I just finished reading this quite strange Philip K Dick novel. The setup and start is quite slow as we see a typical Dick "everyman" Nick Appleton take his son for psi testing which is rumoured to be fixed so that only "New Men" can obtain positions of power. Over the start we find out that earth is ruled by various people including the "Unusual" which has psychic abilities and the New men which have super intelligence. The rest of the population is considered the "old Men" and are just normal humans at the bottom rung of the ladder. We also find out that one famous Old man Thors Provini who lead some sort of rebellion has gone into deep space and will return to overthrow the leaders. Provini does return with the help of a alien and things get weirder...

This I think is Dicks most broadly written satirical book as the despotic leader is like a cartoon character. Dick also manages to throw in his "dark hairded girl the main character is obsessed with" which could be the first incarnation of the manic pixe type girl stereotype.

The book picks up the closer Provini gets to Earth and is a good read overall. I liked it as a Dick fan but its NOT typical Dick in many ways