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Summary: To Fully Appeciate the Movie, you MUST Read this Book!
Review: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? sounds like a very strange title. This book is about the life of a "blade runner" whose job is to kill androids (known in the film as replicants or skin jobs) that have landed on earth. Reading this, you will realize how horrible the situation was for people in the movie. This explains why people were leaving earth, and why the rejects are the only ones left. This book questions our humanity, and is one of the best I have ever read.
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Summary: To sum up, one very fine book.
Review: An interesting title from one of my favorite authors, Phillip K. Dick (The man in the high castle, flow my tears the policeman said). It has a good plot and is well written. It is easy to follow, it has action, interesting characters, some good plot twists and only one flaw. It gets sort of weird near the end but other than that, one of the best reads of my life.
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Summary: Something you might not know...
Review: I remember reading an interview with Philip K. Dick shortly before his death, in which he discussed the making of "Blade Runner" and his reasons for writing the book. He said that his inspiration came from reading the diary of a Nazi prison camp commandante who complained that he was having difficulty sleeping because of the noise of crying children in the camp. Philip K. Dick was, of course, appalled at this incredible lack of empathy and asked himself, "What does it do to your own humanity when you lose your ability to recognize the humanity of others?" People familiar with Dick's other work will see the pattern. He majored in German in college and was preoccupied with the Nazis, who appear as embodiments of evil in a number of his books. I think "Do Androids..." exemplifies his creative ability to sublimate that preoccupation into a story that most people don't even realize comes from that particular source. Regarding the debate over the relationship between "Blade Runner" and the book, I think both manage in different ways to capture Dick's mood and philosophical preoccupations. The movie is excellent, hypnotic in its visual imagery. The book is also excellent, but in a more philosophical, intellectual way.
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Summary: Even better than the movie!
Review: I watched Blade Runner, the movie, a few years ago and couldn't quite grasped the implication (I was very young then, 12 or 14). Having watched the show again, read the book, listened to the soundtrack and played the game, I would say that Dick's version of Blade Runner is far more superior than the movie. The book explores the themes of what is real and unreal? Are replicants unhuman? Who are we to decide who is real or unreal? Who is God? For me, it painted a very possible scenario of the future -- Earth could very well end up up LA, 2019. I'm reading the rest of Dick's collection!
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Summary: It's life, Rick, but not as we know it...
Review: Sometimes one wonders why some people even bother to read. If you are a fan of the movie Blade Runner, and you are a little disapointed by this book, then shame on you. You shouldn't be reading books in the first place then! Rarely can movies capture all the themes and ideas of a book, and rarely can books capture the artistic cinematography of film. The two media are separate. Treat them as such. What Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? are about is the routine of police bounty hunter Rick Deckard. His job is to hunt down and "retire" fugitive androids. But what the movie only scratched the surface of is WHY those androids are fugitives. Fans of the character of Data from Star Trek, or of the computer Mike from Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress will find the familiar theme of what it is that defines the difference between artificial intelligence and artificial life. This is the realization that Deckard comes to and must deal with: these androids are not mere machines with off-switches, they are living creatures, aware of their own existence and their own mortality. In the post-nuclear holocaust world that Deckard exists in, humans define life by their ability to feel empathy. Empathy for the lives of each other, empathy for the lives of the remaining animal species of earth decimated by fallout, or empathy for artificial life. Eventually, Deckard questions his own ability to feel empathy, and therefore, his own humanity. For if being alive is about feeling empathy, then how can he truly be alive without feeling empathy for the living machines whose job it is for him to kill. In the film version, Rutger Hauer's performance as one of the androids briefly captured the theme of the book, but it was never really explored and was instead sacrificed for artistic license. If you were intrigued by special effects, skip this book and rent Terminator 2. If you were intrigued by the question of artificial intelligence and artificial life, then you may want to ask if androids really DO dream of electric sheep.
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Summary: The book meant a lot to me, the review sorta says that...
