Originally, I had hoped to dovetail this review with that of another book, the near-thousand page tome,
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick. However, time constraints and what will surely be an acute case of eye strain compel me to save that for a later day (year?).
The subject book, How to Build an Android (original Australian title: Lost in Transit), is a tell-all about the creation of a robot honoring science fiction author Philip K. Dick. In my opinion, this book may find its audience limited, or at the very least, mildly disappointed. Written by a postdoctoral student on the periphery of the PKD project at the University of Memphis, How to Build an Android offers plenty of details, yet struggles to connect the minutia to real-world relevance. It's sort of like gossiping about how much Diet Coke your neighbor drinks. Like, who cares?
There's no question that PKD's own profile has increased exponentially since his untimely death in 1982. That same year saw the theatrical release of Ridley Scott's
Blade Runner, now regarded as possibly the classic dystopian vision. Blade Runner was of course based on Dick's short story, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. More adaptations would follow at a quickening pace. We Can Remember It for You Wholesale became
Total Recall (1990). Second Variety became
Screamers (1995).
Impostor (2001).
Minority Report (2002).
Paycheck (2003).
A Scanner Darkly (2006).
The Adjustment Bureau (2011).
Sadly, much of that commercial success eluded Dick during his lifetime. What Dick had in spades were hallucinations: vibrant, strange experiences which colored an unusually fertile (and already unusual) mind. As author David Dufty correctly observes, Dick "found meaning in things that had no meaning, and links between things that had no connection." In the chapter titled, Brain Malfunction, Dufty observes the endless loops in which Robo-Phil would get caught, building up immense backlogs of data on his memory buffer, and draws a parallel between the android and its inspiration: "Like the android, he malfunctioned, but for very different reasons." Many of Dick's later insights have been cataloged in Exegesis, which you can read if you have lots of time and access to plenty of pharmaceuticals. Better in my opinion to enjoy the source material itself (short stories).
Reading this book is more or less a waste of time, even if it's a question of a few hours. It's not completely devoid of insight. I learned, for example, the difference between a genuine smile and a fake smile. (Hint: It's all about the crow's-feet.) And there are some truly LOL moments in the conversation logs between people who believed they were conversing with the spirit of a very prescient (but very dead) science fiction writer. But I would have liked more focus on android designer David Hanson, whose slip of the mind caused the loss of android Philip K. Dick's head. (If, in fact, it truly went missing; the idea of some vast conspiracy is oddly satisfying, and I am certain PKD would have agreed.) Hanson embodies both the best and worst traits of Dr. Eldon Tyrell. Author Dufty tells us that Hanson believed humans are creating a society that will be *more* than human: a synthesis of human and machine, and that advances in machine technology mean we need new ways of studying the way humans and machines are coevolving. (pp. 21, 33) These are huge issues, hence my review title, an homage to, what else, Blade Runner. I wish there were more of that in this book. In its place are too many characters with whom too little connection is made (Eric Mathews, Sarah Petschonek, Suresh Susarla, among others). As well, there are many weak throwaways where the author was unwilling or unable to share real insight. Said of an upcoming conference: "It could be good or it could be a waste of time." As it happens, the same can be said for this book.
Jason Kirkfield, Vine Review, August 4, 2012
