Philip K. Dick: The Last Interview

& Other Conversations

David Streitfeld

“The basic thing is, how frightened are you of chaos? And how happy are you with order?” —Philip K. Dick

This collection of conversations with Philip K. Dick ranges from his very first interview, when he was just a 26-year-old kid from Berkeley, to the last, conducted the day before he suffered the stroke that killed him. It reveals a man plagued by bouts of manic paranoia and failed suicide attempts; a career fueled by alcohol, amphetamines, and mystical inspirations—and, above all, a magnificent and generous imagination at work.

PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) is generally considered the most influential modern science fiction writer. Much of his work has been adapted to film, notably Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (which became Blade Runner), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly. Dick was the recipient of a Hugo Award in 1963 for his novel The Man in the High Castle. In 2007, he became the first science fiction writer to be included in the Library of America. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

“Dick is one of the ten best American writers of the 20th century, which is saying a lot . . . Dick is Thoreau plus the death of the American dream.” —Roberto Bolaño

“Our own homegrown Borges.” —Ursula K. Le Guin

“Dick wasn’t a legend and he wasn’t mad. He lived among us and was a genius.” —Jonathan Lethem