Anden udgave

by Philip K. Dick

Paper Book, 1982

Status

Available

Call number

813

Library's review

Jorden, nærmeste fremtid
I næste krig udvikler amerikanerne robotfabrikker der laver krigsrobotter - de nyeste varianter ligner mennesker og er tæt på at udrydde alle mennesker der ikke har søgt tilflugt på månebasen - pigen Tasso hjælper soldaten Hendrick med at finde ud af hvordan variant
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nr II ser ud.

Fremragende novelle, der her er peppet op med illustrationer af Ole E. Petterson
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Publication

[Kbh.] Tangentforlaget 1982 48 s. ill. 27 cm Originalversionen hedder "Second variety".

Description

In the aftermath of a devastating nuclear war between the United Nations and the Soviet Union, sophisticated robots--nicknamed "claws"--are created to destroy what remains of human life. Left to their own devices, however, the claws develop robots of their own. II-V, the second variety, remains unknown to the few humans left on Earth. Or does it? Philip K. Dick was an American science-fiction novelist, short-story writer and essayist. His first short story, "Beyond Lies the Wub," was published shortly after his high school graduation. Some of his most famous short stories were adapted for film, including "The Minority Report," "Paycheck," "Second Variety" (adapted into the film Screamers) and "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" (adapted into the film Total Recall). HarperCollins brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperCollins short-stories collection to build your digital library.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member salimbol
As intelligent and prophetic as most of Dick's work, this second collection of his short stories nevertheless feels like his second best, lacking the number of top notch stories that appeared in the first collection, "Beyond Lies The Wub". More than a little repetitive, and the relentlessly
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masculine worlds they depict, with women simply there to either be decorative, hand-wringing or supportive, grow stale pretty quickly.
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LibraryThing member jimocracy
This was, by far, my favorite story from this author. It was gripping from beginning to end and literally had me on the edge of my seat.
LibraryThing member DrLed
Synopsis: The Russians and the Americans are at war, but they have developed robots that do most of the fighting for them. However, these robots have evolved, on both sides, to become more and more human-like. They are now difficult to tell from real humans. The positive outcome is that they have
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also developed a hatred for each other and are preparing to fight each other.
Review: This 1953 Space and Science Fiction story holds no hope that the wars will end, but puts forth the idea that humans will be destroyed by the machines they invent.
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LibraryThing member Stevil2001
The second volume of Philip K. Dick's complete short stories has been variously published under the titles Second Variety, We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (not actually included in the 1999 Gollancz edition I have, and confusingly also the title of volume five in the Gollancz editions), and
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Adjustment Team, and contains stories originally published from 1953 to '55 (the collections overlap in publication date a little bit because they are collected in sequence of composition).

I didn't find this quite as strong as the first volume. There are a lot of fantasy stories in this one, which are less to my taste, and a few too many stories where some spooky happens at the end and then the story stops, also a few too many stories about people exploring space. Which is usually my favorite subgenre of sf, but not one that plays to Dick's strengths. Some are undermined by seventy years of subsequent science fiction: "Second Variety" could be great, but if you've read later stuff, or even just another stuff by Dick, you'll see the twist coming. A similar complaint can be lodged at some of the time travel stuff here. Some of the stories have good concepts but don't totally convince on the worldbuilding, like one about a father in a world where robots do the childrearing... only he's somehow never heard of this dramatic change in social norms, or another about robots that are discriminating against humans, but ends up making everything too easy for a human to push against it.

That said, when Dick hits, he scores. There's some good satire of military imperialism in "Some Kind of Life," where every year some new excuse is thought of for good Terrans to go off to war—for the benefit of the Earth economy, of course. "The World She Wanted" is a weird story about someone convinced she can arrange the world the way she wants... and maybe she really can! "Breakfast at Twilight" is a neat glimpse of an ordinary suburban family suddenly plunged into a world at war. "Human Is" is a little bit predictable but effective all the same, about a man who may have been replaced by an alien. Dick loves this theme, of course; "Human Is" focuses on a wife uncertain about her husband but there's another where the replaced person themself is uncertain. On slightly similar lines, there's "Small Town" about a guy who obsessively builds a model of the town he lives in in his house's basement, taking out his dissatisfaction with his real life on the model...

My favorite here, though, was "The Commuter," where the main character begins slipping into another world, a world where a commuter town was built in the suburbs that never existed in his own. Like Dick's best stories, it captures the unease and uncertainty of modern life.
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Subjects

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1987

Physical description

48 p.; 26.9 cm

ISBN

8788344002 / 9788788344004

Local notes

Omslag: Ole E. Petterson
Omslaget viser hovedpersonen, der kommunikerer med basen på Månen
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra amerikansk "Second Variety" af Ole E. Petterson
Gutenberg, bind 32032

Other editions

Similar in this library

Pages

48

Library's rating

Rating

½ (136 ratings; 4)

DDC/MDS

813
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