Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in Reading List Completists

Jan 23, 2013 Mmars rated it really liked it

Shelves: fuuristic-sci-fi

The title of this book is one I’ve come across many times, wondered briefly what it could possibly be about, and concluded it was probably drug-induced and thought I must read it one day to find out. Well, that day has come.

Firstly, it IS about androids, and in true sci-fi fashion, there are humans remaining on a radioactive dust-filled earth bent on destroying these androids that are becoming more and more sophisticated and harder to detect. Author Dick has chosen the portray humans, because t The title of this book is one I’ve come across many times, wondered briefly what it could possibly be about, and concluded it was probably drug-induced and thought I must read it one day to find out. Well, that day has come.

Firstly, it IS about androids, and in true sci-fi fashion, there are humans remaining on a radioactive dust-filled earth bent on destroying these androids that are becoming more and more sophisticated and harder to detect. Author Dick has chosen the portray humans, because they are empathetic, as valuing the life and ownership of animals above any other possession (except perhaps television). And if they cannot own real animals, they’ll buy an electric one, possibly just for appearance.

Our hero, android destroyer/bounty hunter Rick Deckard has an electric sheep. He wants a real one, well any real one would do. His trusty price guide, Sidney’s Guide to Animal and Fowl Catalogue is always close at hand. This is more important to him than his wife. Or so he thinks. Destroy six androids in one day and maybe he could afford one. Well, easier said than done, of course.

Zip across San Francisco to a barren neighborhood in your hovercraft and you’ll find human character number two, Isidore, who failed the intelligence test and is slangily called a chickenhead. Isidore’s job is to pick up and deliver electric animals needing repair. He is single and lives in an empty apartment building until three androids move in. First, there’s Pris. He introduces himself and volunteers to help her cut through the kiffle (our valued stuff that’s gathering radioactive dust) and get settled. Well, chickenhead that he is, he doesn’t realize that she’s an android until they other two move in and basically spell it out to him. By now, he’s stuck with they’re treating him without emotional regard. This is the situation of the last three androids Rick Deckard must hunt and destroy.

Okay. So that’s what this interestingly titled book is about. So if you enjoy this kind of reading romp, it’s an enjoyable read.

I was confused a couple times as to why a few things happened, but lazily decided just to read through and just enjoy rather than read back through. So 4 stars.
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Apr 28, 2018 Jason rated it liked it

Shelves: own

What is humanity? How would one distinguish between what is ultimately human and what isn't? Does it matter? Entropy...

In this conceptually creative and thought-provoking book about a dystopian future where androids are manufactured to be virtually indistinguishable from humans, and the natural humans along with all other life are gradually degrading into kipple that piles up, that remains after all else is gone, a bounty hunter hunts down illegal androids and has an existential crisis.

"Kipple

What is humanity? How would one distinguish between what is ultimately human and what isn't? Does it matter? Entropy...

In this conceptually creative and thought-provoking book about a dystopian future where androids are manufactured to be virtually indistinguishable from humans, and the natural humans along with all other life are gradually degrading into kipple that piles up, that remains after all else is gone, a bounty hunter hunts down illegal androids and has an existential crisis.

"Kipple is useless objects, like junk mail or match folders after you use the last match or gum wrappers or yesterday's homeopape. When nobody's around, kipple reproduces itself. For instance, if you go to bed leaving any kipple around your apartment, when you wake up the next morning there's twice as much of it. It always gets more and more."

...

"No one can win against kipple," he said, "except temporarily and maybe in one spot, like in my apartment I've sort of created a stasis between the pressure of kipple and nonkipple, for the time being. But eventually I'll die or go away, and then the kipple will again take over. It's a universal principle operating throughout the universe; the entire universe is moving toward a final state of total, absolute kippleization.”

The writing is lonely and stale, hollow even - I don't say this to say that it is necessarily bad, it seems fairly fitting with the mood and arguments/dilemmas of the book, but it also did not capture me as the reader; I wanted to care about the protagonist and I wanted to feel engrossed by the plot, but I couldn't, it felt a little too removed. I think part of my issue stems from a plot driven book that seems almost philosophical, but moves too quickly to really explore the possibilities. I was really into the story at about the midway point, there were questions raised that made everything much more dynamic, everything was suddenly in doubt, but it was rapidly resolved, I would have preferred to sit with it, evolve with that portion of the story, see where it could go, but alas this is not the route Dick wished to take his story. It was all-in-all a good story, with a great premise, I just didn't love it. ...more

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Mar 21, 2020 Jaclyn~she lives! catching up on reviews~ rated it really liked it

This isn't a simple book with a simple message and rudimentary journey. This is a metaphysical detective story laden with dark humor and hard questions about real problems in a very unreal setting. Androids roam earth as runaways, in some cases simply trying to live their lives the best they can, and in others stalking silently, androids in human skin. Wolves in sheeps clothing. Electric animals. Electric beings. The andys are devoid of empathy and warmth, uncaring, hard and sociopathic. But are This isn't a simple book with a simple message and rudimentary journey. This is a metaphysical detective story laden with dark humor and hard questions about real problems in a very unreal setting. Androids roam earth as runaways, in some cases simply trying to live their lives the best they can, and in others stalking silently, androids in human skin. Wolves in sheeps clothing. Electric animals. Electric beings. The andys are devoid of empathy and warmth, uncaring, hard and sociopathic. But are the humans any different?

