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Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? (S.F. Masterworks)
 
 
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Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? (S.F. Masterworks) (Paperback)

by Philip K. Dick (Author) "A merry little surge of electricity piped by automatic alarm from the mood organ beside his bed awakened Rick Deckard ..." (more)
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; New Ed edition (11 Feb 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1857988132
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857988130
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 912 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > D > Dick, Philip K.
    #20 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction
    #33 in  Books > Fiction > By Period > 20th Century

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a book that most people think they remember, and almost always get more or less wrong. Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner took a lot from it, and threw a lot away; wonderful in itself, it is a flash thriller where Dick's novel is a sober meditation. As we all know, bounty hunter Rick Deckard is stalking a group of androids returned from space with short life spans and murder on their minds--where Scott's Deckard was Harrison Ford, Dick's is a financially over-stretched municipal employee with bills to pay and a depressed wife. In a world where most animals have died, and pet-keeping is a social duty, he can only afford a robot imitation, unless he gets a big financial break. The genetically warped "chickenhead" John Isidore has visions of a tomb-world where entropy has finally won. And everyone plugs in to the spiritual agony of Mercer, whose sufferings for the sins of humanity are broadcast several times a day. Prefiguring the religious obsessions of Dick's last novels, this asks dark questions about identity and altruism. After all, is it right to kill the killers just because Mercer says so? --Roz Kaveney

Product Description
World War Terminus had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn't 'retiring' them with his laser weapon, he dreamed of owning a live animal -- the ultimate status symbol in a world all but bereft of animal life. Then Rick got his chance: the assignment to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But in Deckard's world things were never that simple, and his assignment quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit -- and the threat of death for the hunter rather than the hunted...

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A merry little surge of electricity piped by automatic alarm from the mood organ beside his bed awakened Rick Deckard. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

42 Reviews
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 (26)
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 (9)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
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1 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (42 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars One of Phillip K. Dick's masterpieces (but not his best), 19 Mar 1999
By A Customer
I read this novel some years after first seeing the film version - "Bladerunner". At first, I was disappointed: I foolishly expected something to resemble the film - but I had forgotten that Dick himself was extremely distressed about the distruction of his plot when the film was made: Hence the book and the film, although based on the same ideas should really be viewed as different stories: Both have a "Bladerunner" chasing after escaped Androids, but there the similarities start to run out.

On reflection, I now recognise the book as being an excellent work. The only reason I have awarded it four stars out of five is that I have also read "Ubik" - which is so excellent that I cannot judge "Do Androids..." at 100% in comparison.

The book is more subtle than the film, and includes a lot of Dicks subtle examination of the human condition, which, over the years, had led him to accurately predict several technological innovations to come, not because he was up on technology, but because he knew the sort of thing we'd end up doing. The story contains electric animals, since the real ones have become rather scarce, one of these being the electric sheep owned by the main character, which he pretends is real to save face. One of my favorites is the device which can change your mood: When you don't feel like changing your mood, you can dial in a code to put you in the mood for using the machine! So, given that we are now cloning sheep, I would suggest mood-machines and Androids are on the way.

If you're new to Dick, you're also new to his unique ability of being able to weave a puzzle that will take at least half the book to unravel (or so you think, until you reach the end, and you realise you were wrong!): So, if you haven't read his material before, start with this book - and stick with it - wait a while to let the neurons settle down, and then read his best work - "Ubik". Most of his other works are also worth a read, and some are excellent, although I don't have space to list them all here.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Reality?, 7 Jan 2004
By Mr. A. Felix "Amedeo" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Philip K. Dick was part of the generation of 1950's science-fiction writers who took as their core task the criticism of American popular-culture. Thus there is a frequent recurrence of certain themes in his works: The threat of nuclear war; the evil effects of unbridled capitalism; and the degrading influence of mass-media (especially television). However there is another theme which pervades Dick's work, and is more personal: An obsession with the blurring of reality, dreams and waking confused together, mechanical replicas indistinguishable from their originals, drug-induced hallucinations more real than reality. His books are often structured as a series of unexpected trap doors. You think you know where you are and who is whom, then suddenly the bottom falls out and your certainties are thrown into doubt...
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37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy this thinking it's the full text..., 25 Jun 2000
By sjr109@york.ac.uk (York, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 5: 1,800 Headwords: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: 1800 Headwords (Paperback)
This is a strangely abridged or simplified text, which is simply abysmal- don't make the mistake I made, and buy the proper text, because it's a fabulous story...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply moving
Philip K Dick was a genius. I found this book brilliantly written, and towards the end, deeply moving. Read more
Published 18 days ago by N. Durand

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly wonderful outlook on 'life'
My interest in Sci-Fi/Futuristic novels has extended a great deal since I made a decision to start off by reading the most cultured-classics I could find. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr Cheese

4.0 out of 5 stars Remember books are books, films are films!
Having decided that this year I just HAD to get back to reading more books, I started out with this on 5 January, and to date, it is still one of the more interesting reads that I... Read more
Published 3 months ago by A Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars fab
brought the book for my partner, he hasnt started reading it yet. book was in good condition.

Published 4 months ago by Ms. L. R. Taunton

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant but very different to the film
The book that the film 'Blade Runner' was based on, this bears only a vague similarity to that movie, namely the general concept of a bounty hunter asigned to track down and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by M. Evans

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the film
but then it isn't supposed to be. Anyone who has seen the film is bound to be disappointed as whilst there are core parts you will recognise ultimately the book was the source... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Halo572

5.0 out of 5 stars Science Fiction, Suspense and Philosophy
I became a rabid fan of Philip K. Dick from the first novel of his that I read. All of his books are excellent, and this one ranks as one of the best. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Douglas P. Murphy

5.0 out of 5 stars Empathy, Androids and Enigmas
The book is a masterwork but do not expect the Bladerunner film. The same ideas and themes are there but they are developed in a different way. The book is more subtle. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Andrew Dalby

2.0 out of 5 stars blade runner ?
i watched blade runner as a young boy and loved the story , so i thought i would give electric sheep a go , the vision of dick i found is amazing and some of the ideas in the book... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. S. Bounds

5.0 out of 5 stars one of his best
Forget the film of this book 'Blade Runner'. The book is far stranger, less concerned with style and generally more cerebral and satisfying. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Johnny London

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