Blade Runner

Rating:
Summary: A thinking person's speculative science fiction story
Review: I had never read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and was surprised at how different the book was from the Harrison Ford "Blade Runner" movie. The basic concept is there, androids that are close to human escape from Mars and come back to earth to blend in with society, and a bounty hunter must track them down and "retire" them.
The book is set in a much more bleak nuclear aftermath, were radioactive dust permeates the atmosphere, blotting out the sun, and causing defects in many humans that make them "specials" or the more derogatory terms "chickenheads" or "antheads." The dust has also killed off most mammals, birds and insects. Owning an animal is very important to those left on earth, and everyone carries a guidebook to check the values when they want to encounter an animal.
Rick Deckard is the number two bounty hunter with the San Francisco police force. He owns an electric sheep and badly wants to have a real animal, be it a horse, a goat, a toad, or whatever. When he is assigned to track down six escaped Nexus 6 androids, all he think of spending his earnings on is an animal.
The story follows Deckard through his day and gives us many glimpses into what life is like for these people. We learn about their religion, with "Mercerism" vs. the omnipresent television and radio personality "Buster Friendly." We see their hovercars, and we also see life through the viewpoint of a special named John Isidore, who attempts to help three of the escaped androids.
What I really enjoy about Philip K. Dick's writing is that he created science fiction that was more speculative fiction, with bits of futuristic tech and lingo sprinkled like spice, so that it appears to be a world much like our own, but with different tweaks here and there. Also, he explores the deeper stuff like what makes us human. Is it empathy? Is it the group catharsis of climbing the hill, enduring the stones, sinking into the earth and being reborn? Is it caring for an animal? The nature of humanity vs. android is a powerful theme that gets twisted and turned as Deckard encounters a variety of archetypes in his quest to retire the androids and collect his bounty. The mysterious counter bounty hunter Phil Resch appears for a few scenes, helps Deckard, then disappears. It remains open whether he was really human or android. There's also Rachael Rosen, a Nexus 6 android who seduces Deckard, then performs an unthinkable act that nearly breaks him.

One of the key things that makes a book great is whether you think about its concepts when your not reading it, and keep thinking after you're done. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" aka "Blade Runner" succeeds in this department.

Rating:
Summary: Android, Human, Android, You know who you are?
Review: Strange, Dark, Intense book about what the future could be; what could happen to the human race. Phil did a wonderful work on this book. First I saw the movie Blade Runner, one the best sci-fi I've seen, then I got the computer game, wow, like seen the movie, the only thing missing was the book. This book it's probably one of the best sci-fi books I've read, now I know and understand better the computer game, because I tried to related the game with the movie, but it also got a lot of things from the novel.

This is a must read book, it travels to the year 2021 and it presents a different world, were human emotions are maybe the only thing left from the world we know; all it's gone, the animals, people are moving from earth to other planets, and the androids are moving from the other planets to earth, it's up to the bounty hunters (Blade Runners) to find them and retire them (kill); it put your emotions on the line, because at some point, I feel sorry for the androids, they only want to escape form the humans and make their own lives here on earth, the new ones (Nexus 6) are trying to develop their own emotions. It's a great book and it would make you think about a lot of thing in life and appreciate more the things you have, because in the end, how do you know if you're an android or a human? You cannot, that's the problem...

Rating:
Summary: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Review: A Review by Hunter

In January 2021, Rick Deckard had been given a license to kill. There were several rogue androids that lurked among the hordes of humans. It was Rick's job to find them and kill them. The only problem was that the androids looked exactly like humans, and they don't want to be found. Will Rick be able to find the androids before they pose a real big threat?

I love how this novel makes me want to keep reading, it's action packed. This novel leads up to the climax in a slow but step- by- step kind of way, like when Rick finds one android after the other. The author gives clues about the character and about the characters role in the story. He lets the character tell us during the story and his feelings towards killing. Like when his android detector tells him that an old woman was an android , and he has a hard time believing it. It is difficult to follow when the author changes the point of view, because Rick Deckard the main character is in so many places at one time in the story, and the point of view changes so often. An on the edge conflict of finding deadly androids is really scary because you don't know what is going to happen next. This is a very exciting book , there are some nerve racking moments in the story and if you have seen the movie than you should know. It's too bad that there is not a sequel to this book.

I really liked this book, and I recommended it to you and anyone else that likes danger, and excitement. This novel is the kind of book I like to read in my free time. Check it out!

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable read all round...
Review: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" is a brilliant sci-fi adventure through the streets and skies of futuristic society. Set in 2021, this is a story of Richard Deckard; "Blade Runner", husband and just another person with the usual social ails.

