenets on Relativism, it is forbidden to voice one’s own opinions as truths. There are, however, a number of problems inherent to this idea of Relativism, the most obvious being the fact that technically statements like “Blues is the best music ever” would have to be regarded as a violation of the above law, which opens the floodgates to that kind of people who are on the lookout for politically incorrect phrases or words used by their neighbours. The next problem lies in the obvious paradox that Relativism protected by law – the most commonly handed-out punishment seems to be a long term in a forced labour camp – is anything but relativistic and that in the name of peace and tolerance, people not only are severely restricted with regard to how they can express their opinions and convictions, but there is also a gigantic apparatus of Secret Police – Cussick among them – spying on citizens to make sure they abide by Hoff’s Relativism. Last, but not least, Relativism, ”the Hoff concept of personal style of living”, apparently fails to fulfil people’s desire to give their lives some ultimate, higher sense, to imbue their existence with meaning. Just listen to Nina’s complaint,

”’I mean,’ Nina said, ‘there was the war, and now here we are. And Jackie, too. For what? Where can we go? What can we look for? We’re not even allowed to have romantic illusions, anymore. We can’t even tell ourselves lies. If we do—' She smiled, without rancor. ‘Then they take us to the forced labor camps.’”

In fact, all Relativism seems to boil down to is sodden hedonism, as we witness it in the San Francisco bar where Cussick, some colleagues of his and his wife go and take heavy drugs, and watch the spectacle of two hermaphrodites copulating with each other while changing their sex in the act. Hardly a cultural achievement, one should think. In fact, this seems to show the hopelessly cynical view on man as such which is at the bottom of Relativism.

To make matters worse, however, by following the idealist Jones and defying Fedgov and its dogma of Relativism, people are trading in a rock for a hard place, so to speak, because there is no knowing where Jones is really going to lead them, what his ambitious promises really mean and what Jones’s motives are. Like many a die-hard idealist, he does not really care about the individual and his dignity, but sees people as resources with the help of which to achieve his mission. And we could have known this very early in the novel, when, still working as a fortune-teller, he only offers general prophecies and no individual fortunes, saying, to a wondering Cussick, ”’[…] You are a nonentity. You don’t figure.’”

The novel ends in a way you might not have anticipated, but the good thing is that Dick does not offer a clear solution as to the merits and demerits of Relativism, thus encouraging us to settle this problem for ourselves instead of solving it for us. And when I take a look around me these days, I have the feeling that this is a question worth giving some thought to.

[Darwin8u · Rating 3 out of 5]

"We can't destroy Jones. We can only hope there's something beyond him, something on the other side."
― Philip K. Dick, The World Jones Made



"He was a man with his eyes in the present and his body in the past."
― Philip K. Dick, The World Jones Made

An early (1956) PKD novel that brings together four semi-united threads: mutants, aliens, precognition, and a philosophic tyranny (a form of relativism to the absurd). The spore-like aliens that suddenly appear are the catalyst between Jones and the philosociety he lives in. His ability to see 1 year into the future gives him an ability to subvert the status quo and eventually move from political to religious leader. The book starts in a womb and ends in a womb and somewhere in the middle a giant egg gets pierced by a giant, interstellar gamete/spermatia/spore.

For as much as PKD packed into this novel it still remained a fairly tight novel. It wasn't as funky or messy as some and not nearly as brilliant as others, but the seeds and spores of future great novels were beginning to disperse and look for another PKD book another mind to infect and control. Some of his early ideas of government, technology, religion, freedom, individuality, etc., were starting to seed in this little hothouse of a book.

Because PKD has become such a presence in our modern SF universe (Screamers, Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, Man in the High Castle) it sometimes is worth recognizing that he was publishing this stuff the year Elvis was on Ed Sullivan and Arthur Miller was marrying Marilyn Monroe AND appearing before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. This guy was bringing a laser gun to a knife fight and we are JUST now catching up with his game.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The World Jones Made by Philip K. Dick
first published in 1956

An interesting but frustrating read.

