Been wanting to read this guy for a while, but I'm not sure where to start. I don't really care to read his books that have been adapted to blockbusters just quite yet.

I've always wanted to read The Man in the High Castle.

depressed the hell out of me. :/

Actually his writing in general is fairly depressing to me, but g_v do the Valis/Divine Invasion/Transmigration of Timothy Archer trilogy if you want a good if not weird place to start with him.

Coincidentally, this is a good place to start.

I would go with Ubik or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch as two good entrance points. I've read close to twenty of his novels and if you like books with humor and satire served on a dish of paranoid philosophical sci-fi, then he's your man. The biggest knock against him is his prose, but it doesn't bother me in the least.

Same here. Not as depressing as 1984, but still pretty disheartening. Very enjoyable book though.

I should probably go back and re-read the books I have of his- it's been a number of years. I don't know why because I'm fairly cynical and enjoy a good, dark novel, but some authors really bother me with their writing style.

Jack Womack had the same kind of effect on me.

This is a great place to start:

http://www.amazon.com/Sibyl-Classic-Stories-Collected-Philip/dp/0806513284/ref=pd_sim_b_title_1

There's a story in there called "Cadbury, the beaver who lacked", which is one his most disliked stories, but is also one of my favorites. For some obvious reasons, I totally connected with the main character's dilemma at the time when I read it.

i'm reading some jonathan lethem lately. he's always had kind of a thing for PKD, so i am interested as well. if i bump this thread, can you guys give me a good starting point for PKD novels? this thread is kind of noncommital in the recommendations so far...

also, any lethem fans on here? (motherless brooklyn, gun, with occasional music, fortress of solitude)

i read gun with occasional music and really liked it (i have a boner for hard boiled noir). i've wanted to read some of his other stuff, including short stories.

he's not really genre specific, but motherless brooklyn is hardboiled-noir as well. i think you'd really like it. of course, this is a phillip k. dick thread, but still. any chance to talk about lethem is a good thing. i've not read his short stories, though.

in the spirit of derailment, do you read any raymond chandler?

i just read the big sleep recently and i loved it. i'm planning on reading through everything soon.

The Man In The High Castle is a good starting point.

I need to read more of his novels, they're generally amazing.

i was actually thinking that too, considering it was already posted in this thread. by you, actually. the thing is, there seems to be no solid consensus as to a definitive place to start. i'll give it a try though. thanks.

do androids dream of electric sheap was great

I never checked out The Man in the High Castle, or anything else by PKD