12th out of 2,947 books
—
12,433 voters
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
A final, apocalyptic, world war has killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending the majority of mankind off-planet. Those who remain, venerate all remaining examples of life, and owning an animal of your own is both a symbol of status and a necessity. For those who can't afford an authentic animal, companies build incredibly realistic simulacrae: ho...more
Paperback, 244 pages
Published
May 28th 1996
by Del Rey
(first published 1968)
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Dec 29, 2010
Scott Sheaffer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction
I Love Dick. There I've said it. No, not a “Mood Organ” or blood filled skin sack made to facilitate reproduction but Philip K. Dick.
Is it really possible for androids to acquire human traits like empathy and the desire to understand the meaning of life and avoid death at all costs? What would the role of socialism play in an android world? Would self aware androids seek out to destroy anything that threatened their existence or tried to control their thoughts (ie programming)?
A Google search r...more
Is it really possible for androids to acquire human traits like empathy and the desire to understand the meaning of life and avoid death at all costs? What would the role of socialism play in an android world? Would self aware androids seek out to destroy anything that threatened their existence or tried to control their thoughts (ie programming)?
A Google search r...more
I love Blade Runner—and so it is with pleasure, and a sense of completion, that I am now able to state (almost) the same for its source material. The parenthesized qualifier admits to the differing status of the two: whereas BR is an absolute classic, one that declared itself boldly, influencing the design and feel and look of all subsequent dystopian cinematic fare, a movie cast to perfection and narrowing its gaze to the more umbrageous and feral of Dick's thematic threads, the book casts a wi...more
Jan 01, 2013
Morgan
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people looking for science fiction with an edge
I've seen "BladeRunner" so many times I could puke and watch it again (hell, I even wrote a 15 page critical analysis of it as a neo noir film). And it's an amazing, beautiful film.
I read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" when I was a junior in highschool, after having grown up with "BladeRunner." And it was fabulous.
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and "BladeRunner" are not the same thing. At all. Which is conceptually really, really intriguing. And I love that about the two.
By the tim...more
I read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" when I was a junior in highschool, after having grown up with "BladeRunner." And it was fabulous.
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and "BladeRunner" are not the same thing. At all. Which is conceptually really, really intriguing. And I love that about the two.
By the tim...more
Over the last few weeks I’ve read The Luzhin Defense, followed by Bluebeard and then Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Originally I was going to write some stuff here about the central characters and compare them with the original Outsider. I was going to say things like this:
Maybe it is a contradiction in terms, to put 3 books about outsiders in the same review, but I can’t stop myself.
We have here a chess player, a doctor who might or might not have murdered a wife and a chickenhead. They al...more
Originally I was going to write some stuff here about the central characters and compare them with the original Outsider. I was going to say things like this:
Maybe it is a contradiction in terms, to put 3 books about outsiders in the same review, but I can’t stop myself.
We have here a chess player, a doctor who might or might not have murdered a wife and a chickenhead. They al...more
Since "Blade Runner" has been one of my favorite movies my entire adult life, it's odd I never read this until now. I expected it to be pretty different from the film, but still, it's not like I don't read SF by the metric ton anyway. I think I just never happened across a copy until recently.
If you've read a lot of SF from the 60s and 70s, you'd know this was written in the late 60s by the end of the first chapter. It has the smell of that period all over it - everyone "official" in any way has...more
If you've read a lot of SF from the 60s and 70s, you'd know this was written in the late 60s by the end of the first chapter. It has the smell of that period all over it - everyone "official" in any way has...more
Philip K. Dick costringe a fare letture geometriche. In "La svastica sul sole" per piani paralleli, invece, in "Ma gli androidi sognano pecore elettriche?" si deve procedere in orizzontale, poi in verticale e se non bastasse anche in diagonale.
Orizzontale: ci sono uomini e i loro animali che rappresentano solo uno status symbol, per loro gli umani non provano nessun sentimento affettuoso. Poi ci sono gli androidi e gli animali meccanici, questi ultimi sostituiscono quelli vivi ma non bisogna far...more
Orizzontale: ci sono uomini e i loro animali che rappresentano solo uno status symbol, per loro gli umani non provano nessun sentimento affettuoso. Poi ci sono gli androidi e gli animali meccanici, questi ultimi sostituiscono quelli vivi ma non bisogna far...more
It takes five full pages for a character to buy a goat and ONE FRIGGIN' SENTENCE for a character to "fall in love". This book was so amazing in the beginning...and then suddenly everything plummeted downhill. It was almost as if Dick got 150 pages in and then said "awwww screw it...uh, sentence, sentence, sentence, THE END!" Why did there need to be any sort of "love" storyline anyway?