In a post nuclear war 2002, in which the Federal World Government (FedGov) has established the law of relativism, everyone is free to believe whatever they wish, but only as long as they don’t try to convince others of their beliefs. Such behavior is prohibited and prosecuted by FedGov’s police force.

Enter Floyd Jones, who is a precog. He can see exactly one year into the future. Which basically means he lives his whole life twice. Even though he can see what is going to happen in the next twelve months, he can’t change anything about it. Not even his own actions. Everything is predetermined. That’s an interesting theme in and of itself. Though the concept isn’t always conclusive in the book. However, more importantly, it leads to strong opposition against relativism, which postulates that there is no absolute truth, that everything is true from a certain perspective. Jones, though, is able and willing to make people believe him. Believe in his truth, and his truth only. As he is gathering more and more followers things are about to escalate.

Jones is not the main character of the book, though. That’s Doug Cussick, an agent of FedGov, whose involvement with Jones throughout the story moves the narrative forward. Through his eyes we see the conflict develop. Both in a global sense, but also in the specific environment of his family life, as his wife Nina is opposed to relativism, or at least some of its ideas. A frequent talking point between the two, as they gradually drift away from each other. Although, to be honest, I never saw what attracted them to each other in the first place.

While the clash of political ideologies might be the main theme of the book, there are several contributing plotlines as well. We have first contact with an alien life form, that turns out to be rather interesting, and the very different approaches of both parties to deal with that. We have mutants of different sorts, as a result of the war as well as of genetic engineering. Again, how society deals with them, depending on the different sets of beliefs of the people involved, that’s the interesting part about it. There’s also the topic of colonization of other worlds, of which I had trouble to see how it ties into the main story, but which provided some fun moments. Even though the science is pretty wonky here. But if you consider the year this book was published, well, you might even find some fun fact about where it all went wrong for the author. Anyhow, I’ll give him a pass on that matter.

The aforementioned plot threads are all very loosely woven together. Too loosely, for me personally. Ultimately this is a book of several interesting ideas and themes, that never quite came together as a satisfying whole for me. Though it might do so on a second try. I don't know.


This has been a buddy read with Linda and Jeff, who greatly helped me to sort my thoughts in a way that at least enabled me to write this review a couple of days later. I might still be wrong about everything. But anyhow, thanks, guys!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is early PKD, published in 1956. It's 2002, a post-nuclear war world, which is undergoing "reconstruction" under FEDgov- the global federal government. Aliens are appearing--blobs of protoplasm floating down from the sky, called "Drifters." No one knows what their purpose is-or even if they have one. Into this weird world appears the "hick" Floyd J. Jones, with a power greater than any other. He is able to see a year into the future. Utilizing this power, he begins a new religious movement that threatens to take control of the world government.
While Dick had some creative ideas here and I like stories dealing with the idea of a man with some kind of esp powers, this story didn't hold my interest and, so, I was happy it was short-at 192 pages.
My favorite PKD book remains the first one of his I read-"The Man In the High Castle."

[paper0r0ss0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno dei primi libri di Dick e considerato, secondo me a torto, non dei piu' riusciti. Le tematiche classiche ci sono gia' tutte, certo non ancora portate a potente e allucinante compimento delle opere mature ma gia' inquietantemente delineate. Il fantastico potere di previsione del futuro frustrato dall'impossibilita' di influenzarlo ("Nell'anno a venire erano accadute molte cose"), la societa' sormontata da una cupa e disperante cappa totalitaria, la cospirazione di pochi a danno dei molti, il timore dell'invasione di entita' "altre" e l'ingenua e salvifica utopia del rifondare "altrove" la propria esistenza. Curiosa la rilevanza data alla descrizione della dinamica di coppia di due dei personaggi principali che sara' spunto di decisioni importanti nello sviluppo del racconto. Il perno e' rappresentato dalla descrizione di una societa' di gia' para-totalitaria (seppur in maniera paternalistica) che si avvia verso la ancor piu' pericolosa china dell'assolutismo carismatico dell'"unico", del leader messianico che promette sfide e mete irraggiungibili e fascinose. E quanto piu' queste mete saranno impraticabili tanto piu' le masse saranno pronte a seguire il capo, solleticate nel loro istinto xenofobo, portate a odiare utili capri espiatori. Qui sono gli Erranti, innoqui alieni interstellari perseguitati dalla nuova dottrina imperante, ma altrove nella storia abbiamo avuto dimostrazione pratica della riuscita di tale strategia di manipolazione (per tacere dell'oggi).

