Philip K. Dick, in full Philip Kindred Dick, (born December 16, 1928, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.—died March 2, 1982, Santa Ana, California), American science-fiction writer whose novels and short stories often depict the psychological struggles of characters trapped in illusory environments. Dick worked briefly in radio before studying at the University of California, Berkeley, for one year. The publication of his first story, “Beyond Lies the Wub,” in 1952 launched his full-time writing career, which was marked by extraordinary productivity, as he oftentimes completed a new work, usually a short story or a novella, every two weeks for printing in pulp paperback collections. He published his first novel, Solar Lottery, in 1955. Early in Dick’s work the theme emerged that would remain his central preoccupation—that of a reality at variance with what it appeared or was intended to be. In such novels as Time out of Joint (1959), The Man in the High Castle (1962; Hugo Award winner; television series 2015–19), and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965), the protagonists must determine their own orientation in an “alternate world.” Beginning with The Simulacra (1964) and culminating in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968; adapted for film as Blade Runner [1982]), the illusion centres on artificial creatures at large and grappling with what is authentic in a real world of the future.

“The true measure of a man is not his intelligence or how high he rises in this freak establishment. No, the true measure of a man is this: how quickly can he respond to the needs of others and how much of himself he can give.”

― Philip K. Dick