I first read Valis as a freshman in high school. I can't imagine I got much out of it then, and in the years since I had forgotten most of the details of the plot. I did know that it was the clearest statement of Dick's Gnosticism but a lot of the details had gotten fuzzy with time. After reading The Invisibles I figured it was probably time to revisit Valis. If anything, rereading it diminished my appreciation of The Invisibles, since the latter now looks like little more than an action story set in the universe of the Valis trilogy, with some Discordianism thrown in for good measure. Anyway, like the best of Dick's novels, Valis gets under your skin. You can't help but look at the universe a little differently. It's not the easiest novel to read, because it's basically a philosophical novel — and Dick's personal philosophy was eclectic in the extreme. Nevertheless, this novel is important for understanding not just Dick's later novels but a lot of science fiction made since its publication.