So many books, so little time

I finished reading it weeks ago, but it just keeps circling back around in my head. This is one of those books that I know will change the way I think for years to come, and gave me a new sense of empathy for what addiction feels like.

Here's the setup (no spoilers, in tags just in case you like to go in totally blank slate):

Substance D is a new drug sweeping the nation and slowly destroying the minds of its users. As the connection between the two halves of their brains degrades, they grow increasingly disoriented and confused before suffering irreversible brain damage.

Fred is an undercover narcotics agent working to uncover where the new drug is coming from. But to find the source he has to pose as Bob Arctor, a user, and soon Arctor is as addicted as the junkies around him. Can he see through his paranoia long enough to tell which leads are real and which imagined? Or will he be consumed, like his friends, by substance D?

Despite the gritty, near-future setting and the serious themes, the book is funny pretty frequently because the dialogue is so good. Our characters may be drugs addicts spiraling into addiction, but that doesn't mean they don't act like normal friends ribbing each other and cracking jokes - at least when the times are good.

There is some very cool stuff here about the theory of the mind and brain physiology/biology. and even better, those facts perfectly set the stage for the twist halfway through the book so that it feels surprising but also totally in keeping with those (real) brain facts that were dropped along the way.

A big part of the reason the book feels so real is probably because it is real - Dick has said all the books he wrote before 1970 he wrote on amphetamines, and Scanner Darkly was written as a reflection of his time as an addict, and was the first book he wrote sober. He dedicates the book in an afterword to his friends who died or suffered irreversible brain damage from drug use - and the list is way too long. It hit so hard it made me tear up (literally, not figuratively).

If you want one of those rare books that helps you see the world through someone else's eyes (while being wildly entertaining at the same time), this is it!

Part of a series of posts covering the best sci-fi books of all time for the Hugonauts. If you're interested in a deeper discussion about the book and similar book recommendations, search 'Hugonauts scifi' on your podcast app of choice or YouTube. No ads, just trying to spread the love of good books!