Book Review: Philip K. Dick: In His Own Words by Philip K. Dick, and Gregg Rickman

 

Philip K. Dick: In His Own Words by Philip K. Dick, and Gregg Rickman

Paperback, 286 pages

Published 1984 by Fragments West/Valentine Press (Long Beach, CA)

 

Funny story about this book.  Last month I went on a tour of Philip K. Dick’s home and haunts around his hometown of Berkeley. One of the stops on the PK Dick-pedition was Coffee with the author of this book. I had read Rickman’s latest PKD on Film and was stoked to get it signed. He had been a target of our podcast but since he is not a social media or technology guy it was next to impossible. Traveling around Berkeley my travel partner was David Gill long-time Dickhead blogger and professor who teaches Dick every year. DG was the one that contacted Rickman.

The journey around Berkeley was as nerdy as it gets.  We would constantly look at the Lawrence Sutin and Rickman biographies for details to confirm about houses and places we were looking at. Indeed there were times in this book when Phil talks about his mother’s house, or the house he lived in the slums of Oakland and I was just at that house a month ago.

While hanging with Gill I thumbed through his beaten but loved copy of this book and realized it was something I always wanted during the podcast. A book where he is asked about each of his books. He is dismissive of a few of the books refusing to talk about Penultimate Truth and Game Players of Titan despite Rickman accurately pointing out that they are of merit.

I needed this book and despite Gill warning me it was rare and I would pay out the nose. Well, long story but my first attempt in ordering it ended up refunded because the book was damaged. I put the word out I was looking for a copy and PKD collector Zack Wood not only sent me the book for postage but sent me a signed letter from Phil.

So this book is great. It is for serious Dickheads and Sci-fi scholars only. If that is you I suggest trying to track down a copy. Rickman includes a very excellent about Phil’s career. This is important because Phil himself really liked this essay, it impressed him. It is important to note that as much of a genius as PKD is seen as now at the time of these interviews – the last year of his life – had really low self-esteem. It is clear that the essay is why Rickman had so much trust from Phil.
While the book contains excellent deep looks into Phil’s thoughts on his own book it also has details like that his favorite sodas were Orange Crushes. It has letters with Leguin and an interview With Ray Nelson his one-time writing partner. I could say more but this book is an excellent resource I will be quoting on the podcast.

I highlighted the hell out of this book, put much into the memory banks. A must-read for serious Dickheads.