“The basic thing is, how frightened are you of chaos? And how happy are you with order?” —Philip K. Dick
This collection of conversations with Philip K. Dick ranges from his very first interview, when he was just a 26-year-old kid from Berkeley, to the last, conducted the day before he suffered the stroke that killed him. It reveals a man plagued by bouts of manic paranoia and failed suicide attempts; a career fueled by alcohol, amphetamines, and mystical inspirations—and, above all, a magnificent and generous imagination at work.
“Dick is one of the ten best American writers of the 20th century, which is saying a lot . . . Dick is Thoreau plus the death of the American dream.” —Roberto Bolaño
“Our own homegrown Borges.” —Ursula K. Le Guin
“Dick wasn’t a legend and he wasn’t mad. He lived among us and was a genius.” —Jonathan Lethem