A masterpiece ahead of its time, a prescient rendering of a dark future, and the inspiration for the blockbuster film Blade Runner

By 2021, the World War has killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remain covet any living creature, and for people who can’t afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacra: horses, birds, cats, sheep. They’ve even built humans. Immigrants to Mars receive androids so sophisticated they are indistinguishable from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans can wreak, the government bans them from Earth. Driven into hiding, unauthorized androids live among human beings, undetected. Rick Deckard, an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, is commissioned to find rogue androids and “retire” them. But when cornered, androids fight back—with lethal force.

Praise for Philip K. Dick

“The most consistently brilliant science fiction writer in the world.”—John Brunner

“A kind of pulp-fiction Kafka, a prophet.”—The New York Times

“[Philip K. Dick] sees all the sparkling—and terrifying—possibilities . . . that other authors shy away from.”—Rolling Stone

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Length: 258 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Product details

File Size: 2098 KB
Print Length: 258 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 26, 2008)
Publication Date: February 26, 2008
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B000SEGTI0
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,791 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #34 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Classics
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Freemont DelRay

Not Blade Runner, but a deeper look at the human psyche through the lens of a moral dilemma

January 18, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

He turns off machines, that's his job. They are dangerous machines, androids, but he is basically turning off machines. But he realizes that there is little difference between the machines and the people he knows. So why MUST the machines be turned off?

This is a moral dilemma for Decker and he cannot untwist his increasing sympathy for the androids he is hunting from his sense of duty to the force and his wife.

It is very sad and very depressing especially when you are clearly presented with androids who are not sympathetic, do not care, except about their own survival, and can only imitate emotion, not really feel. In the end Decker is crippled by his murder of the last of the androids. He will no longer hunt them, can no longer kill them.

Blade Runner hinted at this moral dilemma but spectacle triumphed over substance and all we have left of it is Decker's moves to save the woman/android he has come to love. That, and the magnificent monologue of Rutger Hauer on the roof of the Bradbury Building. Stunning performance. That recollection of his life makes him human, no different then other humans but then, it's time to die. Love, love, love that scene.

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Maverick

No i have not seen Blade Runner Yet.

October 19, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This kind of novel defies understanding. I could tell there was enough in here to leave revelations after several readings, despite its slim size, but my one read through yielded enough for a satisfying experience. Empathy is an obvious theme. The novel asks us what deserves our empathy, and twists that in surprising ways. Once we start to see the androids as something akin to human, PKD twists our legs off. Its an interesting juxtaposition, and made for a fascinating scene.

My favorite quality of this novel is how pkd shifted the world and examined the cultural impact of it. After WWT, live animals became scarce leading to a market of life like robotic animals. Actual animals became pricey commodities and a symbol of status. Our hero of the novel desires a living animal, and he obsesses over it throughout to an almost comical degree. This is where the title comes in, he owns an electric sheep and wonders if the androids have their own humanlike desires.

A great read, i see why PKD is a legend. His imagination is astounding and breaks all the rules without breaking a sweat. Will read more of his work including this novel again. You should too.

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Chitalu Andrew KabalikaTop Contributor: Fantasy Books

Thrilling and thought provoking

October 8, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Seeing as this novel is considered a seminal work in the science fiction genre, I was expecting a lot from this piece of writing.

I found the central theme of the novel quite profound and it caused me to consider deeply just what the difference between genuine and counterfeit are, and whether such difference even matters.

Also, I deeply enjoyed the complexity of the characters as there were several moments in the novel where their motives were not easily predictable.

Furthermore, the book had several tense moments when the detective was attempting to ascertain whether one of his targets was an android or not. I was quite surprised by how tense I felt and this is a testament to the quality of the writing.

The end of the book is a fair bit sombre but it feels congruous with the general tone of the book, I was quite satisfied with the end of the novel.

This is a classic example of the science fiction genre and a great read, a real must read!

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Van T. Roberts

Far Superior To the Film!!!

November 22, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Philip K. Dick's novel surpasses the Ridley Scott's cult classic on many levels. The novel contains some white-knuckled suspense sequences, and it has predicaments and situations that are far more provocative than the film. It seems difficult to believe that Scott and his writers didn't leave it alone instead of trying to improve it. The book deals with what it means to be human, and principally this is empathy. Our bounty hunting San Francisco Policeman wants to buy a live animal rather than keep a computerized sheep that mysteriously malfunctions. In the post-apocalyptic San Francisco, humans all strive to have some kind of animal. These humans live in the aftermath of a nuclear war referred to as "World War Terminus" that has eliminated many animals. As it turns out, our hero is a second-string sort of bounty hunter who discovers that the number one bounty hunter has been wounded by a Nexus-6 model android, and he has the chance 'to retire' these androids. The Rick Deckerd character in the novel has a wife and his adventures against the androids are much more suspenseful. One of the best scenes occurs when he is arrested after trying to test an opera singer and is taken into custody at an alternative San Francisco Police Headquarters. If you love the film, but you haven't read the novel, you may change your mind after you read all the missed opportunities that Scott and company passed up when they adapted the novel.

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Carol

LIFE AFTER WORLD WAR TERMINUS!

October 13, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

HA! What a surprise!

If you've seen the 1982 Blade Runner movie, you already know Deckard is a bounty hunter....works for law enforcement....and has a license to kill rogue androids aka replicants.

DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP was the inspiration for the old movie as well as Blade Runner 2049 in theatre's now and is the same in some respects, but without the intensity and violence. It kind of has a strange calmness to it....almost like you've taken a mood enhancer, and there's a whole other plot going on. Very bizarre.

I don't want to be a "chicken-head" and give anything away so I'll just say....times are bleak, desperate and totally weird after W.W.T. (World War Terminus) with people trying to survive on a contaminated earth....animals are a rare commodity....and most....those that passed the test have defected to Mars.

Definitely MORE thought provoking than the movie....Definitely NOT the action-packed thriller with brutal fights between bounty hunter and a highly-intelligent & dangerous species of replicant.

"You shall kill only the killers."

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