The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick

By: Jonathan Lethem - editor, Pamela Jackson - editor, Philip K. Dick

Narrated by: Fred Stella

Length: 52 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Based on thousands of pages of typed and handwritten notes, journal entries, letters, and story sketches, The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick is the magnificent and imaginative final work of an author who dedicated his life to questioning the nature of reality and perception, the malleability of space and time, and the relationship between the human and the divine. Edited and introduced by Pamela Jackson and Jonathan Lethem, this is the definitive presentation of Dick’s brilliant, and epic, work.

In the Exegesis, Dick documents his eight-year attempt to fathom what he called “2-3-74”, a postmodern visionary experience of the entire universe “transformed into information”. In entries that sometimes ran to hundreds of pages, in a freewheeling voice that ranges through personal confession, esoteric scholarship, dream accounts, and fictional fugues, Dick tried to write his way into the heart of a cosmic mystery that tested his powers of imagination and invention to the limit.

This volume, the culmination of many years of transcription and archival research, has been annotated by the editors and by a unique group of writers and scholars chosen to offer a range of views into one of the most improbable and mind-altering manuscripts ever brought to light.

©2011 Philip K. Dick, Pamela Jackson (Editor), Jonathan Lethem (Editor) (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A great and calamitous sequence of arguments with the universe: poignant, terrifying, ludicrous, and brilliant. The Exegesis is the sort of book associated with legends and madmen, but Dick wasn’t a legend and he wasn’t mad. He lived among us, and was a genius.” (Jonathan Lethem)

STOP IT WITH THE NOTES!

I wanted to hear pkd, but the editors feel the need to interject every few sentences. provide the context at the end of the chapter. the decision to interrupt the flow with such frequency resulted in a ruined audiobook.

Absolute genius!

If you're a true PKD fan, eventually you need to confront the enigma of the Exegesis. You won't regret it.

A long and often disjointed philosophical exercise

What did you love best about The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick?

Digging through the mind of a, paranoid, drug addled mind can be rewarding at times. This, his personal notebooks, was an attempt to understand something extraordinary that happened to him and parts will be very disconcerting but, I can now say I understand PKD more than I ever thought possible.

If you’ve listened to books by the authors before, how does this one compare?

This is rote, long winded, but if you are a superfan like myself I suggest you take the plunge. Just don't listen to it all in one sitting. I'm not sure that is possible, actually.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator is a trooper. He did the best he could with the subject matter. You can sense he tires out by hour thirty five but, I'm will to ignore semantic details.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This made me look at reality as a very tenuous subject. I highly suggest it to fans of outsider art.

Any additional comments?

I don't mind Christian doctrine in the hands of madmen. A good soundtrack to this might be Danielson, or Linda Ronstadt (of course).

To many "notes" breaks in the story

Not going to be able to finish this. The constant story stopping to explain the story to me is annoying. You get focused in and then "ding note explanation explanation etc." then back to story. Notes should've been saved or up to the listener to take notes and look up on his or her own.

This exegesis is a living thing.

Reading this makes me think that maybe PKD created our reality or we exist in his. It's a story of a soul searching for salvation. This journey will relate to each person differently; Thus seemingly changing by which PKD would say means it is a living thing. Enjoy your trip you will be changed on the other side.

This book transformed my experience with reality.

Please treat yourself to this information rich work of genius. this is a true opus that interconnects all of Philip K. Dick's literary works.

Interesting but a hard place to wanna be

First, the reading performance is great. I am drawn to The Exegesis because, I don't know why, but I am. I have read it three times. It is the work of a man grappling with something that he never really masters.

I recommend this book for people who are interested in watching the process of PKD's mind at work throughout the 1970s. The engagement with ideas and the world around him and his own life are interesting to watch. But, a lot of it looks like mental illness or egoism.

If you like the PKD of the 1970s then you will like this book. If you actually like him from the 1950s and 1960s you might not be so interested in this book. But, it is interesting to watch what he has to say about his early work.

Great Audiobook with one nitpick

Love PKD and this is a great audiobook but it really bothered me that the narrator’s pronunciation of Ubik is different than PKD’s pronunciation. The narrator pronounced Ubik as oo-bik whereas PKD, himself, pronounced it yoo-bik. Given that the narrator is reading PKD’s literal entries discussing Ubik quite a bit, you’d think they’d do him the service of pronouncing it right (the way he/PKD would).

Holy What?!

Amazing. Hilarious. Profound. Confounding. Inspiring. Horrifying. Psychedelic. Heretical. Synchronistic. Inward-outward. Audacious. Ecstatic. Mysterious. Rational romp.

Nothing like it.

If you can get through this beast, I congratulate you. But you won't need any congratulations, your mind will be blown. It's unlike any other book, fiction it non-fiction ever published.