Book of the Month:
“The Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick
Hi Clubbers – What a great meeting! True to the discussion board, there are some strong feelings about last month’s selection “On Such a Full Sea”. While some liked the prosaic and flourishy language, others felt it was distracting and wished there was a more focused narrative. Personally, I thought it was fun to read a science fiction novel with a different approach to narration. Though I will admit that I was hoping for a good, old fashion uprising.
For August, the group has decided to leave the apocalypse behind and look toward the future. This month’s selection does also take place in a stratified society is watched closely by an authoritarian regime. Our story, however, comes from a much different angle.
“The Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick follows the head of Precrime in a future Washington, D.C. as he is accused of the murder he has not yet committed of a man he has never met. It’s reportedly a great detective story and marks a return to harder science fiction (with a few mutants thrown in for good measure). The book was also developed by Steven Spielberg into a 2002 film with Tom Cruise. While not required, we do highly recommend watching this one if you haven’t before. It’s a bit different than the book but holds up surprisingly well.
A quick note that the Strand does not currently have this short book in stock. That said, there are all kinds of new and used editions online (Amazon) with some fun covers. It often comes collected with other PKD stories. The choice is yours, all editions appear to publish the same version of the story.
