This is the first piece of writing I've read by Philip K. Dick, although it has been on my 'too read' shelf since I was in sixth form! I'm not sure why I never got around to is, I suppose at the time I wasn't really into reading science-fiction yet. It might actually be a blessing that I waited for so long, because I suspect that some of the more subtle ideas explored by PKD might have gone over my head as a 17 year old pre-English degree.

Firstly I need to say that PKD is a brilliant writer. He really is an excellent story teller, which from my (admittedly so far) limited reading in science-fiction seems to be quite rare. He builds his world succinctly and subtly without boring with long passages of unnecessary description. I was extremely grateful for that!

'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' is observant, dark and witty (I mean, that title! It's just perfect, so clever!). There is actually quite a lot going on thematically for what is quite a short novel. We have ideas about religion, the media, socialism, the individual, reality, mind control, decay, survival, the human condition, empathy, technology, capitalism, intelligence.. I'm sure you could come up with more! All the ingredients that you need for a dystopian future. Plenty to get you thinking!

The plot centres on bounty hunter Rick Deckard's mission to track down and "retire" (aka destroy) six escaped Nexus-6 type androids who have killed their human owns, escaped Mars and illegally arrived on Earth. This is what drives the narrative forward but it isn't really what the novel is about, Rick doesn't have much trouble either tracking or retiring the "andys" and you don't ever really worry for his survival. Instead the real focus is on Rick's state of mind and his personal journey over the course of the 48 hours or so, through what he learns and experiences. There are many twists and turns, and I think I was a mixed up and strung out as Rick by the end!

If you have seen the movie Blade Runner (which you should, because it's brilliant) this is the novel on which that is based.. but it is very different, it is interested to compare the two. I will be getting my DVD out for a re-watch!

I highly recommend this book to anybody. I can't wait to read more PKD! If I had read any of his novels before, I think I'd have tried to write my dissertation on him.. if only I could go back in time. ( )

A thoroughly good exploration of human nature, ostensibly about how androids may differ from humans, focusing on the role empathy plays in that. And that is of interest as well, let there be no doubt. ( )

I really wanted to enjoy this book, having heard such wonderful things about it. My recent foray into trying to read more science fiction came at a good time—or so I thought. It was with the desire to be entertained that I began Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Sadly, I think my next experience with science fiction will definitely have to be with a feminist author given my problems with Dick.

Along the way, I was maddened by how misogynistic the novel is: the many ways in which woman, human or android, are objectified by the male characters is appalling. I can almost imagine Philip K. Dick writing with his dick, as if creating luscious, nubile female androids—almost always discussed in adolescent terms, making the Lolita fantasy that much more disturbing—was his way of working out some kind of interspace sexual fantasy and this book is the by-product. Tricky dick.

While reading, there was one place where Rick Deckard, the bounty hunter, talks with his depressive wife, reminds himself that he can still divorce her, and then he immediately begins to fantasize about how female androids attract him. This is when I almost nearly stopped reading.

Or when Deckard tests himself using the fancy android-testing machine in order to see if his disdain for androids has begun to turn into empathy; it would appear that, at least in the case of female androids, it has:

Rich said, "A female android."

"Now they're both up to 4.0 and 6.0 respectively."

And little does Phil Resch, another bounty hunter, realize what he's putting into motion when he tells Deckard:

"Don't kill her—or be present when she's killed—and then feel physically attracted. Do it the other way."

Rick stared at him. "Go to bed with her first"

"... and then kill her," Phil Resch said succinctly.

I found an interesting essay while trying to make it through the tail-end of Do Androids... which discusses misogyny in the film version, Blade Runner: Simon H. Scott's "Is Blade Runner a Misogynist Text?" I have yet to see the film, and I doubt I will any time soon after finishing the novel, but it is indeed possible that the film uses more film noir conventions and figures like Rachael Rosen are more femme fatale figures in the film, as is the author's argument against a full-fledged misogynistic reading of the text. However, the novel is not noir in any way, so I wonder if this argument has been made elsewhere with the book—and perhaps other work by Dick—as evidence. It would be something I would like to read, at any rate.

I will say that Dick knows how to pace a novel, and it was largely that which kept me reading despite many moments of nausea.

Note to picky readers: the word "ersatz" gets used so many times I lost count.
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Fantastic Wordbuilding, Excellent Theming, Terrible Action Scenes, and a Disappointing Ending. ( )

"Do Androids Dream is a short, fun sci-fi thriller that poses a series thought-provoking questions. Unfortunately, though Dick's dystopian world clearly mimics aspects of 1960s America, he fails to land any real critiques or conclusions."

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