Review: Absolutely incredible. Dark, nihilistic, theological sci-fi with a hilarious satirical edge. Questions the values of society, as well as the very meaning of life and redemption. How deep is it? Well, I'm doing a paper comparing it to Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"...deep enough for you?
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Summary: "Androids" Are a Dream of Their Own
Review: In Philip K. Dicks novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", Dick explores humanity not only in the near future, but also in the present. Although written in the sixties, Dick had a keen eye on what makes humans tick, emotionally as well as intellectally as he explored the life of Rick Deckard in the year of 2021. The cult classic hit movie BLADE RUNNER was loosely based upon this novel, however fans new to the book should be warned: the book is superior and vastley different from the movie. In the year 2021 Earth is slowly recovering from a world war that has destroyed most of the animal population and drives the healthy humans onto other outworld planets, namely Mars. Existing animals are taken care of by the humans unable or unwilling to leave Earth,and according to society, it is a sign of prestige and honor to take care of these animals. Humans have developed not only androids to assist colonists on other planets, but also electronic animals so humans unable to afford expensive live animals are able to keep their dignety with fake animals that look almost real. Already in the begining of the book, Dick has established a world that fits his unique style. Quetioning what is reality, identity, and consiousness is Dick's specialty. And nowhere else can you find that more prevulant in his protaganist Rick Deckard's conflict with himself as he pursues 6 renegade androids\replicants from the off worlds. During his pursuit, Rick encounters not only the replicants but also other characters that further Rick's journey into what seems is self-discovery.
Dick has not only established himself in the genre of scince fiction with his work, but has also showed what a true writer is. His ability to explore the characters lives in this particular story and expanding the readers awareness is a sign of pure genius. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" has this written between its pages.
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Summary: One of the best books ever written.
Review: While I have seen both the Movie "Blade Runner" and read this book, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" I have a diffrent place in my heart for both. The book takes you to the future where you see a landscape torn apart by a brutal nuclear war and shows that religon is the only way out for the dwindling population. This book contains one of the most dignifing reasons not to create androids that look like us. This book says to people, why should we have androids that look like us and talk like us, but can't feel like us. When we can't even feel for other human beings that happen to be a little bit diffrent from the rest of us. This portrays Rick Deckard as a little bit more human than the movie version. Plus it shows the need for animals in our future. While the deletion of some parts on Ridley Scott's part from the movie, it still takes nothing away from both the book or the movie. If you've seen "Blade Runner" and haven't read the book, you've only scratched the surface. If you've read the book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and not seen the movie, you could always dig a little deeper. And For more interesting plot twists read the next book,
"Blade Runner 2: The edge of human"
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Summary: A modernistic literary classic disguised as science fiction!
Review: I don't know whether Philip K. Dick ever really answers his initial question posed in the title, but this book subtly asks many questions of far greater importance, such as "What is reality?", "What is God?", "What is humanity?" . . . . Like in most of Dick's works, the twisted plot and psychedelic trappings in 'Electric Sheep disguise some of the deeper currents that flow throughout the novel. So much so, that the shallowest level of the book was made into a fairly entertaining movie. But for those who saw the movie, Blade Runner, BEWARE! The book is the same , yet something entirely different. In fact, 'Electric Sheep nearly defies analysis. It says a lot about the human and his soul without ever really drawing a single conclusion about either. Yet, because Dick dares to ask the questions, the reader comes to the realization that, deep down inside, he/she already knows the answers, whether he/she can actually voice them intelligently or not, making the novel a masterpiece of the rhetorical question. Those looking for a quick shallow read will find this book frustrating, but for those who like a little depth with a good story - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is, in the best of the twisted tradition of modernistic literature, a far more entertaining read than say . . . Nabokov
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Summary: More cerebral than the movie......
Review: Having enjoyed the film before reading the book , I am uncomfortable criticizing. The story is much different and contains much less action. However this does not lessen the work and provides the reader with more perspective into the author's vision. The film has been described as a dark vision of the future and the book is certainly darker. The book stars a character like a serious Albert Brooks and examines his conflict with a controlling government, the parallels are obvious but do not diminish the enjoyment
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