Joe Chip is a lead technician of an anti-psi team working for the one of the so called “prudence organizations”. Joe, his boss Glen Runciter and eleven hand-picked telepath-blockers embark on a mission to Luna in order to prevent ESPs (psi’s and precogs among others) from succeeding in industrial espionage undertaking.
But soon they will realize it was all a trap set by their rival (leader of the psi organization). But instead dodging bullets and bombs they will find themselves caught in a time-warp, traveling back in time and being sucked-out of life by that very travel, one at the time. Until they realize what is happening (or do they :))

Great one. Recommended. ( )

Ubik presents the problem of reality couched in one of the most entertaining science fiction plots I have ever read: Glen Runciter runs a company that specializes in providing other companies or private individuals one or more “inertials”: individuals who display a skill for canceling out the talents of particular futuristic (but in the novel commonplace) people, such as precogs and telepaths. Ray Hollis is Runciter’s chief competition, as he employs the majority of the people possessing such talents. A company such as Runciter’s plays a large role in protecting the privacy and in some cases the safety of customers. Pat is Runciter’s newest inertial. She displays one of the most interesting anti-talents discovered so far, and potentially could be extremely beneficial to the company, but she may be dangerous. Along with Joe Chip (who really is the novel’s central character), Runciter takes a team of inertials to Luna when an enormous business opportunity opens itself up there. However, it would seem that Runciter and his employees are merely being lured to their demise when an explosion occurs soon after their getting there and discovering their purpose in coming to be false. I only say so much about the plot because after this point it is hard to say anything for sure. The problem that picks up at this point is: Who is alive and who is dead? This is a tricky question to answer, as individuals who are placed in “cold-pac” quickly enough after dying can enter into “half-life” for a limited amount of time. In half-life a person can communicate with those within reality, although they are in fact no longer in that reality, so it is not difficult to see the blurred line that emerges. Dead or alive, only Ubik (salvation in a spray can) can restore order, and time and space are rapidly disintegrating. This is one of my favorite Philip K. Dick books I have read to date. Important questions raised in clever ways, and a story that entertains from page one to the end. ( )

This SF novel will make you investigate your perceptions of what is real and what is unreal once again... From the opening scenes where Glen Runciter converses with his deceased wife who is kept in a state of half-life this novel takes you along every borderline you've previously conceived as secure. Travels through space, time and mind alike, things happening or(/and?) not happening, your head will buzz in the end - but: what a ride! ( )

My first PKD book was Humpty Dumpty in Oakland and i really liked it. but it wasn’t science fiction. I really enjoyed the characters PKD created. I liked the little piece of world that he captured. There was something so real about the people, places and circumstances. Ubik is no different. Great set of characters living in a world that doesn’t seem so different from our own, they just have things we don’t have... this week. Although the setting is not quite Oakland, it’s close enough for me to relate. But then I’m not reading this as science fiction. I’m reading it as just good writing.

That's what I first wrote when I first started the book... then after the first 4 chapters...

I really like the characters and as I read this I can’t help but compare it to PKD’s non-fiction Humpty Dumpty in Oakland. The characters are believable. I feel I know them. There is no difference except in the trades. Instead of selling used cars they’re selling anti-psi services. Humans are humans regardless of the setting or gadgets and I really do like PKD’s humans. Though in a way, some of the sci-fi stuff distracts me from just enjoying his characters. I kind of like them selling used cars instead. but that’s just me, Mr Reality...

And... near the end of the book...

i’m not finished with ubik yet but i’m getting near a conclusion, i can feel it.

this book is kind of like an acid trip. it started pleasantly, the tab slowly dissolved on my tongue and i felt tingly and good all over... that feeling that tells you, ’hey, if one tab will make you feel this good just think what another tab will do...’

so now the other tab, or tabs as i can no longer remember how many were on the sheet, has dissolved and the giddy, warm feeling has turned into this harsh, sweaty unreality where everything seems overly sharp and pointed and cracked and i hear static and zappa isn’t fun anymore and how long will this last?

that’s what the book is like... for me. it’s not a bad thing, totally. but it has gone off in an area that’s leaving me hoping that this trip will end soon and end pleasantly.

i just don’t know yet... is pkd legal?

Finally...

i finished last night, curled up in bed in a fetal position. i have a question... questions... i just don't know how to ask at this moment... ( )

One of PKD's best, along with A SCANNER DARKLY, THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH, DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP and, maybe, FLOW MY TEARS, THE POLICEMAN SAID. ( )