Wow. I really did enjoy this book a lot. The main reason I only gave this four stars was that I was and am still confused about the character of Mercer. I just don't get what Phillip K. Dick was doing with regards to him. Everything else I thought worked well though. The plot, writing, setting of a new Earth that is dead, and an ending that was poignant (at least to me).

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" takes a look at a ruined Earth in 2021. Due to a World War that has killed off millions also lead to mass extinction of animals (like owls) and has left few people left on Earth. Most have fled for Mars and while there have started to create androids in order for people from Earth to have something life-like around them. However, the government (and I guess this is a global government) has banned androids from Earth. If any are found, they are "retired". 

The story starts with us following a bounty hunter named Rick Deckard whose job is to find rouge androids and retire them. He and his wife remain on Earth though she's become increasingly despondent with living in a almost empty apartment building where they care for their electric sheep. Yes you read that right. In this new Earth, people show one of the primary forms of Mercerism (and no I am not explaining that, read the book) by caring for animals. Rick and his wife owned a sheep that got sick and dead, so they hired a company that produces fake animals. Rick is given an assignment to track down several rogue androids. When he realizes how much money he can make, he dreams about the animal that he can buy.

There are other characters in this book as well as Rick. We have his wife, Rick's boss, another bounty hunter, the androids, as well as a man considered a chicken-head (not special) who works at the company that creates fake animals.

Ultimately, the book looks at what makes someone truly human (empathy and love) and why is is that the androids are seemingly incapable of it. 

I did love the hard look at the humans in this one as well as the androids. Some of the humans, like Rick's wife seem to realize that the reality that they are in is pretty awful. The fact that the woman scheduled 6 hours to deal with being depressed at first seemed kind of funny, and then turned into being pretty awful when you think about it. I did love the role reversal that happened in the end with regards to her taking care of Rick though and being protective of him. 

The androids were a bit harder to figure out though. We find out that the androids rapidly age after a few years (2-4) and that the company that has created them is pushing the boundaries to create more and more realistic androids. However, my main question is why though? Why would this company want more realistic androids? It's not as if the androids seem to have any feeling for humans besides what they can get from them.

We get to a creepy scene of one of the androids slowly cutting off the legs of a spider. Even one of the androids that we do meet I was initially thinking was a bit different, until we get a reveal that threw me and Rick as well.

In the end though we have Rick seemingly coming to terms with himself and the world that he lives in with the comment as long as he knows something is electric (not real) that makes it better. Instead of being lied to about it, that is what makes it worse.  

Kindle edition: 256 pages; $3.00. 

Bank: 

April 15: $20
April 17: $23. I read "The Wangs Vs the World", electronic pages 368.
April 24: $28. I read "Dream Wedding", electronic pages 512.
April 25: $28. Landed on BL and had to post a vacation photo or tell a story about a vacation.
April 29: $31. Read "Whitethorn Woods", 354 pages Kindle edition, $3.00

April 29: $34. Read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", 256 pages; $3.00.

Finished this earlier today but then I had to run to work. 

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? follows bounty hunter, Rick Deckard, as he hunts down illegal androids who have escaped to Earth. The androids won't go down without a fight, of course, and they won't go down without raising some serious existential questions in Deckard and the reader. There's a lot more going on in it as well but it's all a little too tricky to sum up nice and neat. 

This book was interesting and overall very enjoyable. I know it inspired Blade Runner, which everyone says I should watch, and I figured I should read the book before I watched the movie. I wasn't sure how I'd like the book but I was pleasantly surprised. The questions of what it means to be human and about empathy in particular were my favorite parts of the book. It got me thinking and while I wouldn't say it blew my mind, it came pretty close. 

