Hey, at least they're stealing quality.

What books might one like to read while stoned or on various drugs?

As a comic fan I understand why you would steal a 25-30 dollar graphic novel. They don't carry them in most libraries and they will take you a sliver of the time to read as a long novel that costs half as much. I'm not condoning it, but it is why I will probably never read "Y the Last Man" at this point, because I'd have to fork out over a $100 to get the whole story.

As for the Dick? Who knows. I recently bought High Castle for about 12 dollars.. a bargin.

you can't find them discounted or in used bookstores because no one resells them.

@gfburke: And we have confused pissed off teens FTW. Good job. Mystery solved.

"Shoplifters", yeah,right!!! Obviously agents of a vast inter-dimensional conspiracy are removing PKD's "fiction" to keep us ignorant of "the Truth"!!!!!
WAKE UP YOU FOOLS!!!!!!!!!! DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT...
(flash of pink light & muffled thump)

@Grey_Area: Quick! Get that man a brain implant!

(now typing in a strangely subdued monotone fashion)
well, i suppose some deluded unfortunate younsters insist on rebelling against society. it's a shame really.

@Grey_Area: See how everything is alright when you take keep the fluid topped up in that cortical funnel?

Both gfburke's and Constant's explanations sound likely.I'm guessing there's often a combination of those two.

However, the only person I know who shoplifts books is an adult woman, and she says it makes her feel like she's "getting back" at the world/man for past hardships. They're not sci-fi, though.

@Grey_Area: I need an ax

i went to a bookstore in Toronto looking for The Man in the High Castle and I was just about to give up but asked, and the lady said they have to keep most of his stuff in the back because it's always getting stolen. wierrrrrrd.

i know a great place to shoplift them. it's called "the chop shop" on 3rd ave. next to "x'r'us". or try "mary's axes".

Shoplifting: A unregistered trans-human interaction of media in exchange for other media. Ah... shit they are just cutting out the middleman. The middleman (hey what a great title for a new graphics novel...mmm) Me thinks thats a very good idea. . . "Please don't drink and blog, a publik announcement, Thank you."

Also, going along with the whole young white male thing (though obviously, those aren't sci-fi's sole audience), I think sci-fi and genre graphic novels have more of an air of "rebellion" about them, both within plots and in discussion about sci-fi itself. "I'm going against the system!" "Cory Doctorow says it should be free!"

Also, sci-fi/genre stories are often wish-fullfillment for young males (okay, a bit of a stereotype that's becoming outdated, but still). There's a plethora of "take no shit" male rebels in sci-fi so maybe readers feel that by doing something so incredibly "daring," they're a part of that?

I think Dick would be ok with this news. Of course, then he'd start to wonder if he was stealing them himself.

I'd agree with your source, figuring it's the same reason video games are so often stolen. Many young males (it's hard to tell ethnicity from chat comments) appear to believe they're "owed" something, or that if it's available they should be allowed to take whatever they can get away with, and at least when justifying their stealing of games (based on Kotaku comments) price appears to also play a large role in their excuses. Assuming these are the same people, the fact that they own computers able to play said games would target them fairly solidly in that middle-class "I feel like I'm fighting the Man without actually risking anything" demographic. Of course, their inability to figure out who they're actually damaging quite nicely slots them into the "young" category.

I don't know what the big deal is. Hollywood has been ripping off Phillip Dick for years.

Is it just that the books disapppear and are assumed stolen?

I'm sure glad my work is protected ;D

@Garrison Dean: You could probably find PDFs of them somewhere. A little harder to track down with Demonoid gone, and not the ideal reading method, but it works for stuff you want to read but would never pay for. I use it to catch up on the 18 trillion different titles in some lame crossover I'm mildly interested in.

Y: The Last Man SHOULD be paid for.
Because it's that damn good.

As should anything by PKD.

