World War Terminus had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn't 'retiring' them with his laser weapon, he dreamed of owning a live animal -- the ultimate status symbol in a world all but bereft of animal life. Then Rick got his chance: the assignment to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But in Deckard's world things were never that simple, and his assignment quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit -- and the threat of death for the hunter rather than the hunted...
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a book that most people think they remember and almost always get more or less wrong. Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner took a lot from it, and threw a lot away. Wonderful in itself, the film is a flash thriller, whereas Dick's novel is a sober meditation. As we all know, bounty hunter Rick Deckard is stalking a group of androids who have returned from space with short life spans and murder on their minds--where Scott's Deckard was Harrison Ford, Dick's is a financially strapped municipal employee with bills to pay and a depressed wife. In a world where most animals have died, and pet keeping is a social duty, he can only afford a robot imitation, unless he gets a big financial break.
The genetically warped "chickenhead" John Isidore has visions of a tomb-world where entropy has finally won. And everyone plugs in to the spiritual agony of Mercer, whose sufferings for the sins of humanity are broadcast several times a day. Prefiguring the religious obsessions of Dick's last novels, this book asks dark questions about identity and altruism. After all, is it right to kill the killers just because Mercer says so? --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an alternate Mass Market Paperback edition.
From the Publisher
The classic novel behind the cult film classic directed by Ridley Scott. As atmospheric and even more compelling than the film. A dystopian tour de force.
--Fred Dodnick, Vice President, Director of Trade Production --This text refers to an alternate Mass Market Paperback edition.
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irritability had risen, now; had become outright hostility. Iran said,"Just those poor andys." Read the first page
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irritability had risen, now; had become outright hostility. Iran said,"Just those poor andys." Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Really interesting, thought provoking read. It frames nicely some of the questions we are starting to deal with with artificial intelligence. At what point does a computer program become a person? With legal standing? I have an iPhone, is Siri a person? I don't think so, yet, but as the programming develops, and processing power expands...
This book addresses some of the same issues as Ray Kurzweil's "Age of Spiritual Machines"
This book addresses some of the same issues as Ray Kurzweil's "Age of Spiritual Machines"
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Nadia555
Format:Paperback
After being an ardent Blade Runner fan for years, I decided to explore it's roots in Philip K. Dick's book, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". The movie and the book had less in common than I'd expected, particularly with the character development. Unlike Blade Runner, there is nothing at all redeeming about the personalities of the replicants/ "andys" in this book, which has an even more chilling effect. There are, however, plenty of interesting ideas here, and depicting "authentic" animals as the ultimate status symbol is definitely intriguing. What interested me the most, were the marital issues between Deckard and his wife Iran. The love scene between Rachel and Deckard here is curiously shallow, adding to the isolated tone of the book.
Philip K. Dick is a good writer, effectively permeating the book with an unrelenting anxiety and cruel irony. PKD's ideas came to fruition in Blade Runner, but this is the blueprint, and therefore an absolute must for Blade Runner enthusiasts.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Doug Mackey
Format:Paperback
This novel, first published in 1968, was the basis for Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner (1982), which despite its striking, evocative visuals, plucks elements of the novel out of their context, making them somewhat less intelligible and less radical than in the original. Additionally, Dick's humor and his metaphysics are missing from the movie. The reader of the book is continually challenged to evaluate how human the androids are and how mechanical the humans are. The androids are not mere machines like most of the simulacra in Dick's other novels: they are artificial people made from organic materials; they have free will and emotions like fear and love. Physically and behaviorally they are indistinguishable from real people. Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter whose job it is to hunt down and kill escaped androids. His life is thoroughly programmed; but in the course of the novel he starts to wake up to his buried human nature and capacity for empathy and understanding. This novel is the place to look for a serious analysis of the question of what it means to be human; you get only the tip of the iceberg of that issue in the movie. The book is one of Dick's best.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blade runner
This book which has been adapted in theatres under the name blade runner is a great Sci-Fi book that reaches philosophical levels.
Are dreams and desire reserved to humans?
Are dreams and desire reserved to humans?
Published on May 19 2011 by Anton PANAITESCO
5.0 out of 5 stars
More than I expected!
I read the description for this book and I was intregued. I found it to be even better than I though it would be. It was deffinately a book that I couldn't put down. Read more
Published on Sep 25 2009 by Amy Sinclair
5.0 out of 5 stars
Science Fiction, Suspense and Philosophy
I became a rabid fan of Philip K. Dick from the first novel of his that I read. All of his books are excellent, and this one ranks as one of the best. Read more
Published on Nov 8 2008 by Douglas P. Murphy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Revelation
Having never read sci-fi, or seen the film, before, this novel was somewhat of a revelation to me. While I had trouble keeping track of the details, I loved the big ideas:... Read more
Published on Dec 4 2007 by Tez Miller
4.0 out of 5 stars
Apocalyptic dreaming towards a futuristic day
DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? is another classic science fiction novel that I only just got around to reading. Read more
Published on Jun 21 2004 by Andrew McCaffrey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty cut and dry
It is a futuristic story, set in a distopian society where, since the fallout of world war III, humanity has managed to set off to colonize other planets. Read more
Published on Jun 3 2004 by "imdateless"
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cool Cyberpunk before Cyber was Cool
A lot of people credit Gibson for the cyberpunk genre. However, you'll find many of the themes right here: alienation, our relationship to machine intelligence, the fusion of... Read more
Published on April 24 2004 by "jradoff"
1.0 out of 5 stars
Well, that was convoluted and not terrible insightful
I should preface this review by saying that I'm a huge fan of PKD, or atleast his short fiction. I rank him as possibly the greatest short SF writer ever. Read more
Published on April 5 2004 by Z. Brock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure Science Fiction
The title of this novel clearly demonstrates that this book is going to deal with some man-machine sociological technological "issues". That it does. Read more
Published on Mar 8 2004 by William Thien
5.0 out of 5 stars
Idios to Koinos Kosmos: Attraction, Empathy, and Androids
This book, known for its tie-in to the SF blockbuster film Bladerunner, is a distinct beast. One of Dick's best, most fully developed, and imagined novels, it takes place on a... Read more
Published on Mar 1 2004 by Dorion Sagan
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