A number of highly advanced androids have made a daring escape "off-Earth" and have come back to Earth to try and survive. Deackards job is to hunt these androids, who appear as much like humans as everyone else and neutralise them before they harm anyone.

Dicks ability and endless imagination drive you through the book, depicting the state that the world has become (the rare existance of live animals) and the demise of the rogue androids.

This was my first exposure to Dicks brilliance and I have since read "The Man in the High Castle" and "Planets of the Alphane Moon", which have both been excellent. If you enjoyed the movie adaptation, you will be thrilled with this books added detail and depth. Enjoy!

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Summary: Human's Treatment of Androids
Review:

Phillip K. Dick's novel Blade Runner: (Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep)explores many issues dealing with how humans treat androids. On one hand the humans treat the android animals like real animals, but they treat the human androids like machines. The humans do not feel it is bad to kill androids, unless they are animal androids. The only difference between humans and the androids is the fact that humans feel empathy. The androids do have some emotions, intelligence, and artificial memories that keep them from realizing that they're androids.

Dick explores the issue of what makes humans human? Is it the body, the mind, or some combination of both? The androids possess an exterior exactly the same as humans, and organs that are the same; the only difference is in the feeling of empathy, which, is arguable. There are some things that the androids do which might lead one to believe that they do feel empathy. In any instance, Dick argues that maybe the humans are the inhumane ones.

Blade Runner the book is much better than the classic movie. It not only lets the reader become more involved in the thought process of Deckard (the main character), but it also has other issues that were not even covered in the movie, such as how everyone in this society owns are wants to own an animal. They go so far as to own android animals in an effort to make it look like they own an animal.

This is a must read for any fan of the movie, fan of science fiction, or anyone with a sociological background. This book is definitely an A+ for Phillip K. Dick.

Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to PDK
Review: First off, be advised that the book is very different from the movie. The movie was most enjoyable for its vision of a gritty dystopic future and its action sequences.

The book, like other works by PDK, is about ideas. There is little "action"-- the android killings are basically executions. PDK was never a "prose stylist" like Gibson, who could make a scene live and breathe. Rather, he's concerned with the "big issues"-- primarily, the meaning of human existence.

The book is more challenging than the movie. In the movie, the androids just seem like slightly stiff people-- people who had the misfortune of being created rather than born. While they commit evil acts in the film, the ending clearly wants us to empathize with the androids.

In the book, the androids completely lack any empathy with any other creatures. They care little when other creatures are killed, and seem to even lack a survival instinct. That is why the Voight-Kampff test is used to test for androids-- it measures emotional reactions to the death of other living beings, which androids lack. (This wasn't explained at all in the movie!)

What I found very interesting is that the Voight-Kampff test measures involuntary emotional reactions to the deaths of animals, which is taboo in this future world. (The radioactive dust has killed of many species, making them a rare and precious commodity.) Clearly, this can't be an intrinsic empathy that humans have-- we kill animals now! Is this "empathy" something we get from the society we live in?

The book also dwells far more on the "value" that animals have in this future world. The animals are supposed to be precious because many have been killed off by the war and the radioactive dust that lingers afterward. The Mercer religion in the book puts primary value on other living things. But how does this empathic "value" compare with the great monetary value of the animals? Rick Deckard constantly pulls out his Sidney's to get the money value of animals he sees, as someone would with used cars. What PDK does so great is show how the empathy cult of Mercer, which represents basic idealism and altruism, contrasts with the base capitalist valuation of these animals.

I found Mercerism to be one of the most interesting aspects of the novel. It seems to be the primary way through which people are able to merge together and share an empathic group consciousness. However, questions are raised as to whether Mercerism is literally true-- one can see clear parallels to Christianity. By showing a meaningful religion based on lies, I was reminded of Bokononism in Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle." Sadly, PDK never enjoyed the literary success of Vonnegut...

There is a lot going on in this novel-- one could probably write a novel about this novel. There are endless ideas and twists upon twists. However, don't come into it expecting anything like the "cyberpunk" action movie Blade Runner.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing like the movie - which is good
Review: Most people will probably pick up this book with the mistaken impression that it is very similar to the "famous" movie starring Harrison Ford in the mid-80's. While the current printings of the book share the same title, Blade Runner was originally titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The title change came as the result of the movie studio liking the story, but not liking the title. Thus, the current title, which is a complete non sequitur from the plot, was born. The film, while entertaining, is not the Orwell-esque vision of a possible future that the book is.
In the book, Rick Deckard is faced with, not only the challenge of hunting and capturing illegal androids, but with overcoming his own android-like existence. The world he knows is a cold amalgam of mood-stimulants, fake pets, shallow relationships, and an underlying desire to be something other than what he is. At the center of this world is a meaningless quasi-religious leader named Mercer. All morality and ethical codes are teachings of Mercer, who appears to Deckard as some sort of refigured Sisyphus. It is the search for meaning in these teachings (or in spite of them) that drives Deckard to rebel against social norms and his assignment.
The quest for identity and objective meaning in Deckard's self discovery is a theme of all of Dick's work, and is on display best in this work. For any fan of Orwell, Sinclair or Orson Scott Card, this will certainly be a great read.

