Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)
Ubik spoilers ahead.<p>I read Ubik, it was a wild ride. I was not sure what to make of it. The story, especially the end, is logically inconsistent even if you take its wild premises into account (though what the premises <i>are</i> is itself a bit of a guess); but that&#x27;s part of the charm of course. The whole thing is so bizarre overall that it was also impossible for me to relate to any characters, and it was more like reading a dream diary than a story.<p>Anyway, one thing that I often think about is something not directly intended by the author. In the book, the perceived world around the protagonist regresses more and more into the past, taking the form of the 50s, 40s, 30s... one example that stuck with me (and I think the moment where this regression became apparent) was when a modern elevator suddenly took the appearance of a 50s style lift. With visible cage, cables, maybe even an attendant controlling the lift using a lever...<p>This old elevator struck me as a beautiful way to describe the distant past when I read it about 10 years ago. But the book was written in 1969. So for the author, that was maybe 15 years ago. Even the 30s were about 35 years ago from when the book was written, from today that would merely be the 80s! And yet the world was being described as so massively transforming (including for example a scene of an old pharmacy with intricate wood and brass decors[1]), and technology regressing at a rapid rate... it made me feel that from some point of view, the world was changing much faster back then.<p>[1] Like this one: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;media-cdn.tripadvisor.com&#x2F;media&#x2F;photo-s&#x2F;19&#x2F;fa&#x2F;fb&#x2F;99&#x2F;the-old-pharmacy-store.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;media-cdn.tripadvisor.com&#x2F;media&#x2F;photo-s&#x2F;19&#x2F;fa&#x2F;fb&#x2F;99&#x2F;...</a>