There were several scenes in particular that made it impossible to put the book down. Dick had a good way of inspiring tension and horror. When Rick goes to the police department and they're all like, how do you know YOU'RE not an android, I was just like, dude. How do we know he's not? And in fact I kept reading and felt distrustful of Rick, which made me HAVE to know if I could trust him. It was a great way to keep me invested. I also loved the scene where Pris was torturing the spider. I don't like spiders but that scene horrified me as much as it horrified Isidore, which I think was clever on Dick's part. Made us recognize that in fact empathy is what makes us human (maybe). 

While this book was interesting and could be tense, it did have one big flaw and that's it does get bogged down with details some time. The whole concept of Mercerism was strange and was difficult for me to follow in particular. Dick doesn't dumb down anything for the reader, which normally is fine, but what the hell is a mood organ? I think he should have elaborated a little on his details, since without the explanations it bogs down the story and makes it difficult to follow at times. 

Final rating: 4.5/5. Overall this is a really good book and I'd like to read it again. I feel it's the kind of book that needs to be read more than once to really understand it, which is fine with me.

PKD writes about my favorite topic which is how we perceive reality. What is real? Can we actually tell? I may need to read more of his books.

Sensation and Perception was my favorite class doing my Psychology major. Well, some days I say it was Tests and Measurements. (Probably the ones where I do something involving tests.) Let's call it a tie. S&P covers the mechanics and functionality of the senses, how the brain works with them, and best of all: how to exploit the failings of them.

The concept of an alternate reality where perhaps the Axis Powers won World War II found me intrigued. While what if realities are done quite a bit in science fiction, I enjoyed PKD's take. I especially liked the hinting at our reality in The Grasshopper Lies Heavy and slow unveiling of what it says.

I could bore you all with excuses as to why I have never picked up a Philip K Dick novel before, but I won’t, because there isn't one that’s good enough! Apart from an attempt to listen to an abridged audio recording of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, that for some reason only lasted an hour, I stupidly neglected this author.

Well...all that’s changed now! I intend to pick up another Philip K Dick novel very shortly, because I loved this one.

As a review I had read before I began this said, it is quite an uneven book. For the first hundred or so pages, not a-lot happens. But that wasn’t a problem for me, as the protagonists (Jason) character was being explored. The first part may prove a little lack-lustre to some, but as I’m sure you know by now, I’m a character junkie, so I feel that without this character development, I wouldn’t have been as emotionally involved in Jason’s plight. Jason wasn’t the most sympathetic character I’ve ever come across, but that doesn’t really matter to me, as long as they’re multi-layered. This was mostly achieved and is why, when I came across various plot-holes, I continued to plod along. If I reach an implausible development in a novel where I don’t feel this attachment, I give-up on it.

What I loved most about this book, was the ability of Dick to weave a level of philosophy into the narrative. For example, one particular observation resonated with me, where Jason is having coffee with a recently made acquaintance. He explains how fear prohibits us from embracing life to its fullest. It may seem obvious, but it did make me think, which brings me onto my next point.

I love a book that makes me actively think. Don’t get me wrong, I love a light  read as much as the next person, but it’s nice to pepper that experience with a more taxing reading experience. That’s not to say that this was a complicated read, because it wasn’t. It did however make me think,which I really enjoyed.

Finally, all questions were resolved, but this caused another slight problem for me because the answers were revealed within the last few pages. I loved the scope of Dicks ideas, but I would have preferred the reveal slightly earlier so that there was more time for exploration of the said ideas.The novel was nicely tied up at the end and we were privy to the fate of all those concerned. I like it when an author does this, because I feel it ties things up nicely.

Anyway, I’m now a confirmed Philip K Dick fan and have already acquired another of his books, A Scanner Darkly, which I intend to start shortly.

There are days when the stress of life overwhelms me.

Those are the days that I re-read Piper in the Woods.

Piper in the Woods is a short sicence fiction story, set on another world, about a group of people who begin to view the world and what we do from day to day in a different way.

I very much enjoyed the ending, clever.

This short story is very Philip K Dick, so if you are a fan, you won't want to miss this.