# Is 'VALIS' b Philip K Dick worth reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412 "2010-09-20T15:25:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/1 "2010-09-20T15:25:51Z")
Well, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/2 "2010-09-20T15:28:06Z")
I thought so. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/3 "2010-09-20T15:38:33Z")
I didn’t. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/4 "2010-09-20T17:09:20Z")
I did. (Cue Monty Python reference). ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/5 "2010-09-20T17:11:43Z")
I read it for a college class on Gnosticism. It’s chock full of references to Gnostic philosophy, and I don’t know how anyone would be able to follow it if they weren’t aware of these references. Frankly, I found it hard to follow even though I was aware of the references and was also reading and participating in class discussions on the book. That said, it’s quite an amazing work and worth reading. ETA: Gnostics believed knowledge (not faith) was the key to salvation, and that the material world was created by an imperfect God and thus is inferior to the world of the spirit. The [wiki article on Gnosticism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism) is pretty dense but is a good resource to familiarize yourself with before tackling the novel. ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/6 "2010-09-20T18:15:38Z")
I just found it very slow-going so far, very slow-going. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/7 "2010-09-20T18:46:29Z")
It is very confusing. I’m going to spoiler tag the following because I read the book so long ago I can’t remember if it’s a spoiler or not…BUT…if you don’t mind being spoiled, this might help you suss out what is going on: “Horselover Fat” is a translation of “Philip Dick” (“Philip” comes from the Greek meaning “lover of horses” and “Dick” means “fat” in German). The “two” narrators are the same person. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/8 "2010-09-20T18:55:27Z")
I found it very helpful to also read _Radio Free Albemuth_. I prolly like RFA a bit more than VALIS. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/9 "2010-09-20T20:20:10Z")
Yes. It can be enjoyed on any number of levels, but probably the most commonly-accessible ways of looking at it is as an exegesis on How a Guy Finks and Fawkes When He Is Going Batty. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/10 "2010-09-20T20:23:30Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > probably the most commonly-accessible ways of looking at it is as an exegesis on How a Guy Finks and Fawkes When He Is Going Batty. That’s how I fink of it, too, but I still couldn’t get through the thing. Love just about all of his other books, though. ---
**Author:** ![Avumede](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/avumede/32/7235_2.png) [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/11 "2010-09-21T00:59:44Z")
It’s not only worth reading, it’s the best of his books, IMHO. The first half of the book is much better than the second half, though. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/12 "2010-09-21T04:27:36Z")
I read it as part of the trilogy\*. Not necessarily a great read but can be thought provoking if you’re in the right frame of mind. Like maybe stoned. \*_Valis_, _The Divine Invasion_, and _The Transmigration of Timothy Archer_. For some reason I think I read them in reverse order. It doesn’t matter, since they’re not exactly sequential, just hit similar themes. ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/13 "2010-09-21T04:55:42Z")
I know I read it, but I don’t remember anything about it. Which opens up the possibility that the declarative fact that I read it may have been implanted in my brain by a vast God-like alien or alien-like God. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/14 "2010-09-21T11:14:17Z")
I thought it was very good, and re-read it at least once… It’s the best of the ‘trilogy’, with _Radio Free Albemuth_\* a close second and _The Transmigration…_ a distant third, imo. - especially the first section, which I read as a separate piece before the novel was published. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/15 "2010-09-21T11:28:30Z")
I think you have to know what you’re getting into. You start it thinking it’ll be about a vast artificial intelligence, then you find out it’s about some guy in California. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/16 "2010-09-21T12:46:04Z")
I can’t remember if it was on the SDMB or some other boards, but a guy claimed to have been shot by the pink laser from VALIS. BTW, I do think the book is worth reading if you have an idea of what Dick is about. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/17 "2010-09-21T19:10:18Z")
It’s my favourite of Dick’s books by far. I find him a bit hit and miss, in general (love his short stories though), although I appreciate he’s SF royalty. _Valis_ seemed such a personal story, though, that I found it really moving in places. I thought the gnosticism / mysticism was great too, but I read it at an impressionable age. After reading \*Valis \*I remember ordering _The Divine Invasion_ from my local bookshop (remember when you used to order books from the shop?) but they made a mistake and got me his biography, _Divine Invasions_. Real warts n all look at PKD - seemed to concentrate a lot on the late period where he was writing stuff like \*Valis \*(IIRC). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-valis-b-philip-k-dick-worth-reading/554412/18 "2010-09-21T20:03:01Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > After reading \*Valis \*I remember ordering _The Divine Invasion_ from my local bookshop (remember when you used to order books from the shop?) but they made a mistake and got me his biography, _Divine Invasions_. Real warts n all look at PKD - seemed to concentrate a lot on the late period where he was writing stuff like \*Valis \*(IIRC). VALIS is so much more biographical than a book of its sort has any right to be. I’ve read everything PKD has written and a good deal that has been written about him, and after so many years it becomes difficult to tell which little anecdotal bits come from which sources - especially as Phil was frequently quite merciless with himself on the subject of his various dysfunctions. F’rinstance, about "Horselover."I don’t recall if the text of VALIS referenced his habit of purchasing NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION-stamped horsemeat in order to leave more room in the budget for his legitimate business expense of absurd quantities of amphetamines.