The Variable Man (FULL audiobook) by Philip K. Dick

[@michaelkottler]

Dick was prolific as I discovered after reading Do Androids DOES?, then screening Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, Screamers, The Adjustment Bureau, Imposter, and several others plus episodes of various series TV series including entire TV series based on Dick like Electric Dreams and The Man in the High Castle then began exploring his many other books and stories. He contributed so much to the sci-fi/social issues genres over a long period and wow were many of his predictions accurate but didn't receive real recognition until it was too late, kind of like HP Lovecraft.

[@michaelkottler]

It's amazing how much Dick, like Orwell and Verne and other futurists got right and it's almost equally interesting the things he got wrong, like falling short of anticipating micro circuitry and using the existing wires and transistors method but then how could he imagine such a thing? Some of his ideas were crazy-progressive, like the Icarus device and the SRB machines in this story. It's a shame there aren't more audiobooks of his stories available on KZbin given that his writing is now in the public domain and includes at least 120 short stories and 36 or so novels which is amazing IMO. All that in like, what, 40 years of writing and apparently much of his I'm guessing mid to later work especially written while under the influence of potentially mind-expanding but also tragically physically and mentally degenerative drugs (I'm not anti-drugs and smart enough to see that the failed war on drugs was never meant to be won and fattens the wallets of only law enforcement, the prison industry, the timber industry although that's shifting as hemp becomes legal in state after state, the drug cartels (who are so wealthy they control half of Mexico and almost all of El Salvador plus swathes of Peru et al) and the large pharmaceutical companies (along with prescribing Drs and pharmacies) while costing the poor plenty because no one ever stopped using drugs, which people use to feel better, and whatever the risks this isn't the land of the free if people aren't at liberty to ingest whatever they wish - alcohol and tobacco are legal but no one really cries about them well at least not alcohol lol - but the price went up big-time and generations were fleeced while a sickening number of lives were ruined by both seizure of ALL assets without trial based just on suspicion of narcotics trafficking and endless arrests for simple possession resulting in stiff prison sentences - some of the above predicted/reflected in A Scanner Darkly, like the advent of powerful drug concerns like the now too-powerful cartels although clearly aspects of ASD reflect his anger over the negative effects of drug abuse & don't get me started about the opioid overdose phenomenon being a case of bad apples ruining it for those who need serious pain relief by OD-ing which is tragic but drug use IMO should be a matter of open and informed choice and health, not law enforcement and legislation). The written-while-under-the-influence works include, I believe, astounding novels like Do Androids DOES which spawned the epoch-making Blade Runner film (plus video games, at least one sequel novel by another author, Blade Runner 2049 and now Black Lotus - which I hear is the first worthy addition to the Blade Runner mythos, a prequel) A Scanner Darkly et al. I noticed that some of his writing is very dialogue-heavy and sometimes in all honestly a bit too dense for me to follow enjoyably. And I don't mean dialogue-driven in the Pulp Fiction sense, I mean it in the Dick sense, meaning occasionally Anyway, this is a cool adventure/social commentary/futurist tale using the "tinkerer" archetype to great effect although the "back then people had skills we don't have" and "Can any of us fix things? No." coupled with the fixer-by-intuition-only concept seems a stretch to me given how advanced their technology has actually become now (like, how do you fix a smart phone with a cracked display without a new one, or how do you "fix" a computer processor - you don't, you replace them just as this book mentions, but I see what Dick was trying to go for here and appreciate his good effort as this is a fun novel.

[@patrickmcdade7353]

---> this

[@allisonk.222]

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. My 2nd PKD novel after ⚡🐑

[@michaelledford4751]

Everything Phillip K Dick ever wrote is good stuff.

[@Herb.]

Even the less-polished stories still always have great ideas.

[@arcadealchemist]

Everything he wrote is also Prophecy to a degree he was pre destined.

[@MawoDuffer]

This should be made as a movie if it isn’t already

[@simon12332]

This was such a good story!

[@DamianLoved]

This is my favorite PKD novella. One of the main reasons for that, I think, has to do with the skill of the narrator. Thanks for donating your time, a lot of us appreciate your work.

[@demonicusa.k.a.theblindguy3929]

So that was damn good. Prior to this one I had listened to 2nd variant. A little predictable but still creepy which doesn't normally happen to me.

[@trevoryearwood]

Great book, great narration!

[@alalouis1]

Amazing we seem to be going in this direction. We don't fix anything we just throw it away. Every one has a speciality they don't know how to do anything else

[@tgdomnemo5052]

... and therefor the Dunning-Krüger-effekt is gaining momentum on a global scale 😅

[@katmandew2152]

Great story.

[@neilmurphy966]

Military secrets are the most fleeting of all - Mr Spock 😉

[@DemonetisedZone]

❤ this story, listened to it number of times. Narrator also great

[@stevesyncox9893]

A very good story.

[@questionreality2637]

I just watched Electric Dreams on Amazon Prime, ten short stories by the Author. Great stuff. Thanks 🙏 for this. 2136

[@michaelkottler]

Just watched the first episode but am not sure which story it was inspired by.

[@demonicusa.k.a.theblindguy3929]

@@michaelkottler Foster. You're dead. 1955. Just in case you haven't found out yet.

[@zooblestyx]

I kept hearing "Solid Rocket Booster", "Short-Barreled Rifle", and "Sweet Baby Ray's" 😅

[@Herb.]

I love this story!

[@nickjames2521]

Excellent narration, bravo!

[@haroldwhitney8074]

🎉

[@Icantkeepout]

this recording sucks, and before someone says it's free remember it was done this way on purpose. The readers voice is too low in range and does not sound good to me.

[@williamhagen2792]

Greg M has ruined many stories with his annoying staccato delivery.

[@jonwaddell4162]

lol sounds a bit like a robot

[@Herb.]

I think it’s unique and intruiging!

[@johnharvey5412]

They're public domain. Feel free to hire another reader. 🤷

[@markletts8802]

And to actually read a book is so last century..