Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Written by Phillip K. Dick and the inspiration behind the movie Blade Runner, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a subtle, some would argue mundane, science fiction novel that fails to thrill a reader, yet inspires them to delve deeper into the mist that shrouds the idea of what it means to be ‘human’. I personally failed to become enthralled in this book, but the ideas that it expressed appealed to me and I found certain bouts of pleasure in indulging in some deep thinking regarding the questions of ‘humanity’ put forward by Dick. I think the fact that I had to read this for uni may have had a somewhat dampening effect on my reception of it, but ultimately I just found this book easy to read, but hard if not altogether impossible to become enrapt in. 

War has left Earth devastated: a barren wasteland, mostly abandoned, and clouded over by a sheen of radioactive dust that slowly brings about the inhabitant’s extinction. Here, bounty hunter Rick Deckard tracks down and ‘retires’ the runaway androids that flee from servitude on Mars. When he’s not ‘retiring’ androids, Rick dreams of one day owning a real animal and gaining the social status and prestige that goes along with it. He gets his chance when he’s given an assignment to track down 6 new Nexus-6 androids and ‘retire’ them for a huge reward. Although remarkably skilled in his trade, Rick’s assignment soon takes a turn when he discovers ‘human’ traits in his prey and he begins to empathise with them, which threatens to turn the hunter into the hunted. 

Although the brunt of the book is devoted to Rick Deckard’s story, it’s actually made up of two tales that run parallel with one another before finally entwining at the climax. Simultaneously as Rick Deckard hunts down the androids, an alienated human whose mind has been affected by the dust lowering his IQ and turning him into a “chickenhead” named John Isidore meets and befriends three androids who become the last on Deckard’s hit list. The fusion of these two separate stories; one where androids are seen as lower than animals, inhuman, and without rights, and the other where the underprivileged human counts them as friends, allies, and equals help to highlight the ideas put forward by Dick about what is ‘human’, what it means to be ‘human’, and all that jazz. In that way, the way in which these clever and philosophic ideas are expressed, Do Androids Dream? is a very clever and thought-provoking read. Worth it at any rate. 

My downside with this book is that it has these bouts of potential emotional drama and thrilling action, but because the book is written so blandly and so simply, these emotions aren’t aroused in the reader. I couldn’t find myself getting excited or attached to the characters, the situations, indeed the entire book in general; I was just reading it, passively and unresponsively. I don’t know about you, but when I read a book I like it to both inspire thoughts and inspire emotions within me, and unfortunately Dick’s efforts only resulted in success in one field. 

Filled with science fiction, action, romance, sex, real animals, drama, and engaging philosophical questions, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a clever, original, and differently iconic book. Although I could not get really rapt in it, I will still happily agree that it’s worth reading and it deserves its place in The Book. But the only reason it’s in my library is because I had to purchase it for uni.