Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Martian Time-Slip  By  cover art

Martian Time-Slip

By: Philip K. Dick
Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.00

Buy for $20.00

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

On an arid Mars, local bigwigs compete with Earth-bound interlopers to buy up land before the Un develops it and its value skyrockets. Martian Union leader Arnie Kott has an ace up his sleeve, though: an autistic boy named Manfred who seems to have the ability to see the future. In the hopes of gaining an advantage on a Martian real estate deal, powerful people force Manfred to send them into the future, where they can learn about development plans. But is Manfred sending them to the real future or one colored by his own dark and paranoid filter? As the time travelers are drawn into Manfred's dark worldview in both the future and present, the cost of doing business may drive them all insane.

©1964 Philip K. Dick, © renewed 1992 by The Estate of Philip K. Dick. (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"The writing is humorous, painful, awesome in its effect on both mind and heart.... There are few modern novels to match it." ( Rolling Stone)

What listeners say about Martian Time-Slip

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    85
  • 4 Stars
    78
  • 3 Stars
    26
  • 2 Stars
    15
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    107
  • 4 Stars
    51
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    74
  • 4 Stars
    62
  • 3 Stars
    29
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Autism, schizophrenia, and Martians

“Everything wears out eventually; nothing is permanent. Change is the one constant of life.”
― Philip K. Dick, Martian Time-Slip

Martian Time-Slip may not be one of Dick's BEST novels, but it is almost my favorite. There is a huge energy and vitality in it. Dick is painting with his usual themes (loneliness, madness, drugs, pre-cognition, time, artificial intelligence, the other, corporatism, love, etc), but there is nothing usual about what he extracts. The only thing missing from this book is GOD, but Dick will delve into that later in his career. He is starting to flirt with the surface with the mystical practices of the Bleekmen (Martians).

I was especially taken with the time he spent on autism and schizophrenia. This book was written in the 60s just as Autism was starting to be distinguished and separated from schizophrenia, (due to some poor phrasing in the 40s). Dick who suffered from his own mental health issues was probably VERY aware of autism since he was deeply curious about mental health. Anyway, he says it best:

“Purpose of life is unknown, and hence way to be is hidden from the eyes of living critters. Who can say if perhaps the schizophrenics are not correct? Mister, they take a brave journey. They turn away from mere things, which one may handle and turn to practical use; they turn inward to meaning. There, the black-night-without-bottom lies, the pit. Who can say if they will return? And if so, what will they be like, having glimpsed meaning? I admire them.”

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

best yet

6 books into this wonderful author, this has to be my favorite so far. slowish start but once it gets going it grips you to the end, gubbish gubbish gubbishgubish

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

PKD needed a ghost writer

Very clunky writing style. His dialog and exposition are overly wordy. The plot and story are good but PKD was not a good writer

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Maybe great in the 60s but this aged poorly.

Lot of the topics this book brought up about greed and it's negative impact felt surprisingly current and still relevant even 60 years later. When I was going through this book I had to look up when it was first published (in 1964), because some of the characters met felt so similar that this probably could have been written within the last few years.

There are some obviously outdated presentation of mental health that i dont think aged well as the only big thing that stuck out. Unfortunately the racist bits still felt relevant as I could totally see some rich ignorant people still talking like that.

Overall though my enjoyment of this book was oh most there. I was bored the majority of my time here, the only thing keeping me going is some of the good world building moments and finding my interest in how the future was thought up back in the 60s, some of what was imagined was pretty fun. Also I found the poor character writing of the antagonist to be fascinating with how comically awful he was written. Like it was a little too on the nose for my taste and could have used a more subtle approach.

The main characters and plot though were slow and duller then dull. This book suffered from the main plot devices used being so aged that it comes off as dumb to our new standards. Maybe this could have worked using how science understood mental health in the 60s but we've come along way from that and now these plot points just don't work anymore.

This was probably a great book for its time but with our modern day advances in understanding, it isn't great in our time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great story!

I have been completely absorbed by PKD, listening to this was a brilliant experience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Very hard to wade threw

I couldn't get into this tale. It was very disjointed trying to follow the characters. I will not recommend this tale to anyone

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A masterpiece

PKD is a genius. A perfectly written villain allows for a remarkable story. Highly recommend

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

I really tried to get immersed in the story, but I often felt bored and confused. I kept telling myself this was intentional.

The genius of the book is it's depiction of sociological views around mental illness, but it drastically fails to grip or provide any major plot twists of reality that one expects from PKD.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It is a brilliant science fiction classic

It is a brilliant science fiction classic. Unfortunately, it contains ugly language to describe the Martins.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Time-Slipped into the future

I was assigned to read this by my Science Fiction Literary Professor. I am not a science fiction reader. My safe haven is fantasy however, this story had me intrigued. At first I could not stand it. All the characters are despicable. I know that was the point but they were so unlikeable because they were so real. I know a few people like these characters and so that's to be commendable. Philip K Dick takes normal everyday people and puts them into his story. There are moments that felt like I took an edible before reading. I couldn't understand what was happening and had to read the chapter a few more times before I understood. The ending is thought provoking. I'm still trying to decide whether I liked the book or not and when a writer is able to make me think about it, they're doing something right. I think it's worth the read and to decide for yourself whether the time-slip will effect you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!