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    The Game-Players of Titan
    The Game-Players of Titan
    The Game-Players of Titan
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Game-Players of Titan

    Written by Philip K. Dick

    Narrated by Christopher Lane

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    About this audiobook

    Years ago, Earth and Titan fought a war and Earth lost. The planet was irradiated and most of the surviving population is sterile. The few survivors play an intricate and unending game called Bluff at the behest of the slug-like aliens who rule the planet. At stake in the game are two very important commodities: land and spouses. Pete Garden just lost his wife and Berkeley, California, but he has a plan to win them back. That is, if he isn't derailed by aliens, psychic traitors, or his new wife.

    The Game-Players of Titan is both satire and adventure, examining the ties that bind people together and the maddening peccadilloes of bureaucracy, whether the bureaucrats are humans or alien slugs.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 23, 2012
    ISBN9781469251714
    Author

    Philip K. Dick

    Over a writing career that spanned three decades, PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned to deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film, notably Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, as well as television's The Man in the High Castle. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, including the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and between 2007 and 2009, the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

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    Reviews for The Game-Players of Titan

    4/5

    15 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      In this PKD book in a post-apocalyptic, depopulated world dominated by the Vugs of Titan the survivors playing a Monopoly-like board game to determine who owns the various cities. But it's a PKD book so it's not so simple. There is treason, drugs, changing reality.... a great PKD style fun!
    • 4/5
      Very strange, even for Dick. Familiar themese of the nature of reality, humanity, madness & drugs inevitably pop up, but I'm not sure the plot based around a futuristic game of Monopoly for keeps with an alien race is actually consistent. Though I was loaded when I read it. Still, all great fun as always.
    • 3/5
      3.5/5

      Sulla terra convivono terrestri e titaniani dopo la guerra tra America e Cina. A causa delle armi usate gli umani sono per la maggior parte sterili e solo alcune combinazioni fortunate portano a nuove nascite.
      Le combinazioni sono decise, così come la divisione delle città, dal Gioco introdotto dai titaniani sulla Terra (che poi è il Monopoli modificato e reso meno noioso).
      Il romanzo ha un inizio rilassato con la perdita di Berkley da parte di Pete e l'arrivo di Luckman nei tavoli di gioco californiani, poi, dopo una brusca svolta, aumenta il ritmo degli eventi narrati.
      Molti temi sono quelli classici di Dick come la confusione rispetto alla realtà e le allucinazioni che ne derivano, il concetto di simulacri come inganno, la presenza di pre-cog e il gioco come distrazione dalla sconfortante realtà.
      La parte conclusiva è forse un po' sbrigativa e poteva essere resa più chiaramente, in generale l'ho trovato un buon romanzo e una buona partenza per chi non ha mai letto nulla dell'autore.

      ---
      On Earth both terrestrial and titanians are living after the war between America and Cina. The weapons used on that war had as consequence the sterility of most human beings and a few couple combinations are luck enough to give birth.
      These combinations are decided, as the city owning, by the Game introduced on Earth by the titanians (that it is basically the Monopoly game modified to be less boring).
      The beginning of the novel is quite slow with Pete losing Berkely and Luckman coming to play the Game in California, then there is a turnover point after which the plot becomes more entertaining.
      There are some themes common in Dick's novels like the confusion about reality and the consequent hallucinatory states, the simulacra and pre-cog presence and the game as a distraction from the actual discomforting reality.
      In my opinion the conclusion is too hurried, in general I found this a good novel and a good starting point for who has not read anything by this author.


    • 5/5
      As another rater said, you either like PKD or hate him. I actually like this one. It starts rather slow but picks up momentum as it goes. The game playing is a simplistic Monopoly, but what else did they really have back in 1963? Lots of shifting realities, sassy back talking cars, and talk of the Rushmore effect. The beginning reminded me of Demolished Man by Alfed Bester, but I lost that vibe about half way through. It also had the feeling of a futuristic detective story. I read the Gregg Press version of the book, which had an excellent intro piece by Robert Thurston. I have found it better to read it after I finish the book though, because it gives away too much of the plot. Excellent insight though
    • 3/5
      I suspect Philip K Dick is one of those love him or hate him writers and I suspect I'm going to fall into the latter category.On the evidence of this book, he appears to like the weird for the sake of it being weird and not to worry too much about making it all hang together rationally.One of the central concepts of the book is who is human and who is alien, but the writer appears to be very inconsistent as to whether humans are being replaced by aliens or simply shifting their allegiance to be aligned with aliens, or are being telepathically controlled by aliens. The mish-mash leads to confusion on the reader's part.My other main complaint is that the book focuses on the game that is played by the Titanians and is central to their culture and is played avidly by many humans as well. Now, I know this book was written back in 1973 back before the modern revolution in board games, but I'm still vastly disappointed by futuristic board game that is on the level of "A roll of seven lands you on 'Your rich grandmother dies and leaves you $20,000'". The only skill element in the game is the option to bluff about you die roll.As games go, even for that period, this is greatly lacking in both imagination and playability. It hasn't got anything approaching the tactical/skill level of bridge or poker, both of which were around at the time (and still are, precisely because they are interesting games).
    • 4/5
      Great fun reading this one. A greatly depopulated earth is occupied by the Vugs - natives of Jupiter moon Titan- amoeba like creatures who communicate with Terrans via telepathy. The Vugs oversee the playing of Bluff, a monopoly like board game in which the stakes are the real cities of earth. The point of the game is to match male and female players in the hope they can reproduce and thereby have "luck". When a top notch player with great "luck" is murdered, the novel takes off with the lines between Vugs and Terrans blurred, and the familiar Dick theme of shifting reality explored. The novel culminates with a Bluff game on Titan between the undermatched Terrans and the mind reading Vugs, the outcome of which will determine Earth's fate.