I can’t add much that hasn’t been covered in other reviews. I would like to say that I didn’t expect it to be as interesting or fun before heading into it. The world building was very well done. The Penultimate Truth should have been a bestseller; underrated. Main themes covered included propaganda, class stratification, (slave) labor, and Knowledge Is Power. Although convoluted at times with too many story elements, this is a great political work by PKD. I mean, he wrote the manuscript in two months! A movie adaptation would be nice with a few tweaks.

P.S. Dick, why recycle the time scoop from Paycheck?! Totally unnecessary, ya goof.



Heck of a quote:
“What would it be like, to have the earth open up and millions of humans, imprisoned subsurface for fifteen years, believing in a radioactive waste above, with missiles and bacteria and rubble and warring armies – the demesne system would sustain a death blow and the great park over which he flapped twice daily would become a densely populated civilization once more, nor quite as before the war, but close enough. Roads would reappear. Cities. And – ultimately there would be another war. That was the rationale. The masses had egged their leaders on to war in both Wes-Dem and Pac-Peop. But once the masses were out of the way, stuffed down below into antiseptic tanks, the ruling elite of both East and West were free to conclude a deal…”