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Title: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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Manufacturer: Del Rey
List Price: $13.95
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| Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Del Rey Hit me with a rock - this is NOT Blade Runner! | If you think you know what this book is about because you've seen the movie Blade Runner, you are mistaken. Only the character names and some of the settings / situations were lifted from this book for the movie. As in most books, there is a lot more going on here. Because the movie is so highly engrained in our (real?) memories, it is difficult to talk about one without contrasting it to the other, sadly. That said, this is a classic that any SF fan (philosophy major, medical student, or engineer) should read.
Blade Runner completely missed the invented religion / technology of Mercerism and the mood organ device. Later authors like William Gibson have PKD to thank for pioneering concepts such as these. How can a religion and technology be one?
In the book, Mercerism combined with nuclear fallout explain why animals are so expensive (and coveted) in the future. Why does an electric sheep exist (pride, vanity, religious devotion)? The mood organ usage contains references to the cold war (and presumed imminent nuclear war) - husband and wife "dialing up" the desire to win an argument at all costs.
The double yellow center line between human and androids is blurred often- taking the reader across into oncoming traffic. Did Deckard pass the VK test? Rachel and Pris are the same model android? What does it mean to have feelings? Why would an android seek revenge?
This was my first Kindle novel purchase. I no longer have a desire to dial 888 on my mood organ (desire to watch TV regardless of what is on). I'm going to dial up more PKD, Gibson, and others instead!
BTW, to get the "Hit me with a rock" reference, you have to read the book... | | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Del Rey good | | Philip K Dick did very well on this book. I was a little dissapointed though in the fact that the retirement of the Nexus 6 was straight to the point and quick unlike the movie Blade Runner where there was more suspense. But with the exception of that it is a quick read and brilliant. | | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Del Rey Do Androids Drem of Electric Sheep? | I loved this book. It was so different from the film, Blade Runner, which was loosely based on the book and entertaining in its own right. It showed a post apocalyptic time that answered many of the questions the film posed. In this book Deckard has a wife and an android sheep which are props to show you how the people of the future think, function and feel. It is great entertainment with a thought provoking feel to it. Can people of the future really relay on things and ideas we have not thought of yet? I am now reading the follow up books.
J | | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Del Rey Pretty good | With very few exceptions, literary visions of the future are bleak and dystopian. Science fiction literature it seems wants to instill fear into the minds of its readers, or at least make the reader extremely cautious to the dangers of "technology run amok." It is difficult to say what motivates the authors to present the future in this fashion. But from the standpoint the marketplace it certainly is a formula that works, as is readily apparent by its wide readership. And the authors, these provocateurs of the amygdala, continue to put more of this anti-technological diatribe on paper.
This book, first published in 1968, represents one of such works, but in spite of this it turns out to be very insightful into the current technological morass called the twenty-first century. All of the characters in the book, human and otherwise, represent many of the moods and concerns of the twenty-first century citizen. The devastating third world war of this book did not happen but the anxieties that some feel about technology are reflected in this book in the killing of the androids (the "andys") and the fear that the "empathy box" may change one's identity permanently. Indeed, the events in this book have their analogs today in the purposeful destruction of genetically engineered crops by some fanatical groups and the research labs that produce them, and also in the misguided legislation that has attempted to thwart developments in genetics and molecular biology. Those who carry out these activities evidently do not foresee their consequences to human health, and have no empathy it seems for those who may starve or die because of the lack of food or medicines brought about by genetic engineering (perhaps they need an empathy box of the sort described in this book to assist them in gaining insight into their actions).
This story can still be enjoyed however by those readers who strongly advocate technological advance and are proud of human accomplishments in this regard. This is so because it is a kind of adventure story, and will make such readers salivate at the mouth when it discusses robotic ("electric") animals, human colonies on Mars, videophones, and hover cars. In addition, the author it seems had a rudimentary knowledge of cognitive neuroscience, at least at the level of what was available at the time of publication. And without conscious awareness perhaps, the reader can feel empathy for the androids, which must constantly face the prospect of execution or an irreversible four-year lifespan. Perhaps an update of this story is in order, but perhaps not. After all, this is the twenty-first century, and one need only pick up a technical journal or newspaper to read about technological developments that are much more exciting than what is contained in this story. And thankfully there is more ahead, much, much more. | | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Del Rey And then THIS suddenly happened! And then THIS happened, and then it was over! | Coming off "Blade Runner", I expected the book to be a masterpiece, with deeper philosophical insight. I knew from the start the vast amount of differences from book and movie. And quite frankly, they are separate stories.
I easily figured out by the end of the book the meaning of Deckard's electric sheep and why he was ashamed of it, his constant quest for real animals, and his sudden liking of the electric toad he finds at the end of the book, regardless of its authenticity, but really that was the only interesting philosophy and change of character that was neatly done and very expertly.