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

By 1956, the sensation of seeing his name in print was not a new one for author Philip K. Dick. Between 1952 and 1955, he had placed around 75 (!) short stories in the various sci-fi magazines and digests of the day, and in 1955 his first novel, "Solar Lottery," saw its first publication. That novel appeared in one of those cute little "Ace doubles" (D-103, for all you collectors out there), backed with Leigh Brackett's "The Big Jump." The book sold passably well, Dick later wrote; around 150,000 copies' worth. (Today, that 35-cent paperback is likely to fetch 70 times its original price.) Dick's follow-up novel came the next year, and that novel, "The World Jones Made," also initially appeared as an Ace double (D-150), paired with Margaret St. Clair's "Agent of the Unknown." Dick's second full-length work finds the future Hugo winner already displaying many of the strengths and obsessions that would become the hallmarks of his glorious writing career. His compassion for "the little guy," his finely drawn characters, his knack for well-written dialogue, and his concerns with alien life-forms, "precogs" and duplicitous governments are all evident in this early work. As compared to some of his later books, this is a very accessible, "reader-friendly" novel; no mind-twisting abnegations of reality in this one. Still, the book is chock-full of ideas, perhaps too much so for its brief length; Dick couldn't write an empty-headed book if he tried.

"The World Jones Made" consists of several plot threads that are woven very nicely together. In one, eight laboratory-made mutants come to realize that their ultimate destiny may be one on another planet...specifically, Venus. In another, giant, space-born(e) amoebas called "drifters" cause a minor panic when they start descending on Earth. And in a third, Floyd Jones, a "precog" with the ability to see precisely one year into the future, rises from carnival freak show attraction, to reverend, to the man who causes the collapse of Fedgov and assumes command of the nation. These events are seen through the eyes of Doug Cussick, a Fedgov security agent, and his wife, Nina, who becomes sympathetic to the Jones cause. Into this mix Dick throws such disparate ingredients as a hermaphrodite sex show, robot babysitters, a robot opera, egg-laying parasitic worms and other alien life-forms, a "lethe mirror" that wipes the mind clean of all memories, some interesting speculations on the future of divorce and child custody arrangements (the bulk of the novel transpires in the post-apocalyptic year of 2002), and a San Francisco bar in which pot and heroin are casually ordered by the customers! We also get a look at what it is like to be a precog with the ability to see one year into the future; Jones, thus, experiences his birth trauma nine months before it actually occurs, and in essence must live through all the events in his life...twice. The book is compulsively readable, fast moving and concise; indeed, this reader was left wishing that it could have been 50 pages or so longer, or that Dick might have written a sequel to it someday. (Dick was one of the few sci-fi authors who largely refrained from churning out sequels.) A more in-depth examination of the Jones character would certainly have been nice, and some of the personages in the book (such as Tyler Fleming, a remarkably capable, 17-year-old Fedgov employee) just kind of peter out. The book, though over 50 years old, has not dated a bit, except perhaps in a passing reference to Leopoldville (now the Zairean capital of Kinshasa) and the fact that...well, Earth was NOT convulsed by an atomic war that ended in 1994. (Lucky us!) "The World Jones Made," then, is a fun and entertaining read by a compelling, then relatively new voice in science fiction. It is not anything great, mind-warping or classic. For Philip K. Dick, those would come later....

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new introduction by Glenn Chang. With a frontispiece by Hannah Shapero.

Note: This is not a library copy.

Reprint of the 1956 Ace double (D-150.).

