Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
01/09/2002 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Pub: Gollancz. 290 page hardback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 1857987381. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. Check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
For those in the know, which should be practically
every SF fan. ‘Minority Report’ is actually a short story that the
recent Spielberg film on release is based on.
 Then
again, so too is ‘Impostor’ (filmed under the same name and reviewed
last month), ‘Second Variety’ (filmed as ‘Screamers’) and ‘We Can
Remember It For You Wholesale’ (filmed as ‘Total Recall’) - and
all are featured in this book as well as another five short stories.
Considering all the Dick material available, you might well have
some of these stories already, just not all in the same book. If
you’re new to Dick’s work, then this is a good way to get the original
stories the films were based on.
It’s a wonder really why Gollancz didn’t promote this book as
‘the stories the films were based on’. Of all the SF authors, Dick
must surely rank as the writer who’s had the most films based on
his work.
Of the filmed short stories, I still like ‘Second Variety’. It’s
regarded as a classic in any short story collection with sentient
evolving robots taking out both sides of a future war.
A comparison of the titular story, ‘Minority Report’ to the film
will have to wait until it comes out on video. A demonstration of
where things can go wrong when people are imprisoned before they
actually commit murder.
The story is a year older than me - indeed most of the stories
here are 30-40 years old now - it’s a shame Dick didn’t actually
speculate more on whether murder was justified in some circumstances.
Of the non-film related stories, the one that impressed me the
most was ‘Electric Ant’ where a self-aware android discovering what
he manipulates his reality before contemplating suicide. ‘War Game’
is a devious story where a human colony’s toys are being investigated
as potential infiltrated weapons.
With the hardback price being no greater than a paperback, this
is one book I’m sure many of you will be adding to your collections.
GF Willmetts
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