The Zap Gun Audiobook

" This was like a lot of PKD books - many names; many characters, almost all with Dick's education and interests; some bad writing; some good writing; a demented, convoluted plot. This book was even more convoluted than most: (a) there are weapons designers for East and West, who get weapons from trances; (b) the weapons are not real, due to a secret agreement; (c) a real nut, a weapons fanatic (who like all civilians thinks the weapons are real) is appointed to the government; (d) alien satellites begin to take Earth cities; (e) an obscure comic book contains East & West's weapons' sketches (this phenomenon never explained); (f) an ancient "war vet" is found who seems to be from the war with the aliens, which just started. Anyway, I enjoyed it for what it was, familiar as I am with Dick's themes and obsessions. It contained passages clearly the same as some PKD stories: "War Game," "War Vet" and "Beyond Lies the Wub." "

" Fun book with interesting themes. I have read better pk dick "

" 1.5 Pointlessly complicated with no real payoff. Disappointing for PKD. "

" A bit dated, but that's all right. I did picture Don Draper reading it. "

" Simple story with a few nice twists. Some aspects borrowed from short stories I have read (e.g. war veteran and the final "weapon"). Not very Dickian, but good enjoyment nonetheless. "

" This is a silly book. But I'm pretty sure it was made that way on purpose. Rousing from a sluggish beginning, the verbiage eventually begins to express a plot, at which the book becomes readable by normal people. Even so, far from PKD's best offering. "

" While this book is a bit disjointed through most of the beginning, and certainly not the best of Dick's late 60's output, the ending is certainly one of the best he's ever written. "

" This one's about rival weapons designers in a future where the Soviet Bloc still exists. I ate this story up. "

" Took this book out of shelf assuming the author's reputation. I found this book hard to read. I also didn't like the cartoonish sci-fi theme at all. Frustrated. "

" I read an interview with PKD where he mentioned this book and said how horrible he felt it was, calling it "unreadable". I actually quite enjoyed it, much more than I enjoyed the award-winning "Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said". "

" Such fond memories of this book, was my first Philip K Dick and taught me the word ploughshare. "

" This one is tricky. Still a must for those who love sci-fi. "

" I read this a while ago. The first half is a big WTF? I almost didn't finish this book because of how bad the beginning was but the second half was great. It would have been rated at least 4 stars if the entire book was as good as the second half. "

" More in the vein of The Penultimate Truth. If you liked that one, you may like this one, too. I did. "

" Probably Dick's funniest work, it's a great send-up of the Cold War arms race. "

" Too many dead-ends and deus ex-machinas. Too little going on for too much time, just to have it all happen in half a dozen chapters. "

" I've already forgotten the characters names, but I remember the story. "

" Another potboiler. Read it only if you need a PKD fix and are desperate. "