Conbini reviewed The World Jones Made by Philip K. Dick
Review of 'The World Jones Made' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
good but not masterful early novel from Philip K. Dick.
Short plot description: after a catastrophic nuclear war a world government is formed on the principle of "relativism" (everything is relative, so don't judge lest you be judged).
Enter the titular "Jones", a precog who can see one year into the future (which is not the blessing you might think it is). Throw into the mix a FedGov agent trying to prevent Jones from taken over the world and saving the relationship with his wife, an alien race of single-cellular organism which are much more than they seem and genetically engineerd mutants and you have the basic ingredients of "The world Jones made".
There are several concepts present though not fully formed which Dick would be exploring in more detail in his later novels: free will, determinism, is the future fixed, drugs, paranoia.
Strangely enough this makes the novel more …
good but not masterful early novel from Philip K. Dick.
Short plot description: after a catastrophic nuclear war a world government is formed on the principle of "relativism" (everything is relative, so don't judge lest you be judged).
Enter the titular "Jones", a precog who can see one year into the future (which is not the blessing you might think it is). Throw into the mix a FedGov agent trying to prevent Jones from taken over the world and saving the relationship with his wife, an alien race of single-cellular organism which are much more than they seem and genetically engineerd mutants and you have the basic ingredients of "The world Jones made".
There are several concepts present though not fully formed which Dick would be exploring in more detail in his later novels: free will, determinism, is the future fixed, drugs, paranoia.
Strangely enough this makes the novel more accessible than his later work.
There are some flaws in places where Dick doesn't seem to know what to do with his ideas and the final resolution though with an interesting ironic twist felt unsatisfying.
My advice: an easy enough read for anyone who is interested in scifi-novels about free will and a must read for anyone familiar with Dick's later work