Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (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)
Key Phrases: vidphone receiver, empathy box, mood organ, Phil Resch, Roy Baty, Luba Luft (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"The most consistently brilliant science fiction writer in the world."
--John Brunner
THE INSPIRATION FOR BLADERUNNER. . .
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was published in 1968. Grim and foreboding, even today it is a masterpiece ahead of its time.
By 2021, the World War had killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remained coveted any living creature, and for people who couldn't afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacrae: horses, birds, cats, sheep. . .
They even built humans.
Emigrees to Mars received androids so sophisticated it was impossible to tell them from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans could wreak, the government banned them from Earth. But when androids didn't want to be identified, they just blended in.
Rick Deckard was an officially sanctioned bounty hunter whose job was to find rogue androids, and to retire them. But cornered, androids tended to fight back, with deadly results.
"[Dick] sees all the sparkling and terrifying possibilities. . . that other authors shy away from."
--Paul Williams
Rolling Stone


From the Inside Flap
"The most consistently brilliant science fiction writer in the world."
--John Brunner
THE INSPIRATION FOR BLADERUNNER. . .
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was published in 1968. Grim and foreboding, even today it is a masterpiece ahead of its time.
By 2021, the World War had killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remained coveted any living creature, and for people who couldn't afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacrae: horses, birds, cats, sheep. . .
They even built humans.
Emigrees to Mars received androids so sophisticated it was impossible to tell them from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans could wreak, the government banned them from Earth. But when androids didn't want to be identified, they just blended in.
Rick Deckard was an officially sanctioned bounty hunter whose job was to find rogue androids, and to retire them. But cornered, androids tended to fight back, with deadly results.
"[Dick] sees all the sparkling and terrifying possibilities. . . that other authors shy away from."
--Paul Williams
Rolling Stone

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (May 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345404475
• ISBN-13: 978-0345404473
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (217 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,120 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

145 of 154 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is not Philip K. Dick's Writing...., April 17, 2008

By	David D'aranjo (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: 1800 Headwords (Oxford Bookworms Library) (Paperback)

I bought this edition of "Androids" under the impression that it was the sci-fi classic written by Philip K. Dick.

However, when I finally received it, I was surprised to find that this edition is actually a re-write.

LIttle did I know, the Oxford Bookworms Library is a subsidiary of the publishing house that "offers a wide selection of readers that are adaptations of modern and classic fiction.... graded at six language levels, from elementary (400 word vocabulary) to advanced (2,500 word vocabulary)."

This edition is Level 5, and while it still tells the basic story of "Androids..", it is certainly not Dick's novel. It is an adaptation.

My mistake! And I certainly am glad quality sci-fi is being made available (in distilled form) to beginning readers.

Yet I am compelled to write this review because I don't feel that Amazon.com is making it abundantly clear that this is a re-written edition.

The top of this page says:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Oxford Bookworms Library) (Paperback)
by Philip K. Dick (Author), Andy Hopkins (Editor), Joc Potter (Editor)

When it really should read:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Oxford Bookworms Library) (Paperback)
re-written by Andy Hopkins (Editor), Joc Potter (Editor), based on the original novel by Philip K. Dick (Author).

I hope Amazon will review their description of this book or post my review so other customers aren't misinformed.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars thought provoking but less than great prose, June 30, 2005

By	E. Cetin (East Quogue, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Androids takes place in a not-so-distant future where a world war has spread a cloud of radioactive dust across the globe, many forms of animal species are extinct, many of the survivors have emigrated to colonies on Mars and the remaining humans are encouraged to emigrate, except for those who have been tested and classified as "specials" meaning the ones with diminished mental abilities because they have been affected severely from radiation. Emigrants are given androids, very sophisticated robots, as slaves. As the technology gets better, newly manufactured androids become more and more human-like, both in appearance and behavior, to the point that they are very hard to distinguish. Discontented androids sometimes kill their masters and find ways to smuggle themselves to earth, in hopes for a better life. In the post-world war earth, life is regarded so precious that owning and caring for an animal is both considered a highly moral life and a status symbol. Because real animals are so rare, many people have fake, very sophisticated and real-like electronic animals that they care for and hide from their neighbors the fact that their animal is fake. On the one hand there are bounty hunters who catch and kill androids, human robots which dreamt of a better life, evidently with some feelings. And on the other hand there is the value which people place upon animal robots. On the one hand there are intelligent, sophisticated androids like the one who made a successful carrier on earth as an opera singer; on the other hand there are hunters who emotionlessly kill her without regard to her artistic talent, or there are simple-minded specials. Throughout the plot, readers are given a lot to think about questions like what is life, what is empathy, where do you draw a line between the value of real and artificial life? It is a philosophical novel and the author puts all these questions before us with brilliant comparisons between characters. The only negative feeling that one might get is the unusual, somewhat simple prose style but overall, a very good, thought provoking novel.

107 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's life, Rick, but not as we know it..., December 10, 1997

By A Customer

Sometimes one wonders why some people even bother to read. If you are a fan of the movie Blade Runner, and you are a little disapointed by this book, then shame on you. You shouldn't be reading books in the first place then! Rarely can movies capture all the themes and ideas of a book, and rarely can books capture the artistic cinematography of film. The two media are separate. Treat them as such.

What Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? are about is the routine of police bounty hunter Rick Deckard. His job is to hunt down and "retire" fugitive androids. But what the movie only scratched the surface of is WHY those androids are fugitives. Fans of the character of Data from Star Trek, or of the computer Mike from Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress will find the familiar theme of what it is that defines the difference between artificial intelligence and artificial life.

This is the realization that Deckard comes to and must deal with: these androids are not mere machines with off-switches, they are living creatures, aware of their own existence and their own mortality. In the post-nuclear holocaust world that Deckard exists in, humans define life by their ability to feel empathy. Empathy for the lives of each other, empathy for the lives of the remaining animal species of earth decimated by fallout, or empathy for artificial life. Eventually, Deckard questions his own ability to feel empathy, and therefore, his own humanity. For if being alive is about feeling empathy, then how can he truly be alive without feeling empathy for the living machines whose job it is for him to kill.

In the film version, Rutger Hauer's performance as one of the androids briefly captured the theme of the book, but it was never really explored and was instead sacrificed for artistic license. If you were intrigued by special effects, skip this book and rent Terminator 2. If you were intrigued by the question of artificial intelligence and artificial life, then you may want to ask if androids really DO dream of electric sheep.