Nerds That Geek Book Review: 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'

Written by Scott Edwards

In 2021, years after World War Terminus, live animals are a hot and expensive commodity after becoming rare or otherwise extinct. The Sidney’s Catalog lists the most up to date price of each one of these creatures at the average market rate and Rick Deckard is one of the many people that is willing to pay what it takes to get a hold of one or more of these luxuries once again. Deckard used to own a live sheep in his youth, but unfortunately, it died and not having the funds to buy a new one, he had it replaced by a cheaper, electric version.

Rick Deckard has a plan to get a live animal back into his house once again, being a Bounty Hunter for the San Francisco Police Department, he is willing to take on a new contract. Hunting androids has become a lucrative job for these bounty hunters, with a payoff of a thousand dollars per each one that is retired and Rick has a plan to retire at least six of these “Andys” to get enough money to buy a new animal and make his life a bit more tolerable. His wife Iran however is still not sold on the fact that an animal will bring happiness to anyone because she is never happy herself.

After Deckard talks with the police chief, he inherits a new contract for three Andys that have made their way to earth after killing several people on Mars to secure their escape. The first Andy on his list is Polokov, a Nexus 6 model from the blooming Rosen Association who produce the top of the line androids for use in off planet laboring. Polokov is not a standard android as Deckard is told by the chief, since he shot the previous bounty hunter that tried to administer their Voigt-Kampff test, an empathy test that can identify if someone is human or android, based on their responses. 

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? takes a good long look into beliefs and morality. Following Rick Deckard as he tries to do his job by eliminating the Andy threat in California, he is challenged by the Rosen Association along with the owner's prized daughter Rachael, and is left questioning whether or not what he is doing for a living is morally right. His wife Iran is next to helpless as he battles with this dilemma, as she only wants to feel down, utilizing her mood organ to keep her in a negative state as long as possible, and he also spends some time following a ‘chickenhead’ named J.R. Isidore whose only ambition in life is to feel accepted, be it by humans or androids, and to top it all off he has to track the Andys who only want to survive in their new environment and live out their short four year lives to the fullest, no matter what.

Philip K. Dick’s novel is an all time great in the Sci-Fi genre, not only for the imagery that is used, but for the morals depicted in his tellings. Although this novel has been adapted into film as another all time great in Blade Runner, this book takes a better look at what the wants of the characters are and what they are willing to do to accomplish them, be it something as basic as buying something that you cannot afford to bring you pleasure, or protecting your brothers or sisters from an untimely demise. Do androids dream, do androids have a soul? If they do, are they any less of a human than you or I? You will be left to decide that for yourself after putting this book down.

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