Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in Philip K Dick

Dec 26, 2012 Jack Stovold rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

My Philip K. Dick Project

Entry #38 - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (written 1967, published May 1968)

I'm going to start this review by saying I have only seen Blade Runner once, it was a very long time ago, and that I hardly remember it. I remember liking it very much, especially its atmosphere. I've long wanted to see it again, and I plan to (in fact, Phase II of the Philip K. Dick project will involve watching adaptations of Dick's work, so watch for the Blade Runner/Androids compariso My Philip K. Dick Project

Entry #38 - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (written 1967, published May 1968)

I'm going to start this review by saying I have only seen Blade Runner once, it was a very long time ago, and that I hardly remember it. I remember liking it very much, especially its atmosphere. I've long wanted to see it again, and I plan to (in fact, Phase II of the Philip K. Dick project will involve watching adaptations of Dick's work, so watch for the Blade Runner/Androids comparison!) . Memories of it partially formed the impetus for my Philip K. Dick Project. That being said, that's all I'm going to say about Blade Runner. In fact, I'm kind of glad I don't remember it too well, because it gave me the opportunity to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? with fresh eyes.

Androids was a great book, among Dick's finest so far. I especially appreciated it coming on the heels of the mediocre The Ganymede Takeover. When I started this project, before I had read anything by Dick, I had a pretty strong image of Dick as a kind of cold, cynical, futuristic mind-bender. While many of Dick's stories are certainly mind-benders, one of the great surprises for me in doing this project is discovering what a warm, humanistic writer Dick actually was. Androids is not only arguably Dick's most famous book, but also a wonderful introduction to Dick at his most heartfelt. Themes of compassion and empathy form the backbone of this book.

To start with, in a dying Earth (post-apocalyptic futures are de rigeur for Dick, but Androids features possibly his saddest and most evocative vision of the future), the religion known as Mercerism (lifted directly from Dick's short story, "The Little Black Box") has become the law of the land, and Mercerism's main tenant is empathy, for all creatures. People really believe in it, too. It's wrong to hurt or kill, not just people, but all animals. It's a nice irony, never overtly pointed out in the book, that if people had had such compassion for their fellows in the first place Earth would never be in the shape it's in. On this slowly dying world of ash and shadow, animals have become a rarity, and to own one and care for it is the greatest status symbol money can buy. And you'll need money, lots of it, because animals don't come cheap. Even a spider could cost hundreds. Those who can't afford animals settle for perfect electronic replicas, simulated. And the ultimate replica is the android, perfectly human in almost every way, used for labor on the Earth's distant colonies, but banned on Earth itself. But they are there.

The only thing differentiating an android from a human is empathy and compassion. Deckard and his bounty hunting companions have a test that can prove who is an android by measuring minute reactions to horrific stories. The more androids Deckard "retires" however, the greater the turmoil within him grows. The bounty hunters rationalize their actions by claiming that creatures without empathy must be retired, and yet animals incapable of empathy are spared. And then there are the "specials", embodied in this book by pet repairman John Isidore, people damaged by radiation, who are then deemed outcasts and denied immigration or social mobility. Is that empathy?

And yet, some of the androids are cold and horrible. One particularly disturbing scene I won't soon forget involves an android cutting the legs off of a spider, one by one, much to the horror of the simple-minded but concious and caring John. It's strangely touching, to see in this world how important, how magical and rare that life is that even a mere spider could inspire such awe and devotion. That a hardened bounty hunter would risk going into debt just to buy a sheep. Clearly, Dick, with his constant theme of caritas, does not throw his lot in with the androids, but neither does he hold any sympathy for their killers. His sympathies lie with the animals, with the simple and decent, and with a world in which it never had to be this way.

Stray Thoughts: #John Isidore seems to partly based on Jack Isidore from Confessions of a Crap Artist.

My edition: Del Rey Paperbacks Blade Runner 25th Anniversary Edition, 2007

Up next: "Ubik"! ...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Steven rated it it was amazing

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PKD in top form in this novel. It is far superior than the movie Bladerunner which is , I'd say, loosely based on this. They remove all the most important parts of the story in the movie. They removed Mercerism which is a huge part of the novel. This would be a great first PKD book for someone not familiar with him. ...more

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