Customer Reviews
Science Fiction, Suspense and Philosophy - By: Douglas P. Murphy, 09 Nov 2008 
I became a rabid fan of Philip K. Dick from the first novel of his that I read. All of his books are excellent, & this one ranks as one of the best. Unlike a lot of sci-fi writers Dick's background isin philosophy which was his major as a student at UCLA Berkeley. The plot of this book is well-known from the movie:the human racein tatters, the natural world is slipping away, androids escape to earth & bounty hunters track them down to eliminate them. The book brings up some interesting questions. Are humans becoming more like machines or machines becoming more like humans? As machines become more human-like do their rights as living creatures increase? Does technology bring us closer to creating life or destroying it? The great thing about Dick books are that the questions they stirin us are endless. From an entertainment point of view this one provides fast dialogue, constant surprises & a perspective like none other.
Empathy, Androids and Enigmas - By: Andrew Dalby, 17 Jun 2008 The book is a masterwork but do not expect the Bladerunner film. The same ideas & themes are there but they are developedin a different way. The book is more subtle. It explores how empathy is used as the defining test of androids. They are more intelligent than humans but they do not get empathy & so they are dumb. But the interesting thing about empathy is how it affects the "blade runners".
The story is as complex as the film with a parallel world of police & bounty hunters that do not know of each other but that been infiltrated by androids & here for me there is a plot problem, but maybe it isn't maybe Dick meant something else, maybe he meant people to come to the same conclusions as the film but he is not around to ask.
blade runner ? - By: Mr. S. Bounds, 18 May 2008 
i watched blade runner as a young boy & loved the story , so i thought i would give electric sheep a go , the vision of dick i found is amazing & some of the ideasin the book are starting to come true, but all that said i was disappoint with the book , it was my own fault because i wanted blade runner & got k dicks vision of it . ridley scotts story i found was far developed from the k dick , which is easy really i suppose. but before reading be awhere that this is not blade runner? but with an open mind give it a go.
one of his best - By: Johnny London, 01 Apr 2008 Forget the film of this book 'Blade Runner'. The book is far stranger, less concerned with style & generally more cerebral & satisfying.
This is to me one of his best novels ('A Scanner Darkly' being the other). It doesn't delve into the religious metaphysical stuff that his later novels do, instead conventrating on the authors usual themes of :
what is reality? how do we recognise or define it? how do i know i am real?
this book almost transcends SciFi, & delves into philosophy.
Essential SciFi.
Highly recommended to everyone.
A gem of a book - By: Book Tart, 19 Jan 2008 I hadn't read a SciFi of the traditional varietyin years, but this was chosen for our bookclub & it was an excellent choice. It should be said that the film (Blade Runner - also a classic) is nothing like the book. The book is really a novella with a futuristic "cowboy" plot - a simple story of bounty hunter searching for outlaws. The depth of the story isin the bleak picture that the author paints of a post-apocalyptic earth where real animals are seen as the ultimate status symbol. Most humans have emigrated off world & those remaining are damagedin some way either physically by the radiation/pollution or emotionally. Very thought provoking. I also enjoyed readingin hindsight about the author's vision of the future 40 years after he wrote it. I loved the idea of a world where androids are so advanced they are almost indistinguishable from humans, but the reports are still typed on carbon paper & the bounty hunter has to callin to base using a coin phone!
