The Dice Man

The Dice Man

First edition cover
Author	Luke Rhinehart
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	William Morrow
Publication date	1971
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	500 pp. (paperback edition)
ISBN	(2003 paperback edition)
OCLC	59367330
Followed by	The Search for the Dice Man

The Dice Man is a novel published in 1971 by George Cockcroft under the pen name Luke Rhinehart and tells the story of a psychiatrist who begins making life decisions based on the casting of dice. Cockcroft wrote the book based on his own experiences of using dice to make decisions while studying psychology. The novel is noted for its subversion, anti-psychiatry sentiments and for reflecting moods of the early 1970s. Due to its subversive nature and chapters concerned with controversial issues such as rape, murder and sexual experimentation, it was banned in several countries. Upon its initial publication, the cover bore the confident subheader, "Few novels can change your life. This one will" and quickly became a modern cult classic. The book went through a number of republishings - in the United States it acquired the even more confident subheader "This book will change your life", in spite of its being a highly edited version of the original. It was initially less successful than in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia.

The themes of the book are continued in two other novels, The Search for the Dice Man and Adventures of Wim and a companion title, The Book of the Die.

The book tells the story of a psychiatrist named Luke Rhinehart who, feeling bored and unfulfilled in life, starts making decisions based on the roll of a die. Along the way, there is sex, rape, murder, "dice parties", breakouts by psychiatric patients, and various corporate and governmental machines being put into a spin. There is also a description of the cult that starts to develop around the man, and the psychological research he initiates, such as the "Fuck without Fear for Fun and Profit" program.