Author of 26 novels and 112 short stories, Philip K. Dick started his career as a science fiction writer in 1952. He was awarded the Hugo Award, a presentation made by fans, for his novel The Man in the High Castle in 1962, but he had to wait until the late 1970s to receive critical acclaim rivalling his popular reputation. His novels are uneven in quality, most containing powerful social satire. Dick has been immensely influential in contemporary science fiction writing, identifying many of the prominent concerns of cyberpunk, particularly consumerism, the cyborg, issues surrounding memory, surveillance, and mediated or artificial reality. Bladerunner (1982), the film version of his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), has become a central reference point for critical discussions of both science fiction and modern technologically driven society.

Dick's career can be roughly divided into three main stages. In the 1950s...