Cover of Ubik
Read Time: ~3.7 hr

Ubik

by Philip K. Dick (1969)

About this book

Named one of Time's 100 Best Books, Ubik is a mind-bending, classic novel about the perception of reality from Philip K. Dick, the Hugo Award-winning author of The Man in the High Castle. “From the stuff of space opera, Dick spins a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you’ll never be sure you’ve woken up from.”—Lev Grossman, Time Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business — deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in “half-life,” a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter’s face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time. As consumables deteriorate and technology gets ever more primitive, the group needs to find out what is causing the shifts and what a mysterious product called Ubik has to do with it all. “More brilliant than similar experiments conducted by Pynchon or DeLillo.”—Roberto Bolaño

Setting / LocationGlobal
Story EraLate 20th Century
Protagonist / CoreNotable Characters

Readers who enjoyed this also loved

Cover of Count Zero

Count Zero

William Gibson

Turner, corporate mercenary, wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him for a mission more dangerous than the one he's recovering from: Maas-Neotek's chief of R&D is defecting. Turner is the one assigned to get him out intact, along with the biochip he's perfected. But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties--some of whom aren't remotely human. Bobby Newmark is entirely human: a rustbelt data-hustler totally unprepared for what comes his way when the defection triggers war in cyberspace. With voodoo on the Net and a price on his head, Newmark thinks he's only trying to get out alive. The second novel of William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, *Count Zero* is a stylish, streetsmart, frighteningly probable parable of the future and sequel to Neuromancer.

Cover of Farnham's Freehold

Farnham's Freehold

Robert A. Heinlein

Farnham's Freehold is a celebrated work by Robert A. Heinlein (Multi-Hugo Winner, Grand Master), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.

Cover of Dune Complete Series, 6 Books

Dune Complete Series, 6 Books

Frank Herbert

Dune Complete Series, 6 Books is a celebrated work by Frank Herbert (Hugo Award Winner, Nebula Award Winner), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.

Cover of Mindbridge

Mindbridge

Joe Haldeman

Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman is an acclaimed literary masterpiece celebrating major critical honors and timeless storytelling.

Ubik by Philip K. Dick | Literally Just Books