Reading:
Started on February 7, 2005. Actually, read in one day, in about
an hour and a half.
Specs:
Dick, Philip K., Minority Report,
published by Pontheon Books (copyright by Random House) in New York
in 2002. The story was written sometime in the early 1950's.
Finding information about this book was very difficult because of the
strange format of the book.
Overview:
This book is similar to the movie only in that there is a
department of precrime, and precogs. In the book the precogs are
idiot sevants, and many exist. However, three are required by the
police for homocide.
The chief of police, who is on the verge of retiring, is presented
with a card (they use cards, not balls) indicating he is going to
murder someone. It is not anyone he knows.
Being made aware of the murder, he runs. He is assisted by an
unknown person, who claims his wife and the new commissioner set him
up. He steals back into the precogs, and gets the original tapes,
and discovers there is a minority report. In addition, there are
major discrepancies in the two majority
reports.
When the man assisting him tries to kill his wife, he decides he's
lying, and knocks him senseless. Then he discovers he works for the
man he is supposed to kill, who is out to discredit the police.
In fact, there are three minority reports. The first says he will
kill the guy, an ex-army general who is trying to establish martial
law, when he first learns of him. The second, taking the first into
account, says that since he knows the first report exists he will
specifically not kill the guy. The third takes into account the
first two, and says he will kill him in order to prevent the
discrediting of the system. It is correct, as the general reads the
three reports in public, realizing too late that the police chief has
a gun, as the report indicates, and will kill him.
It is interesting in that it presents a paradox: if the
protagonist knows he will kill, then he won't, but
if he knows he won't he will to prevent the police from being
discredited.
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