Dr. Futurity

By: Philip K. Dick

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

When Dr. Jim Parsons awakens after a car accident, he finds himself in a future populated almost entirely by the young. But for the young to keep running the world, death is fetishized, and those who survive to old age are put down. In such a world, Parsons - with his innate desire to save lives - is a criminal and an outcast. For one revolutionary group, however, he may be just the savior they need to heal and revive their cryogenically frozen leader. When he and the group journey to 16th-century California, what they find causes them to question what they know about history and the underpinnings of their society. With the jarring immediacy of a car crash, Philip K. Dick throws both the listener and the protagonist of Dr. Futurity into a bizarre future where healing is a crime and youth rules.

©1960 Philip K. Dick (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

This is better than I remembered it being

This is better than I remember it being from the first time I read it. It has a good performance.

Fun Sci-Fi

Any additional comments?

This was not Dicks best work by far. But it was an entertaining time travel book the explored the complexity of people jumping all over the place trying to change time, and then trying to change things that happed in their action of trying to change time, which resulted in unexpected results sometimes.

A short fun story, so enjoy.

Not one of PKD's best, but ok

again I am a little disappointed with PKD. This is apparently an early work and though it begins to show some of his later style it also shows some of his later disjointedness. The story involves a bit of time travel and there is at least a story to follow but there are some key points left unexplained. It is okay, not the trippy surrealistic stuff of some later works and there are several PKD that I like, but overall the percentage is dropping.

I don't want to give anything away story wise since it does involve time travel and some of the paradoxes etc and there are some moments that I did like, but I can't recommend you spend $ on it.

I love time travel books and movies and so want to give it a better rating based purely on that element but there are better ones out there, like To Say Nothing of the Dog which is masterful.

Time's Second Arrow

"There was simply no complete theory about time, he realized. No hypothesis by which results could be anticipated. Only experiment -- and guesswork."
- Philip K. Dick, Dr. Futurity.

One of the most "traditionally" SF novels PKD has written. This is largely due, obviously, to it being early in the PKD's output. Dr. Futurity was published in 1960 and was his 7th published novel (after Time Out of Joint and before Vulcan's Hammer).

In this novel Dick explore basic ideas of time travel, complete with "arrows". Think of the Hippocratic Oath pushed backwards and forwards in time. Probably the most interesting piece of this novel is the future civilization that keeps a static level of human beings, only allowing a new baby to be born when someone dies. PKD is quickly able to push this type of social evolution to its furthest realities or unrealities.

Great PKD Story!

Any additional comments?

This book was far different than other PKD works I have read, but in a good way. The story in this novel is SO complicated and carefully woven that you can't help but get caught up with the plot. Had this been a real book, and not an audio book, I'm positive it would have been a page-turner.

Very good narration performance as well.

9.15 / 10.0

Will be listening a second time

Classic dick novel wish it was a little bit longer, like most dick books. I