A Day in Astronomy: The Birth of Philip K. Dick

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Gollancz

On this day in 1928, American science fiction writer Philip Kindred Dick was born in Chicago, IL. He would go on to write some of the best known books on science fiction, including:

  • The Man in the High Castle (1963), which won the Hugo Award;
  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), later made into the film Blade Runner; and
  • Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974), which won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and was nominated for both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award.

Mr. Dick had a troubled life with multiple wives, yet he created some of the most memorable characters and fiction. You may recall some of his other books and stories that became films in recent years, including Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Minority Report with Tom Cruise, and A Scanner Darkly with Keanu Reeves.

In his last interview of his life, Mr. Dick discussed how he left behind his writing in the late 1950s:

Many writers had left the field. We could not make a living. I had gone to work making jewelry with my wife. I wasn’t happy. I didn’t enjoy making jewelry. I had no talent whatsoever. She had the talent. She is still a jeweler and a very fine one, making gorgeous stuff which she sells to places like Neiman-Marcus. It’s great art. But I couldn’t do anything except polish what she made.

Fortunately, he returned to writing, thereby provided all of us with amazing stories that live on today.