Isn’t that book cover supremely ugly? This book is a nice thought experiment, though as often with Dick, the execution could use work. It takes quite a long time to get into, though the concepts are there. I read this in preparation for the new movie (the Linklater film with the rotoscoped animation), and saw that the day after I finished this quick novel. Linklater knew what he was doing when he scripted that movie, and I think he took the best parts of the book (much of the movie is nearly word for word) and even cleared up the meaning. So, read the book if you want, but in this rare case, just go watch the movie.