Review of Treasure Island

  Treasure Island (Dover Thrift Editions)

   Pirates are the endurable symbol of man’s desire for freedom from restriction and the cost of such freedom. They are one of the few mythic archetypes in literature that can be both the villain of the story as well as the protagonist thanks in large part to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Few adventure stories have had such a wide-ranging impact on storytelling and popular culture. While Stevenson did not invent the swashbuckling genre, the argument can be made that he made a swashbuckling story that is close to perfect.

Review of A Scanner Darkly

     A Scanner Darkly

     When one reads any story written by Philip K. Dick, one expects certain themes and situations to appear. An example would be the question: What constitutes reality? In A Scanner Darkly, Dick uses drug culture and the often-debilitating effects of drug abuse to take the reader through a journey into a fracturing mind. It is an honest portrayal of the cost of experiencing life through the distorted mirror of altered states of consciousness. It is also one of the most personal stories written by the late Philip K. Dick, based largely on the people he encountered during his own lost times.