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Summary: The real and the artificial
Review: What is the difference between the 'artificial' and the 'real'? And, more importantly, is it possible to distinguish between the two? If so, how? By pure instinct, or with the help of objective rules? These questions receive multiple interpretations depending on when they intervene in Philip K. Dick's remarkable novel. The opening chapter presents their first occurence: Rick Deckard dreams of owning a real animal instead of the electric sheep he takes care of as if it was a real one (his neighbour was convinced that it was real). Such a distinction is central to Deckard's job: as a blade runner, he kills androids and is thus forced to distinguish between the real and the artificial; if he can't do so, his role loses all its meaning and he becomes a mere criminal. Both his instincts and the test he uses to make that distinction do not seem fool-proof, though, as he repeatedly discovers throughout the book. The humans - those who think they are humans - are not the only ones with questions about identity: three of the Nexus-6 androids Deckard is ordered to kill, Priss Stratton, Roy and Irmgard Baty, hide in a building with a 'special' human, John Isidore (himself working for a company that 'takes care' of electric animals and thus exposed to the same possible misjudgements), and wonder if he is indeed human and how much they should trust him. The same goes for two seemingly 'metaphysical' characters, Buster (whose TV show is broadcasted twenty-four hours a day) and Mercer (empathy boxes enable mystical fusions with him). This is a complex and stimulating work, written by a brilliant thinker.

Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable writing
Review: I won't make huge editorial comments but I can try to resolve the reasons why other people have rated the book below 5. I think this book should be celebrated because it is so great. Even to this day, it speaks of ideas that no one in the media business has ever explored more in depth than Phillip K. Dick. It shouldn't be celebrated because it was written long ago. First and foremost, this book is a book of its time. Once the ideas in it become widespread, the book will probably fade from public interest. Let me explain. If you haven't had a lesson in the history of "visionary writing", in the 1950's they claimed that modern American cities in the year 1990 would look like the cartoon family "the Jetson's" city. People also thought that by now we'd have space colonies, however we are 50 years away from that. Visionaries are always great for their time, but they always get some facts wrong. Same with Phil K. Dick and any other writer. What's timeless is the ideas they bring, and ideas can truly change the way people think.

I think people expected this book to have the most enjoyable traits of all fiction books--action, page-turning, and memorable characters. But instead it has flat, 2-dimensional characters whom you can't seem to either like or stigmatize. I think this is because the book wasn't meant to be a 100%, pure story. It was meant to express an idea through the use of a story. However, because it is partly about storytelling, it would probably drive you just as raving mad if you were forced to read it in school and analyze it like teachers always have you do. In that way, it still is enjoyable and isn't completely academic.

I think it could also help if you watched the movie first.

I think I liked this book so much because I love science fiction. This book is so visionary and so gripping (again this is at present) that I was equally impressed with the ideas as well as the writing. That's another reason to get this book. He is a great writer, and so many passages of his books could be quoted--they're that good.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed Feelings
Review: *SPOILER*

The year is 2021 and Rick Deckard, android "killer" for the military is continuously searching for new androids to "retire."
The android's started being hunted and many escaped to earth from Mars. The androids have to be retired because they got out of hand, started killing people, and look so much like real humans that the only way to differentiate is to use a worded test and a bone marrow test.
In this book almost every animal on Earth has been wiped out by a previous war. Now almost every animal is either electronic or governmentally owned to be preserved and possibly repopulated. Because of the animal shortage, the price of a horse can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even so, Deckard wants one. He says that his mechanical sheep can't appreciate him or love him for his care.
Right from the start this book keeps you from getting interested. In the beginning I thought it introduced too many machines that you did not understand or care about. Because we're close to 2021, some of them are so remotely realistic that I could not picture anything like them.

As for the characters, though. Rick Deckard and his wife are pretty interesting in many parts of the book, as were some of the other characters. Like the female android he is chasing, who turns out to have many humanoid emotions. Deckard's wife doesn't like Deckard's job because, to her, he is a murderer hired by the government. The symbolism that the author uses in this story is the consequences of war, along with the animals representing life.
I do think, however, that this book would be worth reading if you really like science fiction.