Along with being the only geek who made it through puberty without reading Phillip K. Dick books, I also am one...more
Along with being the only geek who made it through puberty without reading Phillip K. Dick books, I also am one...more
The last nuclear world war has left the world changed, the population is only a fraction of what it once was, so many rooms lie empty and deserted just cluttered with the junk that people left behind. Many animal species are exctinct or close to exctinction, and every household is morally obliged to keep an animal. Many people emmigrated to mars, where android companions and servants are popular. Androids are outlawed on earth, but they sneak in anyway and try to pose as human, until they're dis...more
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Dick mi mette in difficoltà. Innanzitutto perché è stato un genietto prolifico, accidenti a lui, e dopo un certo numero di suoi romanzi letti comincia quasi ad essere ridondante notare le sue qualità. E poi, cosa mai posso dire che non sia già stato detto?
Potrei dire solo che è assolutamente da leggere.
Potrei citare solo il fascino che i suoi romanzi emanano.
Potrei essere così sintetica?
Potrei, sì, ma invece penso che ammorberò tutti con la descrizione del mio personalissimo punto di vista.
(luc...more
Potrei dire solo che è assolutamente da leggere.
Potrei citare solo il fascino che i suoi romanzi emanano.
Potrei essere così sintetica?
Potrei, sì, ma invece penso che ammorberò tutti con la descrizione del mio personalissimo punto di vista.
(luc...more
chris's fish died here at work and he seems down. everyone else was mean to the fish (not to its face mostly, just made fun and tapped on the glass) but i always came to see it and i think chris appreciated that for some reason. i've never seen him look so down before. this is one of those things that makes me sad out of all proportion to the scale of the incident, like when i made katy think she was wrong about kansas bordering colorado or when my brother saved his allowance for months and boug...more
May 18, 2008
Werner
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Fans of serious science fiction
Shelves:
science-fiction
While Dick was always a professed Episcopalian, his writing began to take a more distinctly Christian turn only after his spiritual experience in the early 1970s. Here, his outlook is still shaped more by postmodernism, strongly suggesting that simply believing something can make it true. (Paradoxically, it also exudes the strong skepticism, which informed his writing all through his career, as to whether our ordinary human perceptions actually come anywhere close to seeing reality as it actuall...more
I'm worried that most people will misunderstand the intelligence behind this book. I have met a few people who have said, "that book? I read that in high school." My response is "did you understand this book in high school?"
Am I wrong in saying that first, one should read Kafka; second, one should understand how Kafka's fiction functions as a blend of anthropology, theology, and philosophy, among other things. Then, read Phillip K. Dick again, and notice the themes of paranoia, identity crisis,...more
Am I wrong in saying that first, one should read Kafka; second, one should understand how Kafka's fiction functions as a blend of anthropology, theology, and philosophy, among other things. Then, read Phillip K. Dick again, and notice the themes of paranoia, identity crisis,...more
Somos humanos. Desde que nacemos estamos seguros de ello. Tan confiados. Tan ingenuos. Tan imbéciles.
Basta una sencilla pregunta al respecto: ¿qué es ser humano?
En 1968, Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) publica "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" y creo que todavía es fecha en que no es reconocido el peso de esta novela.
Dentro de una trama sumamente sencilla, Dick logró lo que muy pocos logran: encapsular aquella cuestión clave que desde los presocráticos venimos arrastrando: ¿qué entendemos por vi...more
Basta una sencilla pregunta al respecto: ¿qué es ser humano?
En 1968, Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) publica "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" y creo que todavía es fecha en que no es reconocido el peso de esta novela.
