Philip K. Dick (Pocket Essentials, Revised and Updated) is a critical guide by Andrew M. Butler, published by Pocket Essentials (an imprint of Oldcastle Books) in 2007 in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK. ISBN 978-1-904048-92-3. The book is part of the Pocket Essentials series, which includes volumes on Cyberpunk, Terry Pratchett, Film Studies, and Postmodernism.
At 161 pages, this revised and updated edition provides an accessible yet scholarly introduction to Dick's major works and themes. Butler is one of the most prominent Dick scholars in the field, having completed a doctoral thesis on ontology and ethics in Dick's writings at the University of Hull in 1995. This Pocket Essentials guide represents the distillation of Butler's extensive scholarly engagement with Dick's work into a format accessible to general readers.
The book was typeset by Avocet Typeset and printed by Cox & Wyman in Reading. As a revised and updated edition, it incorporates developments in Dick scholarship and cultural reception since the original publication, making it a useful entry point for new readers discovering Dick's work.