After reading the comments I'm feel extra lucky. Here in Ann Arbor the library has a whole graphic novel section. The librarians used to come into the shop all the time to see if there was anything new they should add to the section. After awhile they just asked the owner of the Vault of Midnight to act as a curator of sorts.

I blame academia. I had to read The Man in the High Castle for a pop culture class. And yes, before anyone asks, I paid for it.

I always start looking through the PKD books, and then ultimately put them down because they are usually more expensive than most of the other paperbacks. That was the first thing I thought of when I read this headline: it's most likely a matter of economics. There's at least a dozen of them, and the most common editions all cost more than $10.

@Garrison Dean: Nice.

@Little Time Bomb: What in all of universal spaces is the Vault of Midnight?

@Zapp Brannigan's Girdle: Hahaha

Sounds like some convenient scapegoating. If the shopkeepers are managing to keep demographic profiles of the thieves, why aren't they managing to catch them?

@zeppelined: I will try that. Thanks.

@Plague: If that doesn't work I'll do it your legal/boring way. Frakkin good twins... so annoying.

@fartron: Having known a few people who worked at bookstores, they are quite capable of catching them. It's just that the stores have no chase policies and all this other stuff. So basically if you steal something, no one is going to do anything about it.

Yeah, you can never find PKD books in used bookstores because they are so damn good. People I know that I'd never guess as sf fans have several
of those unmistakable paperbacks lined up on their shelves. Once someone reads one, they tend to go through a dozen more, which is tough at $12 each.

I'd be interested in seeing a strictly sci-fi list of frequently stolen books, as I imagine the wonky stuff isn't stolen nearly as often as the more hallucinary. And to call PKD's fanbase "geeks" forgets his appeal with gutter punks, druggies, mental ill, and general crazies. And isn't that why we love him?

The World Jones Made is my favorite book. I bought a Scanner Darkly way before the movie came out and never finished it, and found it strangely enough in the trunk of my car last week and started rereading it.

you would think Hunter S. Thompson would be up there on the list.

Manga I could see being lifted since it's flooded the market in the past 10 years. There's so damn much to it/ multiple volumes being released really quick. But most American comics publish so slowly you can get the money if you keep your list of trades to a minimum.

I've worked at bookstores for the last seven years, and I can confirm that Dick is indeed a hot item for the book thieves of the world, as is Hunter S. Thompson, Graphic Novels, Burroughs or any other Beat author, Chuck Palanuck, and computer manuals.

I wish I could say that it's about reading and good taste, but most book thieves are about stealing the books at location A, and then selling them at location B (the really dumb ones try to sell them at location A), and getting money for whatever the poor bastards are addicted to.

@ urukhaifive: We don't need to chase them. Most of them keep coming back until they get caught, which doesn't take long as most of them aren't the sharpest sword on the rack to begin with

Man, a Dick book costs two LeGuins and a Gibson here.

PKD junkies just keep needing their next fix!

@extracrispy: That was great. :)

Yeah, I'd go with the cost as for why his books (and graphic novels) are stolen more frequently. Most people who love to read and go to a bookstore - instead of the library - are willing to shell out some money. But those books are ridiculously pricey. With graphic novels it makes sense due to artwork and such. But PKD's books need to be released in a cheaper format! We're not all made of money.

Granted, I have never stolen a book. I go to independent bookstores and would feel terrible for ripping them off. A chain like Barnes and Noble or Borders would be a completely different story .....if they even had anything I wanted.....

Hmmm, interesting. The B & Ns and Borders in my area sell PKD. Guess I'm lucky.

the B&N in union square keeps them on the top shelf

this actually lost them my sale once because initially i couldn't find an employee to help me get one down. when i did, she explained the PKD theft issue to me.

i like to take my time browsing anyway and i wouldn't want to be all "can you get this one for me, hmmmm no... ok now can you get this other one down... etc"

Philip is too repetitive to me. You only need to steal one. Maybe Ubik. If you steal more than 1, you are a dirty sick :DD