Volume V: We Can Remember It for You Wholesale

By: Philip K. Dick

Narrated by: David deVries, Joyce Bean

Length: 18 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) was one of the seminal figures of 20th century science fiction. His many stories and novels, which include such classics as Ubik and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, reflect a deeply personal world view, exploring the fragile, multifarious nature of reality itself and examining those elements that make us - or fail to make us - fully human. He did as much as anyone to demolish the artificial barrier between genre fiction and "literature," and the best of his work has earned a permanent place in American popular culture.

We Can Remember It for You Wholesale is the final installment of a uniform, five-volume edition of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick. This expansive collection contains 27 stories and novellas written between 1963 and 1981, years in which Dick produced some of his most mature work, including such novels as Ubik, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, and A Scanner Darkly. Among the many pleasures included here are the classic title story (filmed twice as Total Recall), in which an ordinary clerk, awash in resurrected memories, discovers the truth about his past and about the astonishing role he has played in human history; the Hugo-nominated "Faith of Our Fathers," with its bleak and controversial vision of a predatory deity; and "The Electric Ant," a brilliant embodiment of a classic Dick theme: the elusive - and changeable - nature of what we believe to be "real." Like its predecessors, this generous volume offers wit, ingenuity, and intellectual excitement in virtually every second. The best of these stories, like the best of Dick's novels, are richly imagined, deeply personal visions that no one else could have written. They're going to be around for a very long time to come.

©1987 The Estate of Philip K. Dick (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Introduction © 1987 by Thomas M. Disch. The excerpt which appears at the beginning of this volume is from a collection of interviews with the author conducted by Paul Williams and published in Only Apparently Real, Arbor House, 1986. Used with permission.

I’m happy with the collection

I’m happy with the collection. It is good to be exposed to all of PKD’s work.

Excellent

Science fiction is all about the idea - exactly.

As with the other volumes of this collection, great ideas, executed all the way to the conclusion. No smirks, letups, cliffhangers - just straight Storytelling.

For those complaining about how female characters are shown or used - I agree that this wouldn’t fly and I would reject in a book post-2000 AD (which is part of the reason why most military sci-fi and fantasy can straight to the garbage can, sorry!). But if you filter all „great literature“ solely by this criteria, not much is going to be leftover to read. Unfortunately, as yes, it’s much more interesting to have male and female (and anything else) characters and character development.

I think the reviewers who try to be superwoke by deleting all discriminating history or art are working into the hands of ppl who don’t want to be woke, but really are racist, sexist, intolerant. I don’t think PKD deserves to be treated like he belongs with those ppl. HP Lovecraft, on the other hand….

Final installment of a high quality collection of PKD short stories

This is the last of 5 volumes of Dick’s short stories, and one can tell that they did not save the best for last, which is why so many of them remained unpublished. These, however, are less affected by the cold war fears, which permeated his earlier work and now seem dated, and instead focus on God and the afterlife, in line with the thoughts of an older and more mature author. Here lies the foundation for one of his best works, in the first story, he establishes, although briefly, the basis of the empathy boxes, so important in “Do androids dream of electric sheep”, but later dropped from BladeRunner. I very much enjoyed “Faiths of our Fathers” and “Your appointment will be yesterday”, and will read Counter Clock world to read the rest of the story. Here you also see excerpts from “Dr. Bloodmoney”, but will be hard to make sense of anything if you have not read the novel.
If you are a PKD fan, you will have a great time. Otherwise, perhaps another PKD title would be more suitable.

If you’re already a fan

Track listing:
1. Introduction
2. The little black box
3. The war with the fnools
4. A game of unchance
5. Precious artifact
6. Retreat syndrome
7. A Terran odyssey
8. A Terran odyssey pt2
9. Your appointment will be yesterday
10. Holy quarrel
11. We can remember it for you wholesale
12. Not by it’s cover
13. Return match
14. Faith of our fathers
15. The story to end all stories for Harlan Ellison’s anthology “dangerous visions”
16. The electric ant
17. Cadbury, the beaver who lacked
18. A little something for us tempunauts
19. The pre-persons
20. The eye of the Sybil
21. The day mr. computer fell out of its tree // The exit door leads in
22. Chains of air, web of aether
23. Strange memories of death // I hope I shall arrive soon
24. Rautavaara’s case
25. The alien mind
26. Notes

"Her melon-shaped breasts pulsed with apprehension."

The whole book is like that: cartoonishly sexist, blatantly misogynistic, populated with flat, indignant, paranoid heroes who abuse women and enact juvenile male fantasies. Perhaps that was the old world of 1950s and '60s SF, and perhaps it should be viewed in the light of that older time, but even accounting for the audience of the writer and the prejudices of the time, the writing is just awful. The introduction to this volume claims that PKD was valued by his fellow writers and his readers for his ideas, but even those ideas are poorly fleshed out, and farcical to the extreme. This collection is simple, cynical slapstick slapped on a Martian background. One feels better off not bothering with it. The Man in The High Castle was probably Dick at the height of his powers, and the current reviewer recommends those curious of his lasting impact to look there for a narrative worthy of their time. This collection of stories, however, is nigh unreadable; the only exception, perhaps, would be the outright farce presented in the Fnool story, which, being an intentional comedy, lays aside all the lame pretensions toward psychological exploration in favor of unselfconscious play. Look elsewhere for a probing of the human mind: here be clowns, and not much else.

Don't buy this book. Stories ramble on...

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The stories were incoherent and just rambled on. There were so many times I was wondering what the heck am I listening to?! Also, can you add the title chapters so we can see which story will come up next?

What was most disappointing about Philip K. Dick’s story?

Stories were lackluster and very similar. Not enjoyable.

Would you be willing to try another one of David deVries and Joyce Bean ’s performances?

No.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The only two stories I enjoyed were "We Can Remember It For Your Wholesale" and "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon" (I can picture this as a movie). Stories were boring and disappointing. I liked his earlier works in Vol. 1 much better.

Any additional comments?

1. Introduction
2. The Little Black Box (1964)
3. The War with the Fnools (1964)
4. A Game of Unchance (1964)
5. Precious Artifact (1964)
6. Retreat Syndrome (1965)
7. A Terran Odyssey (1987), Part 1
8. A Terran Odyssey (1987), Part 2
9. Your Appointment Will Be Yesterday (1966)
10. Holy Quarrel (1966)
11. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (1966)
12. Not by Its Cover (1968)
13. Return Match (1967)
14. Faith of Our Fathers (1967)
15. The Story To End All Stories (1968)
16. The Electric Ant (1969)*l
17. Cadbury, the Beaver Who Lacked (1987)
18. A Little Something for Us Tempunauts (1974)
19. The Pre-Persons (1974)
20. The Eye of the Sibyl (1987)
21. The Day Mr Computer Fell out of its Tree (1987)
22. Chains of Air, Web of Aether (1980)
23. Strange Memories of Death (1984)/I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon (1980)
24. Rautavaara's Case (1980)
25. The Alien Mind (1981)
26. Notes