Dentro de una trama sumamente sencilla, Dick logró lo que muy pocos logran: encapsular aquella cuestión clave que desde los presocráticos venimos arrastrando: ¿qué entendemos por vi...more
Aug 25, 2008
Kristjan
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
AI/Borg fans and Posthumans
Recommended to Kristjan by:
GR Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Club
I saw Bladerunner when it came out and knowing that it was based upon this story, and not really enjoying the movie much, I didn't pick up the book until it became a Book Club selection; hearing that the book was significantly different then the movie helped. While it was not a 'fun' book, I did enjoy many of the concepts PKD started to explore in the story ... especially now given how far science has come in explaining how the human 'machine' works (and fails). Asimov's I, Robot does a better...more
This is a novel to be patient with: it takes 60 pages to build up its momentum, but once it really begins, it doesn't stop till the (somewhat hurried) end. I admit it took me four different attempts o get into it and finally had to have it read to me by Frank to see what it had to offer, not because it was poorly written per se, but because much of the opening dialogue is tell-y and woud be better served explained in pieces by an omniscient narrator. As it is, it often frustrated me with its, "A...more
Dec 05, 2007
Justin
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
sci fi fans, those interested in bringing down the quality of Bladerunner
Shelves:
taught
I've been saying for years that this book is boring. But it's more than that, it's not excusable in the way that a purely boring book can be. Instead, it's a tremendous idea told badly.
It seems that when Dick wrote this he didn't have a good grasp on translating his big ideas into an engrossing--or even active story. It's not that there's no movement in the story. Things happen, but even when they do, even in the throes of the final confrontation, when Deckard is retiring three andys in one aba...more
It seems that when Dick wrote this he didn't have a good grasp on translating his big ideas into an engrossing--or even active story. It's not that there's no movement in the story. Things happen, but even when they do, even in the throes of the final confrontation, when Deckard is retiring three andys in one aba...more
Jul 27, 2008
Jessica
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people ready to have their minds blown
I've been on a PKD kick lately, so I picked this up to keep me occupied on a recent work-related trip to Milwaukee. It didn't disappoint!
One of my co-workers kept asking me questions about how the characters and events lined up to those in Blade Runner, and the truth is: I have no idea. (But I am now very eager to find out!)
I was more fixated on a) following the story, which moves quickly, and b) comparing the androids described here to the cylons [subclass: skin job] on Battlestar Galactica. Ye...more
One of my co-workers kept asking me questions about how the characters and events lined up to those in Blade Runner, and the truth is: I have no idea. (But I am now very eager to find out!)
I was more fixated on a) following the story, which moves quickly, and b) comparing the androids described here to the cylons [subclass: skin job] on Battlestar Galactica. Ye...more
I don't read sci-fi normally, but this just rocked my boat. Wonderful surreal landscape and situations. The mood organ and the zany portrait of marriage in the first chapter is priceless. The ending is much better, or at least more realistic, than in the Bladerunner movie — which has little to do with the book.
The title took an interesting turn for me, too as the story progressed. The question wasn't about if androids dreamed of electric sheep, but if androids were able to "desire" taking care...more
The title took an interesting turn for me, too as the story progressed. The question wasn't about if androids dreamed of electric sheep, but if androids were able to "desire" taking care...more
Meh. Still not sure about this one. I'm going to talk about the movie, because I can't review a book that's been made into a movie without comparing the two versions, but in this case it's pretty hard. (by the way, when I say the movie, I mean the final director's cut - I've never seen the original) The book, obviously, has a lot more detail about the world that Deckard lives in, including a lot more information concerning everyone's desire to own an animal - Deckard and his wife (oh, and he's m...more
This PKD book was famously adapted into the landmark science fiction movie, Blade Runner. It is also one of the rare cases where the movie was better than the original. The screenwriters improved it, shaving down unnecessary subplots and parsing out a better, more satisfying ending. Though, as always, his premise is phenomenal, the descriptions are breathtaking, the characters indelibly real, and the emotional angles make your heart break a little.
