Rating: 
Summary: Inspired, Anxiety-Ridden Sci-Fi
Review: After being an ardent Blade Runner fan for years, I decided to explore it's roots in Philip K. Dick's book, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". The movie and the book had less in common than I'd expected, particularly with the character development. Unlike Blade Runner, there is nothing at all redeeming about the personalities of the replicants/ "andys" in this book, which has an even more chilling effect. There are, however, plenty of interesting ideas here, and depicting "authentic" animals as the ultimate status symbol is definitely intriguing. What interested me the most, were the marital issues between Deckard and his wife Iran. The love scene between Rachel and Deckard here is curiously shallow, adding to the isolated tone of the book. Philip K. Dick is a good writer, effectively permeating the book with an unrelenting anxiety and cruel irony. PKD's ideas came to fruition in Blade Runner, but this is the blueprint, and therefore an absolute must for Blade Runner enthusiasts.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational and thought provoking book
Review: this book, which was written a few decades ago seem more relevent today then ever, the lonliness and isolation that it describe, addiction ot TV and other technological invention as well as the search for spiritual understanding and attachment to other human seem even more true to our information revolutionalized society then it was back then.
the book raises a lot of very interesting question, such as - what's human? what's murcy? what's religion and why we need faith? what are the things that makes us diffrent from one another, or the same? it talks about many importent theams such as raceizm, popular calture vs. religion, proggress and war.
this is the story of a day in the life of an androide bounty hunter, and his meeting with an anroide that makes him question his beliefe about what's human and what's not as he hunt 6 androides who escaped from mars and found their way to earth. the diffrent charecters that he meets and that efect his life and view, such as his wife, his comandder, a fellow anrdoides hunter, a TV anchor and a god reflect on diffrent views about what's human and what's not, and answer that question, each in his \ her own way.
i liked the audio version of this book a lot, mathew modin and Clarissa Flockhart are doing exelent job in bringing the plot and massage alive with many diffrent accent and intonation for the diffrent charecters, and it was very fun to listen to it. a lot of audio books feel dry and read from the book but this one have more of a feel of seeing a play or a show, which make it more entertining to listen to.
Rating: 
Summary: A definite classic
Review: This is another book that grabs you from the beginning. From the first paragraph you know something interesting is going on, and you know that Phillip K. Dick has created a world in the future that will challenge your thinking. As far as science fiction goes, the world is pretty easy to understand. Science fiction and other fantasy books can create worlds that have so many different aspects to them that it is tough to follow and understand everything that is going on. But the world the author creates here is easy to live in, and also one where you are glad you don't.
There are definitely parts of the book that will make you reflect on real life. The mood organ, Mercer, and the androids themselves can be seen as metaphors for modern mental health medicine, religion, and how we treat each other as humans. But there is also a compelling story here as the main character tries to make a better life for himself in the constraints of his reality while also contemplating his own feelings on what it means to be truly alive.
This is a quick read and when it is done, it will probably stay with you for a while. The story itself is worth the read. But I also recommend it because it will make you think about the world Phillip K. Dick creates and what it says about your world.
Rating:
Summary: Another Dick in the Wall
Review: Once again, Dick delves into Asimovs' hypothetical dilemmas. In the way of stories, DADES is absolutely breathtaking...Dick's subversive communication truly erodes the moral stance of his readers. Be not surprised to find yourself questioning what you believe by the end of this.
For further reading may i suggest the essay "The Android and the Human," also by Dick. You might find that it clarifies his view on the questions raised in this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Dick's Most Popular Novel - Marvel at the Philosophy.
Review: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is an excellent introduction into the sci-fiction/philosophical masterworks* (*emphasis on master - Dick is a noted literary genius) of Philip K. Dick because this is one of his best works and also most of you have seen a very close adaptation of this book, a film called Blade Runner, which unfortunately was released to box office failure shortly after K. Dick's death, only later to become a cult classic that no one has missed from their DVD collection.
Dick's books must be viewed along with writer's ambitions and warnings. In 1968 Dick wrote this story a year before man landed on the moon and yet describes a world somewhere closer to our own, in a `very soon down the road' roundabout way, as Dick does in all his books. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is no different, describing an environmental catastrophic event that leads to Earth's ruin, where humans have migrated to offshore colony worlds, where they get a free human cyborg - a replicant, to serve them. Back on the earth those who remain live in a world where everything is synthetic, the atmosphere radioactive, and where everyone dreams of owning a real live pet, and not a clone controlled by microchips and circuit boards, including our protagonist, Deckard, a professional bounty-hunter cop, with secret ambitions of replacing his electronic sheep with real ones before the neighbours found out how poor he is, so takes on a contract to hunt down and `retire' a group dangerous renegade replicants that escaped from the offshore world colony of Nexus 6, murdering people during the break out and who have managed to make their way to earth blending in with the local population.
Deckard who is looking forward to buying some real sheep goes to visit the Tyrell corporation where he uses, the now unforgettable, Voigt-Kampff test, to see if a human is a cyborg. The Voigt-Kampff test is the key to opening the philosophical mindset of this book - "Is empathy only a human condition?" with the psychology that a replicant will test negative for empathy during the test. The question then arises for Deckard, "has he ever retired a human by mistake?" Dick challenges us to think about this (look at the books title) as Deckard runs across the city retiring replicants who appear to lack empathy only to suddenly find himself up against a new type of Nexus 6 that does not lack empathy and has the ability to learn it. The book will keep you second guessing as to who is real and who is not, but at its heart the question Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep in conjunction with Deckard's job, and his desire to own real sheep, leads him slowly down a path of questioning this own existence and reassessing his life and what he thought he knew. The book finished beautifully, answering these questions to the full with a bit of a revelation.