Philip K. Dick’s second science-fiction novel, written in late 1954.

PKD, as he himself writes: "In my stories, and especially in the novel {JONES}, it placed the character in a closed loop, a victim of his own determinism; he was compelled … to enact later what he foresaw earlier, as if by previewing it he was destined to fall victim to it, rather than obtaining the capacity to escape it. Precognition did not lead to freedom but rather to a macabre fatalism…"

The plot of "THE WORLD JONES MADE" revolves around Floyd Jones, a precog who can see exactly one year into the future. When giant seed-like things start floating to Earth from outer space Jones rouses the population against these drifters and they are burnt as soon as they land. This arouses the ire of the government who see the drifters as harmless and a power struggle starts between Jones and the laissez-faire government.

[César Bustíos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dick’s second science fiction novel written in 1954 and originally titled “Womb For Another”; it was purchased by Ace Books in 1955 and published in 1956 as “The World Jones Made” as one half of an Ace Double (can you see I did my homework?).

Set in a dystopian future where a governing philosophy, Relativism, emerged after a nuclear war that was caused by clashing ideologies. Relativism basically means you can believe whatever the hell you want, but it's illegal if you make someone else try to follow the same way of thinking, which results in a totalitarian society lead by an imposed Federal World Government (Fedgov) where dissidents end up in forced labor camps. Most people live in apathy and futility under the shadow of this reality. But then a precog called Floyd Jones comes into play; he has the ability to see a year into the future thus disrupting the Fedgov after his assertions about the future prove correct. In the story there are also alien lifeforms called Drifters that look like giant amoebas and that will be an inflection point in the story. And let’s not forget about the genetically modified mutants (natural mutants also exist due to the effects of radiation), but I won’t go into details and spoil the whole thing for y’all. It has several plot threads. Dick was beyond crazy!

At its core, and like most of his novels, the book is about what it is to be human and it’s also his first major exploration of a precog. Dick plays around with the idea of free will (or rather the absence of it) by giving Jones the ability to see the future but without being able to change it despite his clairvoyant powers; he is doomed to live his life twice trapped in a deterministic prison. To a lesser degree is also about politics, law enforcement and overthrowing. It’s a fun story and somehow frustrating at the same time with many recurrent Dick themes.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Dick's second published novel and the second I've read. So far, I'm impressed with his writing and his ideas and plan to continue to read his books.

What I'm enjoying most is that there is a feeling that Dick put a lot of thought into his books. Instead of focusing on the bells and whistles of his sci-fi worlds, he puts a lot of time and energy into communicating what these speculative worlds mean, and what it is like for the characters to occupy realities that are very different from what we know. Sure, there are gadgets and phenomenon, but it is the uses and implications of these things that Dick places in the forefront of his fiction.

In this book, Jones is a man who can see one year into the future. As such, he becomes a leader of this post-nuclear-war world, living under reconstruction and "Relativism", where every idea is as a valid as any other - a brain twister in itself. What caught my attention is that Dick takes the time to help us understand what this seeing into the future is really like. Jones sees one year ahead, which means that his present is already known to him, and so, nothing is a surprise. He already has a copy of the "script" and has to wait patiently to say his lines and make his moves as each already-seen moment approaches. A nightmare existence, really.

There are some interesting imaginative surprises in the story, pulled from biology and botany texts and turned into fictional story lines that I found very entertaining.

A good read and recommended!

[Starstabbedmoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Criminally underrated among even PKD fans. Over a decade ago I was on a PKD binge and read through about 2 dozen of his novels and stories, and this is one of the only ones I still remember various plot points, characters, and concepts vividly and fondly. Jones is one of the best antagonists written by PKD. Most importantly, the concepts here are really interesting and I was easily entertained along the way to being introduced to each one.

