Safe When Taken as Directed

Under the blue, coarse blouse she wore nothing, and he perceived her breasts: hard and high, held well by the accurate muscles of her shoulders.

—Philip K Dick, Ubik   

The above quote is arguably one of the worst English sentences I have ever set eyes upon. I deeply regret having read it. Fortunately, this awful bit of writing is brief and surrounded by the rest of Ubik, which is an otherwise great work of science fiction by Philip K Dick. Ubik, when used as directed, is absolutely safe and perhaps even slightly better than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep—and significantly better than A Scanner Darkly. All three books are similar in that they deal with themes of paranoia and a distinct uncertainty about the objective reality of the world. Ubik is a particularly good Philip K Dick novel. Ubik makes breakfast a feast, puts zing into your thing! You should read it for yourself; so try Ubik today!