However we would do Dick a disservice, not to at least complement the writer's ability to craft the English language, and more importantly, edit his work to perfection. This is a page turner, without any interlude or boring descriptions. Everything will be absorbed at a fine reading pace. Dick also manages to come up with about 70% dialogue, all of it beautifully written with characterisation that actually goes somewhere. The story is also very exciting!
You will no doubt read another Dick book after finishing this one even if you do not like science-fiction. I am going to move onto his awarding winning "The Man in the High Castle" next. And why not? Dick is possibly the best science-fiction writer ever who does not write science-fiction. Maybe the only one that could that.
Bravo.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Read
Review: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" raises questions
about religion and man's fear of the future. The religion
of Mercer draws many paralles with most relegions today.
From the androids oppostion to a philiosphy they cannot
understand and their attempts to destroy it, to the bounty
hunters who protect it despite themselves, the book raises
questions about our faith and what is more important, the
man or the message.
Rating:
Summary: Classic SF
Review: As everyone is no doubt aware, this novel is the story behind "Blade Runner", arguably the best science fiction movie ever made, and one of Ridley Scott's masterpieces. I've heard several friends report this as the once instance where a film has surpassed the original book, but I can't agree, as much as I like the film.
Dick is of the old school. His writing is straightforward, and his emphasis is on the storytelling, rather than on the setting. Even so, some of the elements that pop up in "Androids" are sufficiently unique and ahead of their time.
The central question of the book is: Where does artificial intelligence end and humanity begin? Dick doesn't answer the question, but he definitely explores it in depth through the experiences of his characters and their startling interactions.
"Androids" remains one of the classic SF novels of all times. There is a reason that so many successful films have been made from Dick's novels and short stories. He was a visionary writer who transcended his genre. Here is Philip K. Dick at his finest.
Rating:
Summary: Science fiction at it's best with Phillip Dick!
Review: After the Ender's Game series and the Halo (video game) series, I was looking for some sci-fi along those lines but with a bit of a thriller twist to it.
Do Androids Dream of Black Sheep is definitely what I was looking for that day when I headed into the bookstore.
Set in the year 2021, the war is now permanently scarred from the nuclear aftermath from the World War Terminus (the final world war).
Earth is now covered with radioactive dust/fallout and those that have not emigrated to other colonies off-world remain on a desolate planet of which all animal life is virtually extinct.
I wouldn't even know where to start with reviewing this book, if you loved stuff like Ender's Game, 1984, Animal Farm, etc.
Then make picking this book up from a bookstore or library , a number one priority!
Any attempt to review this book would not do it justice as my head is still spinning from the ending.
-Travis S.
Rating:
Summary: One of my all-time favorites
Review: Matrix fans should read this book. Philip K. Dick was a genious when it came to paranoia about the future. This book is by far one of my favorites.
Rating:
Summary: Apocalyptic dreaming towards a futuristic day
Review: DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? is another classic science fiction novel that I only just got around to reading. And once again, I find myself wishing that I'd gotten around to reading it earlier. It was also my introduction to the writings of Philip K. Dick, and I also wish I had started exploring his output before now. This novel demonstrates what science fiction can do at its best. It tells an absorbing, thrilling story, but it also works on other levels. The book's protagonist is named Rick Deckard, and he's a police officer in a post-apocalyptic future whose job is to track down and destroy rouge androids. Although this is clearly a science fiction work, I felt a strong flavor of noir creeping throughout the sections dealing with Deckard's career. The trappings of the fantastic are present, but they're presented in a clearly thriller-type way. Deckard may be a cop from the future, yet he owes a lot of his characterization to the hardboiled, fictional detectives who came before him. This makes him an extremely entertaining character, as well as an immediately sympathetic one. As has been noted, this novel is doing a little more than just telling another adventure story (although it does a great job at that). While the themes of alienation and isolation and what it means to be a conscious, reasoning entity are well-developed and much discussed by readers, several other metaphors are also lurking beneath the surface. This is a book very much influenced by its time (it was published 1968), but pieces of it seem almost timeless (the war which nearly destroys the world is caused by a right-wing policy group wielding too much influence at the Pentagon; boy, does that sound familiar). The psychological testing done on the subjects to determine their identity (either human or robot) reminded me strongly of the infamous McCarthy hearings. I was very impressed by the actual writing itself in this novel. Dick's prose is very strong. Science fiction writers often enjoy building up a new world/universe at the expense of characterization or plot, but that isn't the case here. He excels at painting a bleak future, taking the attitudes of today and projecting them into a world with few people and fewer animals. But he doesn't let this overwhelm the book. It's a hard balance to maintain, yet he manages it well. His satire is exactly what it should be: both hilarious and cuttingly accurate. Philip K. Dick is a writer that I've heard a lot of good things about, and I'm looking forward to diving deeper into his back catalog. DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? impressed me in both its straightforward narrative and in the deeper topics that it touches on. The "social commentary" aspect of the novel, which can be painful in books by lesser authors, is actually one of the book's best features. There are a few sloppy points (the mechanical capabilities of the androids are a bit vaguely defined, and once or twice characters talk to themselves for no reason other than to convey plot-points to the audience), but overall I was a very happy reader.
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