[David Magnus · Rating 4 out of 5]

La catastrófica guerra nuclear entre EEUU, Rusia y China finalizó, y el liderazgo para la reconstrucción recae en el Gobierno Federal Mundial (Fedgov en el inglés), cuyo principio medular es el permitir que cualquier ciudadano crea en lo que mejor le parezca, siempre y cuando no intente convencer a otro de sus creencias. Una filosofía respetable, aún más si consideramos que la guerra se debió a la incapacidad de entendimiento entre comunistas y libremercadistas, malos contra malos, pero un pensamiento que de manera reptante esconde una nueva forma de dictadura y control de masas. Quienes no cumplan con esta normativa esencial no serán condenados a muerte, sino que serán castigados con la pena máxima: trabajo forzado en campos de concentración (claro, todo lo que sea trabajo, sin duda, es un castigo del averno). Brevemente agregar que el cumplimiento de la ley es supervisado y ejecutado por la Policía Federal. Además, siguiendo en el contexto, en este futuro no es inusual encontrar toda clase de mutantes, hijos naturales de la exposición nuclear residual de la guerra. Y de pronto hace su aparición Floyd Jones, un hombre arrogante, impaciente, egocéntrico y ambicioso, un ser dotado con la extraordinaria habilidad de ver todo lo que acontecerá en el transcurso de un año. Su visión no es para nada optimista: una terrible amenaza está en ciernes: una invasión alienígena a gran escala: la llegada de los derivantes (drifters, en el inglés). Sus seguidores no demoran en crecer en número e influencia y los hechos son exactamente a cómo Floyd anticipó. El Fedgov deberá golpear la mesa para evitar que este debilitado mundo colapse y sean en vano sus esfuerzos de reconstrucción.

Así parte la historia, no voy a dar más detalles del argumento posterior (lo dejo para mis apuntes o se conversan por interno) pero el giro es demencial y fascinante (en particular la verdadera naturaleza de los drifters y el destino de Jones). Hay que tener paciencia durante las primeras páginas, posicionarse en este mundo y de ahí en adelante disfrutar.

No fue un cinco porque algunas ideas maestrales no fueron del todo bien desarrolladas, incluso parecía que en el contexto global de la novela podrían ser omitidas y no tendrían mayor implicancia en la historia. Una de ellas es la tesis que plantea PKD respecto a los viajes espaciales. Hasta ahora tenía dos ideas en mi mente (no soy físico ni científico, por lo que mis argumentos no van más allá del sentido común, o al menos lo que me parece que es el sentido común). La primera es el viaje al estilo Star Trek, esto es alcanzar una tecnología lo suficientemente avanzada que permita recorrer vastas distancias a velocidades mayores a la de la luz (es decir, bendita sea la tecnología warp) y una vez en el lugar de destino comenzar el proceso de colonización. La segunda, al parecer la más razonable y consensuada en el campo científico, es la de crear la tecnología que permita recrear la atmósfera terrestre en plataformas de navegación gigantescas, una especie de arca de Noé intergaláctica, un viaje lento y que cruce generación tras otra. La principal diferencia entre ambas sería entonces la velocidad de navegación, y lo común sería el contar con la tecnología para replicar la atmósfera terrestre en los nuevos mundos. A esto último PKD le da un giro y propone crear artificialmente en la tierra a seres humanos modificados genéticamente capaces de resistir un nuevo ambiente de destino, que en el caso de la novela será en Venus, reduciendo con ello el costo de las instalaciones de colonización y el tiempo de adaptación de la raza humana. Así en lo sucesivo, continuar con la expansión del hombre en el universo. Por cierto que juega con los límites de la ética: nadie quiere que su hijo, ni tampoco el de otro, creo, sea sometido a un experimento que podría significar la temida muerte. Pero no deja de ser interesante, aunque poco viable.

Otra crítica sería para un excelente personaje como fueron los hermafroditas, que tan solo con el pensamiento podían cambiar su cuerpo de género, femenino a masculino y viceversa, pero la escena es hoy trivial (oscura, meramente sexual y en un bar de mala muerte) y me huele también la homofobia imperante de la época (como pasa con muchos trabajos del siglo XX hacia atrás, que apesta a misoginia, homofobia y racismo). Por último, la relación entre Nina y Dough, otros personajes principales, me parece que raya con la esquizofrenia e incluso no me resultan convincentes: sus roles son casi instrumentales al devenir de la historia.