Despite my intentions to read this as a simple adventure in between patients I ended up really ruminating on the ideas and dilemmas Dick presented. What does it mean to be human? What is empathy, is it a hindrance or an advantage? Dick leaves the answers to us, but continuously asks us to question everything about the human experience, in what is possibly one of the most well developed sci-fi settings I have ever read.

The importance of animals and the status symbols associated with ownership was unexpected and made me think about the title and really digest what Dick was trying to say. The idea that animal ownership could be seen as a status symbol, and electrical creations are look down upon as disgraceful was original and inventive.

Deckard's downward –or upward, depending on how you look at it – spiral was the most engaging part of the novel. He begins as a man lacking empathy towards androids. He believes his only problem is his electric sheep. If only he could have a real, living, breathing, organic animal, he would be whole. As such, he goes through the motions of pretending– pretending to be decent, to be happy, to be a good man with a good wife and a fulfilling career. As the story progresses and Deckard encounters his prey, we see the armor he has created for himself begin to crack; little by little, empathy begins to leak through. By the end of the story Deckard is but a shell of his former self.

PKD also does a wonderful job with humanizing the androids, in such an engaging way that I felt myself feeling sorry for them, on certain occasions. Pris kinda ruined that goodwill from me when she mutilated that poor, poor spider though. That scene was haunting.

Unfortunately, Dick's action scenes fall flat and are often over in the matter of a sentence or two. These androids are supposed to be so difficult to retire, yet Deckard is able to do the deed much quicker and smoother than I find myself able to believe. This pulled me out of the story on more than one occasion when I should have been falling headlong into it, eager to turn the next page and discover what will happen next. This takes me to my final, and most pressing problem with this novel – The ending.

Had the book ended with Deckard emotionally and physically drained coming home to discover that Rachael had really gotten his goat once and for all, I would have been thrilled. But it didn't; Instead, it continued on in some out of place Mercerism hallucinatory dream scene that I could have done without. ...more

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Mar 02, 2017 Jessica rated it really liked it

But late than never with a book review. Am I right?

This book had been sitting on my "To Read" list for as long as I can remember. It just kept getting pushed to the side and looked over. Thankfully, Lauren, (friend, kindred spirit, and bookclub picker for the month) chose this book for us all to read. Finally, the opportunity rose and gladly accept the challenge of reading this book. It is a book that has stumped for a while with the review writing. It was unlike anything I had read and I wasn't ...more

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Apr 11, 2014 RachelvlehcaR rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel, classics, science-fiction-dystopia, apocalyptic-post, science-fiction, 03-library-and-borrowed, science-fiction-fantasy, guardian-1000

I have a love/hate relationship with this book. There are areas in which I love the story, the idea of the book, and the meaning of the whole book but also there are areas that I just don't like. It can get very boring at places and goes slow but in a way I feel it was meant to do that to get some of the ideas across.

Overall, I'm happy I read the book. I want an electronic sheep, goat, cat, and frog--especially the kinds I don't have to clean up their scat. ...more

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Sep 12, 2016 Valerie rated it liked it

Shelves: sf-f-bookclub, swordandlaser, readinglistbookclub, z-2016sffchallenge

This book was more than a little trippy, but what else would I expect from some late '60s scifi? I think I saw the movie Blade Runner at some point when I was young, but not old enough to appreciate it. I plan to watch the movie again soon.

For the most part, this was an interesting futuristic detective story that had some good social commentary. But then, there were the trippy bits. I am not sure that I ever really got the concept of Mercerism, the empathy boxes, and the climb up the hill. I mea ...more

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Aug 25, 2017 Nico rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: man-pain

In a book about killer robots on the loose, being hunted by a broke bounty hunter, you'd think that there would be more to enjoy.

The only good parts of this for me were when Deckard rambled on about animals. This guy really wanted a pet and I wanted him to have it and I don't get why the author felt he needed to add in a love story, a crazy robot girlfriend, a animal-whisperer God, or chickenheads...

It feels like it should have been a shorter short story or a longer novel with better details. ...more

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