
A World of Talent and Other Stories
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Narrated by:
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William Coon
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By:
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Philip K. Dick
About this listen
In a 1977 speech, Phillip K. Dick said "A novelist carries with him constantly what most women carry in large purses: much that is useless, a few absolutely essential items, and then, for good measure, a great number of things that fall in between. But the novelist does not transport them physically because his trove of possessions is mental. Now and then he adds a new and entirely useless idea; now and then he reluctantly cleans out the trash - the obviously worthless ideas - and with a few sentimental tears sheds them. Once in a great while, however, he happens by chance onto a thoroughly stunning idea new to him that he hopes will turn out to be new to everyone else. It is this final category that dignifies his existence. But such truly priceless ideas... perhaps during his entire lifetime he may, at best, acquire only a meager few. But that is enough; he has, through them, justified his existence to himself and to his God.”
In this collection of five stories, all first published in the 1950s, Dick justified his existence by exploring a number of truly interesting ideas. In “Small Town” a man creates a perfect scale model of his own town, as a means of escaping his unbearable reality. In “Human Is” the wife of a scientist notices that her husband has returned from a scientific expedition a changed man, but she’s not complaining. In “Foster, You’re Dead” a father’s unwillingness to participate in his country’s preparations for a war that never happens, leads to unexpected consequences for his family. In “The Hanging Stranger” a man is unable to convince his fellow townspeople that something terribly wrong is happening to them all. Finally, in “A World of Talent”, society’s reactions against those who have unusual talents have pushed the situation to the brink of interplanetary war.
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Overall
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This collection of five stories from early in his career casts a spotlight on Dick’s incredible imagination. In "Second Variety", robot warriors appear to have given one side the advantage in a devastating war. But a small band of soldiers begins to question just what the robots’ endgame truly is. In "Beyond Lies the Wub", a member of a spaceship’s crew buys a Wub ("a huge dirty pig!") for 50 cents, thinking it might be a good source of meat for the long journey home. Then the Wub speaks....
-
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The narrator's accent / inflection ruins this book
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By: Philip K. Dick
-
Upon the Dull Earth and Other Stories
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: William Coon
- Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
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Story
Whatever it was that stimulated his creative juices, we are the lucky beneficiaries, as demonstrated in this collection of five stories, all first published in 1954. In “Exhibit Piece” a long-suffering museum worker becomes a little too attached to his display of mid-20th century lifestyle. In “Upon the Dull Earth” a young man refuses to let go of his soul mate, and he creates a chain reaction that he couldn’t have anticipated. In “Progeny” one man’s idea of how to raise a child is challenged by new, more scientific techniques. Also includes "The Last of the Masters", and "Breakfast at Twilight."
-
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By: Philip K. Dick
-
The Man Who Sold the Moon
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Buck Schirner
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today the moon - tomorrow the stars. The Man Who Sold the Moon: A landmark volume in Heinlein’s magnificent Future History series. D. D. Harriman is a billionaire with a dream: the dream of Space for All Mankind. The method? Anything that works. Maybe, in fact, Harriman goes too far. But he will give us the stars....
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Great story but...
- By Chris on 03-30-17
-
Radio Free Albemuth
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings, Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Radio Free Albemuth, his last novel, Philip K. Dick morphed and recombined themes that had informed his fiction from A Scanner Darkly to VALIS and produced a wild, impassioned work that sounds like a visionary alternate history of the United States. Agonizingly suspenseful, darkly hilarious, and filled with enough conspiracy theories to thrill the most hardened paranoid, Radio Free Albemuth is proof of Dick's stature as our century's greatest science fiction writer.
-
-
The Pistol to the Head
- By Darwin8u on 01-02-17
By: Philip K. Dick
-
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Mars, the harsh climate could make any colonist turn to drugs to escape a dead-end existence. Especially when the drug is Can-D, which transports its users into the idyllic world of a Barbie-esque character named Perky Pat. When the mysterious Palmer Eldritch arrives with a new drug called Chew-Z, he offers a more addictive experience, one that might bring the user closer to God. But in a world where everyone is tripping, no promises can be taken at face value.
-
-
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- By Jerry Witt on 12-20-15
By: Philip K. Dick
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