Product Description

Imagine a future where crimes can be detected before they are committed, and criminals are convicted and sentenced for crimes before committing them. This is the scenario of Philip K. Dick's classic story, now filmed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Cruise. In addition to 'Minority Report' this exclusive collection includes nine other outstanding short stories by the twentieth century's outstanding sf master, three of which have been made into feature films.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #456646 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) was born in Chicago but lived in California for most of his life. He went to college at Berkeley for a year, ran a record store and had his own classical-music show on a local radio station. He published his first short story, 'Beyond Lies the Wub' in 1952. Among his many fine novels are The Man in the High Castle, Time Out of Joint, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said.

Customer Reviews

NOT the book of the film - but still genius
Let’s get one thing straight first of all – the only reason that this book is awarded four and not five stars is because of the misleading nature of its cover design. If, like me, you are investing in this because you thoroughly enjoyed the film and want to check out the author, you will be in for a bit of a shock – Minority Report is actually a SHORT story and the movie bears little or no resemblance to it. Anyone expecting a novel-sized read mirroring the plot and suspense of the Tom Cruise blockbuster will initially be disappointed.

However the disappointment won’t be for long. This book is in fact a collection of nine Philip K Dick short stories, every one of them supremely imaginative, thought provoking and utterly engrossing futuristic fantasies. As well as Minority Report – ironically, possibly the weakest of the nine – there is “The Electric Ant”, about a man discovering he is in fact a robot; “Oh! To Be A Blobel”, a heartbreaking tale of inter-alien relationships; and “War Game”, chartering the children’s toy market sometime in the distant future. Also included is “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”, “The Impostor” and “Second Variety” which were made into the films “Total Recall”, “The Impostor” and “Screamers” respectively.

What made the late Philip K Dick such a genius is not just the unique, Earth-shattering situations in which he places his characters, but the characters themselves. Despite being aliens, or on other planets, or in the future, they encounter the same passions, problems and emotional traumas that we do here in the early 21st Century. A perfect introduction to the world of Dick, ignore the fact that this is not ‘the book of the film’ and prepare to be immersed in the best science fiction writing of all time.