The Exegesis of Philip K Dick (on Audiobook)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kIaHczbGL._SL500_AA300_PIaudible,BottomRight,13,73_AA300_.jpg

It is unabridged, and is comprised of 44 audio CDs. It also seems to be annotated (which is kinda weird when turned into audio).
I have no idea if I will be able to get through it all, but if I do I assume I will experience some kind of spiritual transformation.

I think it will be easier as an audiobook instead of trying to read the 1,056 page book.
Has anyone actually read this?

The whole thing?

the 11,000+ page version?

Has anyone actually read this?

Hell no

I have this on my kindle and will occasionally open it and read a couple of paragraphs. I will never read all of it.

feel like every speedfreak in SF has one of these, often nailed up piecemeal to telephone poles. can't imagine it being worthwhile (much as a I love PKD)

feel like every speed freak in SF has one of these, often nailed up piecemeal to telephone poles.

otm

in case anyone hasn't seen this, neat lil BBC doc on PKD from 1994:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cK2MPgAHRk

I've read portions of the exegesis. Dude was going through some stuff, that's for sure.

Played on a loop at subliminal levels in my coffee shop.

Or maybe that's just me.

lol. same

it's my weird bathroom book. i've read hundreds of pages of it, in no particular order. the book is organized, somewhat, but honestly i don't think it really matters where you start. some of it is absolutely worthless, and some of it is spellbinding reading.

i wouldn't really recommend it as an audiobook for a few reasons. first, some of the best parts of the book come in the footnote/annotations, and i'm not sure how that would work with an audiobook. secondly, there are lots of weird PKD illustrations/drawing/doodles in the book that are also part of the appeal.

i do have an exegesis comment, but first

i recently picked up the library of america collection with some of his later novels (a Maze of Death, VALIS, Divine Invasion, Timothy Archer). i've been looking forward to reading the second and third books of the VALIS "trilogy". although, perusing the book's Notes section in the back, i realized that it wasn't necessarily written as a trilogy.

"In 1990, the book of the month club published VALIS, the Divine Invasion, and the Transmigration of Timothy Archer in a single volume known as The VALIS Trilogy. Dick referred tot he three novels as "The VALIS Trilogy" in interviews just before his death, but their publication under this title was planned without his involvement, and on other occasions he envisioned other groupings and arrangements for his novels. the present volume includes the three novels in Dick's "trilogy" but withholds the posthumous title The VALIS Trilogy."

however, it's clear that at least Divine Invasion was written as a direct sequel: it was originally titled VALIS Regained, and he began writing it directly after VALIS. anyway, just sharing some Dick info that was probably already widely known!

the reason i bumped this thread was that this morning i pulled the Exegesis off my shelf for the first time, and in the spirit of the i ching i opened to a random page, which turned out to be the first page of Folder 8. as with many of the other pages i've read in the Exegesis, he immediately begins musing about 2-3-74 and the possible stoppage of time (the "congealing" or "ossifying") back during the roman empire. but he also weaves in references to his writing, and of what he had in mind with specific character or events in his books. it's very interesting! on the page i read, he was thinking about the possibility that he had sent a signal out to the universe in the form of his book Ubik, and that he had received back his other writings in response to that signal. all of which made me think about A Maze of Death (which i'm plowing through now before resuming the "trilogy"), which involves a group of settlers trying to send and receive signals to mysterious gods in the universe.

however, reading the exegesis also spoils some major details of his books. so i've realized that one practical use of the Exegesis is to use it refer to it as a sort of Director's Commentary or Index for books of his that you've already read. all the references to his works are handily collected in the index of Exegesis, and he refers to many of them, sometimes dozens of times each. you can just jump around to to all the mentions, and you'll suffer no loss of narrative or linearity - the Exegesis is made up of various excerpts and snippets and letters, semi-organized arranged into files, there's really no beginning or ending. the only word of caution is that it probably helps to read at least 15-20 pages of the Exegesis before using it as an index to his works, just to get an intro to his acronyms and exegesis-specific concepts.

at the same time, i can myself not touching the exegesis again for another 4 years. it's a weird book man