Books like The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick

As a Dick fan, I picked up this book at an obscure book shop that stocks only rarities and valuable first editions. I'm not quite sure whether this was a rarity or a valuable first edition, but I'm much more certain that I'm glad I bought it.This book collects most of Dick's important writings other than his published novels, including assorted essays and speeches as well as some scraps from his unpublished work. For a man whose body of work is so legendary and also so strange, this collection really helps to fill in the gaps and let us better understand the man himself. Only through hearing him tell stories other than the ones he made up can we come to hear the voice behind the words.I would not say this is one of my favourites, or even a very informative book in the educational sense. Instead, its value comes in its ability to help me understand Dick. I think attempting to read VALIS without having first read this would have been impossible. Dick is a complicated figure, both for his own strange experiences and his own strange way of dealing with them. His writing is both fascinating and gripping. It is interesting to see the ways in which this is still true when he is not writing "in his element," so to speak.Within this book there is much repetition, especially in the section on Dick's views of science fiction literature. However, I cannot fault Sutin for that, as his collection is well-edited. It gives us what is needed and no more or less (perhaps just a little less). I cannot even really blame Dick, as many of these are actually delivered speeches or published articles. Hearing him talk about his own experiences with poverty, I definitely do not blame him for not always putting in his all. Even an author has to get paid. Make it rain, y'all.This book is a good resource for anyone fascinated by Dick, the man. Fans of his novels will not find much of the same here, nor will fans of science fiction in general. Dick, however, has much to say and much worth saying (it does well not to confuse the two). This book should adorn the shelves of any scholar on his life and work. Its absence would be quite improper.