It's the future. Earth has been ruined by the l...more
It's the future. Earth has been ruined by the l...more
Is there anyone reading this who doesn't know that this book was the basis for the movie Blade Runner? Look, this is a very good book that is worth reading in its own right, although what I think fans of that film will mostly take away from reading it is just how brilliant a screenwriter and adapter was Dennis Potter.* In retaining the book's mood and exploration of whether or not empathy can be regarded as a fundamental human trait (whether machines can have souls), it's fascinating to see what...more
The setting is around 2020, after the World War, when most of the humans have emigrated to Mars. The humans who remain on earth face the dust, a nuclear fallout that renders men sterile, necessitating that they wear lead codpieces. To entice humans to emigrate, the government promises them servant androids who can fulfill their every need. The latest model of android, the Nexus-6, is almost indistinguishable from a human being. Only an empathy test, administered by a trained police bounty hunter...more
“Empathy, he once had decided, must be limited to herbivores or anyhow omnivores who could depart from a meat diet. Because, ultimately, the emphatic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated.” so states a passage in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The setting of the book is San Francisco in 2021, after World War Terminus have spread radioactive dust over earth. Most of the living creatures have become extinct through exposure to radiation...more
The setting of the book is San Francisco in 2021, after World War Terminus have spread radioactive dust over earth. Most of the living creatures have become extinct through exposure to radiation...more
Ooooooh, i think i get it now! The title "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Is intentionally ambiguous. It wants you to think of "dream" as the notion of sleep, when it's "dream" as palpable hope. The incisive plot threat in the book revolves around a set of androids with the ambition to outlast human beings. It seems like they only want to survive, but their leader--Roy Baty--alludes toward a propagandized theme he led the group with, that Mercer is a fake and without empathy human beings a...more
Occasionally, I wish Goodreads would let us vote based on quality of the writing rather than how much we liked a book. Because, honestly, this is a five-star read. But I don't like it 5-stars worth. In that way, it is similar to Brave New World or 1984- glad I read them, but I didn't necessarily LIKE them very much. So I split the difference in an attempt at fairness.
This is a difficult book to review because I'm unsure if my confusion over parts is a lack of intellect on my part or the author's...more
This is a difficult book to review because I'm unsure if my confusion over parts is a lack of intellect on my part or the author's...more
Besides the sexism and obvious obsession Dick has with tits in this novel, it offered a rather different portrayal of dystopia. The overlying subject of the novel seems to be the significance of being a living entity and having the ability for empathy and compassion. However, the novel constantly tests the characteristics that make humans human. Society programs individuals to behave in a certain way and perceive the world in such a way that fits the conventional mold.
J.R Isodore plays the role...more
J.R Isodore plays the role...more
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is the first book I've read that was written by Philip K. Dick, or PKD for short. I found it laced with black humour and philosophical questioning. At the same time, the pace of the story was never slowed down too much nor any pondering about real or artificial life without purpose to the narrative.
In the midst of hopelessness, on a scorched and plagued Earth, humans focus their efforts on obtaining a real animal. Animals - most of them rare if not extinct -...more
In the midst of hopelessness, on a scorched and plagued Earth, humans focus their efforts on obtaining a real animal. Animals - most of them rare if not extinct -...more
This surprised me with its overwhelming humanity. The Dick stories I read in high school were interesting but sort of detached feeling, and while I enjoyed The Man In The High Castle, something about it was again very abstract and slightly cold. So this one caught me off guard- Deckard comes vividly to life within the first few pages.
There's something very 1960s SF about Dick's writing. I think it's the willingness to write about hard sci-fi ideas alongside this kind of metaphysical spiritual e...more
There's something very 1960s SF about Dick's writing. I think it's the willingness to write about hard sci-fi ideas alongside this kind of metaphysical spiritual e...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Movie!! | 56 | 287 | 11 de May 06:12 | |
| Steampunk, New We...: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick | 14 | 30 | 17 de Abr 08:13 | |
| Sci-Fi Fantasy Bo...: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? | 11 | 98 | 5 de Mar 11:20 | |
| Huntsville-Madiso...: Staff Pick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick | 1 | 6 | 3 de Mar 19:17 | |
| Mercerism and what actually happened at the end? | 22 | 511 | 19 de Feb 01:39 |
Philip K. Dick was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. He briefly attended the University of California, but dropped out before completing any classes. In 1952, he began writing professionally and proceeded to write numerous novels and short-story collections. He won the Hugo Award for the best novel in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle and the John W. Campbell Memo...more
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“My schedule for today lists a six-hour self-accusatory depression.”
—
235 people liked it
“You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe.”
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181 people liked it
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11 de Ene 18:14