From the Bookshelf of Reading List Completists…

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Philip K. Dick,

Roger Zelazny (Introduction)

Start date: September 1, 2015

Finish date: September 30, 2015

Discussion: Group Reads

Why we're reading this: Runner up - Second Chance Poll
[close] Runner up - Second Chance Poll

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Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Aug 28, 2015 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015, completist-book-club, kindle, library, post-apocalyptic-dystopian, sci-fi

I really enjoyed the first 90% of this book or so. After that, a few very odd things started happening that did not seem to be in line with the rest of the story. Because of this, I didn't really fully understand the resolution. But, overall it was better than I expected!

The aspect of the story where animals are so rare that they are highly cherished and have a Blue Book value was interesting.

I sympathized with Isidore. Just a lonely, simple man who wanted some friends and got mixed up with an ...more

48 likes · Like · see review

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

"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

8 likes · Like · see review

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

3 likes · Like · see review

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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