The story is an absolute mess. Taking place over only one day, Deckard is given a bounty hunting job to take out six androids after Dave Holden is nearly killed by one after retiring two himself. Deckard almost immediately runs into Polokov (BR fans, think Leon Kowalski) and retires him. He then goes to find Luba Luft (BR fans, think Zhora), hears her music, and is raptured. Then he barges into her dressing room, forces her to take a Voigt-Kampff test, and she calls the police, leading to this really poorly executed attempt to get rid of Deckard and an android plot.
According to the documentaries in the Blade Runner Final Cut, they claim there is a part in the book where Deckard is lead into this hidden world where people think he is an android killing people and convincing himself they are the androids, an implication that Deckard might be a replicant in the movie, as he may be an android in the book.
This implication never existed. Deckard is taken to this apparently parallel police station where everyone but the bounty hunter Phil Desch are androids, and no one knows they are there. An entire building full of androids and no one even realizes it. There's some confused and awkward dialogue between Deckard and Garland, another of his targeted androids, leading to Phil retiring Garland. There's then some awkward interaction where Deckard thinks Phil is an android, and Phil waxes philosophical on life which is a bit nonsensical when left open and unrefined. Deckard builds on this with a realization of growing empathy towards androids.
Some scenes compared with the movie are sloppily done, with a sense of the author not really wanting to do them, but rushing through them in a film-script summary sort of manner. For example, his giving the Voigt-Kampff test to Rachael Rosen (BR fans, think Tyrell), and when the results point to her being an android, there's a whole "Clue" climax back-and-forth with an "AHA! But Rachael was born on a space ship and wasn't raised with the same morals as humans. AHA! The Voigt-Kampff test didn't work! AHA! We recorded the session to screw your assignment, Deckard" and Deckard "AHA! One last question. AHA! You really ARE an android! AHA! You tried to trick me but failed!" Of course, not literally going like that, but it certainly progresses at that sort of reckless pace without giving the reader time to digest the events.
Most events in the book progress like this, with much of the author's focus being on esoteric, rambling philosophy he doesn't bother to put a conclusion to. The religion of Mercerism, for example, isn't explained that it revolves around an apparently real person on an apparently real planet, who apparently needs no food or water, and apparently walks up and down a mountain while invisible "Killers" throw a rock at him every time he reaches the top, which you catch upon as the book progresses. People go to their empathy boxes, which tunes their brainwaves or something to Mercer's brain, and people can empathize with him. By the end of the book, the android 46-hour-a-day radio and TV performer Buster Friendly proves that Mercer isn't real, just an actor who filmed some esoteric footage of him walking up a hill and getting hit by a rock, and this suddenly becomes the basis of an entire religion. And for some never explained reason, Mercer appears in reality to talk to Deckard and others.
The androids, specifically Roy and Irmgard Baty, and Pris Stratton, become almost insignificant. The author especially acknowledges this as Deckard easily and almost carelessly kills them one by one without any sort of fight. Deckard has this problem with killing Pris because she's identical to Rachael in model, and he's fallen in love with Rachael and had sex with her, and Pris will be the hardest of them all to kill because she looks like Rachael. Deckard blows her away in half a second without much thought, then ALL OF A SUDDEN "Oh my god, I did it, I overcame, the worst is over, etcetera etceteree." and happily goes on to kill Roy and Irmgard in about a page or two. He also proves to be a complete idiot with regards to his job, as he encounters JR Isidore (BR fans, think JF Sebastian), who tells him he's housing the androids and refuses to tell Deckard where his apartment is, so Deckard says forget it and goes to explore a THOUSAND ROOM APARTMENT BUILDING on his own to find the androids.
Also, Deckard bought a goat with half his bounty money, and for some completely random and unexplained reason, Rachael comes and kills it.
From the start, I had high hopes and expectations, seeing a clear theme emerging, now common in some science fiction, about computerization, materilization, the loss of emotions, and the empathy of androids and humans. By the end, it devolved into a random esoteric scribbling and rambling of a man thinking he's on to something philosophical, then goes for a bathroom break and forgets everything he's thought up, so he finishes up the book without concluding a damn thing but one; Deckard's empathy towards androids. | | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Del Rey Product Description | "The most consistently brilliant science fiction writer in the world."
--John Brunner
THE INSPIRATION FOR BLADERUNNER. . .
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was published in 1968. Grim and foreboding, even today it is a masterpiece ahead of its time.
By 2021, the World War had killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remained coveted any living creature, and for people who couldn't afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacrae: horses, birds, cats, sheep. . .
They even built humans.
Emigrees to Mars received androids so sophisticated it was impossible to tell them from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans could wreak, the government banned them from Earth. But when androids didn't want to be identified, they just blended in.
Rick Deckard was an officially sanctioned bounty hunter whose job was to find rogue androids, and to retire them. But cornered, androids tended to fight back, with deadly results.
"[Dick] sees all the sparkling and terrifying possibilities. . . that other authors shy away from."
--Paul Williams
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