Pero fuera de las críticas, es una obra muy entretenida, es una recomendación de cuatro puntos con fuerza (diría incluso 4,5) y me confirmó como un fan de PKD.

[Jack Stovold · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Philip K. Dick Project, #7

The World Jones Made sees Dick more focused and in command of his writing than in Solar Lottery. Dick takes a few ideas and makes a more cohesive and straightforward plot with them.

Dick's protagonist in the story, Cussick, is a little different than most of the Dick protagonists we've seen before, in that he believes in the government and his new relativism, in the work he is doing, wholeheartedly. Sure, he's tired, and world-weary, but for different reasons. And as strange, (and implausible) as a world government based on Relativism is, it has achieved its goal of ending war. To Dick's credit, he does hint at its implausibility as the cops themselves freely admit that it is nearly impossible and unfeasible to enforce to the letter of the law. They go after the big offenders, those who claim to know truths or espouse ways of life, and send them to forced labor camps for the rest of their lives. In fact, this is exactly what brings Jones into the story, as Cussick wants to arrest Jones, a nobody at a carnival who will answer questions about the future of mankind.

This is the beginning of Jones' rise to power. Jones himself is fascinating, and the most interesting portions of the book revolve around him. The police want to take him in, but as Jones' predictions consistently turn out to be true, they discover he is a precog and they have no legal grounds to take him in. Jones' passages are an intriguing meditation on the nature of free will. Jones himself finds his ability nothing but a burden. Where others imagine he sees into the future, for Jones his entire life is an intolerable time spent doing the things he already remembers doing. The paradoxes inherent in this are mind-bending, and had me constantly thinking about what it would be like to be Jones. If Jones already remembers what he's done, then at what point did he make his decisions? To Jones he never did. His power makes him God-like and unstoppable, but at the same time he is a prisoner to time.

Jones bases his meteoric rise and eventual toppling of the government on the Drifters, strange single cellular quasi-living “ships” that have mysteriously begun falling to Earth and the other planets in increasing numbers. The nature of the Drifters is a nice slow-burning mystery that Dick lets play out , and the eventual revelation of their true nature (which Jones obviously knew a year before anyone else) is satisfyingly bizarre. Jones calls for the abolishment of Relativism and for mankind to expand to the stars and start believing in things again.

Relativism has damaged the human spirit, and people have become numb and passionless. In this it can be argued that in the end, Jones may have had some positive impact on the world, despite his villainy.

The subplot about the mutants bred to live on Venus is an odd one, yet strangely compelling, and far better integrated into the main plot than the Flame Disc subplot from Solar Lottery. The mutated people's quaint life and beginning of a new civilization is touching, as is their father Dr. Rafferty's goal of having human life and civilization continue on in some form throughout the universe, even if not necessarily ours. (Of course, at the time Dick didn't know that the harsh, intolerable Venusian landscape he depicted at the time looks like a paradise compared to the nightmarish hellhole that Venus actually is.)

On the whole, while perhaps a bit more slow-paced, The World Jones Made is a thoughtful and intriguing book, better written and plotted than Solar Lottery. I enjoyed it a lot.



Stray thoughts

+ The New Venusians have children, but... they are all siblings... that doesn't sound like a good idea.



My edition: HarperCollins Science Fiction & Fantasy, paperback 1994



June 7th, 2012

[Julien L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plutôt un 3,5/5

Clairement pas mon K.Dick préféré mais il reste tout de même intéressant.
C’est un de ses premiers écrits, on pourra certainement pardonner ses quelques facilités.

C’est un peu brouillon avec 1 intrigue principale et 2 intrigues secondaires qui s’entremêlent et on ne comprend pas bien comme tout cela va s’imbriquer.

_Jones voit l’avenir avec 1an d’avance mais ne peut absolument rien faire pour le modifier.
Il aura néanmoins l’occasion de prédire la chute de la planète et de monter un groupe de fanatique qui exhausseront un genocide en son nom (encore le parallèle avec le nazisme vraiment très présent dans les nouvelles de Dick).

_L’arrivée dans la galaxie des Dériveurs, sorte d’organisme unicellulaire sans intelligence. Ils pleuvent sur la Terre de ci de la mais attention car leur intention est de conquérir la planète… (à vous de découvrir le reste)

_Enfin, dans ce monde post-apo où les Bombes Nucléaires ☢️ ont irradié des pays/continents, il n’est pas à rare de croiser des êtres modifiés, des mutants (mutation de l’être, plusieurs bras, plusieurs êtres, croisement interespèces…). La troisième partie parle justement d’êtres modifiés pour pouvoir vivre sur une autre planète et maintenus dans un cocon appelé le “Refuge” nécessaire à leur survie…

Beaucoup d’idées pour 220p, ça fonctionne mais aurait pu être développé davantage ou au contraire n’en choisir qu’une !

[Paul Dembina · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5*

From the title alone I'd expected the 1st of Dick's novels to address the concept of reality being warped by one individual but this isn't that.

There's really too much going on here that doesn't really quite gel together.

Some slight spoilers coming up...


We have the following:

1. The eponymous Jones who can see 1 year into the future
2. Mutated humans designed to live on Venus
3. Galaxy hopping giant plant spores


Jones' Nationalist organisation is very reminiscent of Hitler's Nazis - the grey uniforms, the insignia, the youth groups etc

It's all a bit much to squeeze into a 190 page novel

Still no signs of Dick's mature style yet, but a quick and breezy read.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The World Jones Made is one of Philip K. Dick's earlier novels, dating back to 1956, but it shows signs of an advancing maturity. Still, at times it seems as if Dick cobbled together several disparate ideas at the short story level, namely: (1) the colonization of Venus; (2) a charismatic leader who can foretell what will happen a year from the present; and (3) an invasion of our solar system by spores resembling giant protozoa.

The hero is a police officer named Cussick who marries a Danish blonde named Nina. The two drift apart, with Cussick loyal to Fedgov's security forces, and Nina entranced by the charismatic Jones. Eventually, Jones and his followers win; but what happens is a surprise.

The World Jones made is not one of Dick's best works, but it is interesting enough to keep the reader guessing.

[irene ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5

Creo que sigo indecisa si se merece menor rating...

PKD crea mundos y ambientes increíbles, adoro su capacidad creativa (ya lo he dicho antes) y, en este libro, me encantó la mezcolanza de precognición, libre albedrío, invasiones alienígenas, gobiernos represivos, cultos y mutaciones… Pero, vaya que los personajes son una decepción.

Las escenas centradas en Jones me han gustado y todo es de volarme la cabeza con la reflexión de qué tan viable es conocer el futuro y si podemos alterarlo; y absolutamente todo lo que tiene que ver con su vida, sus virtudes y errores es 10/10. Lo triste es que el resto de los protagonistas es un chiste (y ni qué decir de los venusinos y de la escena de los hermafroditas. wtf).

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dystopia set on Earth in 2002. Easy read, lots of ideas - transhumanism with precognition, relativism, mobility, public drug and sex consumption, hermaphroditic sex, mutants ready for Venus, Venusian environment, alien blobs. Also references to Hitler and Mengele, no wonder 10 years after WWII. On the negative side lots of sloppiness quite typical for PKD, missing protagonist motivations, unbelievable biological models.
I wouldn't consider it as one of his better works, maybe only for completionists who want to read an early PKD with less formed style but same intensity.

[Alejandro Orradre · Rating 5 out of 5]

La novela más accesible de K. Dick que he leído hasta la fecha, inusualmente dinámica y que plantea -como siempre- diversos debates éticos dentro de la ciencia ficción.

Otra joyita más.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been enjoying the weird and wonderful SciFi of Philip K Dick for many years. My favorite book is still The Man in the High Castle. I do find that he can be hit or miss, sometimes just to strange for me. But he is always interesting.

The World Jones Made was one of Dick's earliest books, originally published in 1956. I did find it took a bit to get into but the story kept getting more interesting and satisfying as I got deeper into it and the ending was great.

What you've got in this story is a dystopic future; fanatics are outlawed (no bad thing) and earth is run by the Relativists. Jones is first discovered in a carnie show. He has a unique talent in that he can see one year into the future. He basically lives each year twice, once in his mind and then literally. Jones becomes a thorn in the rule of the Relativists. An alien race has been arriving in Earth's galaxy. They seem harmless, basically just float to earth and die. But in Jones's view of the future one year on, they are a threat to our existence.

As well, there is a group of 8 'people' living somewhere in San Francisco, in a 'Refuge'. Their atmosphere is unique, they are unique. And they are strange and just a side show until later in the story. The story starts in the present, moves back to the past when Jones is discovered, then followed by Relativist Security officials; Cussick and Kaminski, until the world changes with the overthrow of the government by Jones and his followers.

It's all very confusing at times, a strange future, a fascinating world and story. All the disparate piece gradually come together, as only someone like Philip K. Dick can do, and there is an ultimately fascinating conclusion. I keep finding works by Dick that I've not tried before and I am never disappointed. This is another well worth trying. (4 stars)

[Anthony Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting idea developed well by PKD. Has a lot of familiar flaws that will be familiar to people who've read his work before but for me the positives vastly outweigh the negatives.

[Charles Dee Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dick published this one in 1956 and didn't give "life as we know it" much time. A devastating world war breaks out in the 1970's, but humankind proves remarkably resilient. By the mid 1990's, when the story begins, we are already zipping around town in airborne taxis and traveling cross country in the matter of an hour or so. "Relativity" is the accepted philosophy of the day, and I found it one of Dick's vaguer concepts. People now can do most anything they want, but they must let others as well, and they cannot, under any circumstances, express a belief in anything. This live and let live code must be enforced by an elaborate security police force, and Cussick, the central character, is on the force.

Jones threatens this world because he is a prophet, able to see into the future for up to one year. This means that if the future is known, it is a sure thing, and so the Relativity world will fall apart. The mob longs for Jones's message and forms a devoted following that transforms into a worldwide movement. He can't be stopped because he already knows every move that will be made against him. Cussick's gorgeous Scandinavian wife aligns herself with the Jones movement and becomes a senior officer in the organization. There is subplot concerning human mutants specially bred to survive on Venus, and an inconvenient but not very dangerous invasion of giant space amoebas that the Jones followers raucously destroy.

All of this does not make into a very coherent novel, and, for as nutty as much of it is, The World Jones Made is little downbeat for Dick. The characters, other than Jones, are exhausted and justifiably pessimistic, caught up in defending a world order they know is doomed and which they no longer really believe in. No wonder they go to night clubs and make heroin and marijuana their first cocktail of the night.

[Beorn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A remarkably below par novel from the usually solid Philip K Dick. It attempts to deal with a variety of topics from the question of free will versus a pre-destined timeline, political factionalism, police states etc... The disappointing thing is that rather than confronting one of those issues conclusively, it feels very much like each issue is a thread from a badly woven rug that never seems to reach anywhere or do anything conclusively.

Everything feels incidentally murky, unresolved and uncommitted to such an extent that I'd be surprised if anyone got more than half way through the novel and actually cared about any of the characters involved; all of whom are completely replaceable and utterly unremarkable.

Disappointing and way off the mark from what I know Dick is capable of.

[Jim Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a lot of PDK over the last 60 years and now that I am retired I decided to go back and try to read them all again in the order they were written, not published. I already read the 4 SF novels he wrote according to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_...
I have mixed feeling about this one. PDK managed to put an enormous amount of new stuff in this novel with some of it being weirdly prescient of cultural changes that would be coming many years in the future. But there seemed to be a lack of focus on any single idea other than Jones' precognition. Makes you wonder if PDK didn't have some of that precog ability himself!