Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Well..Do They?

I don't know why it took me so long to understand the title of the book. I was about halfway through when it clicked. Duh!

This book has been on my to-read list for a pretty good while so I finally sat down in read it. Overall it was a pretty quick read. Also, because this was my first book of his that I read, it really peaked my interest in Phillip K. Dick. Even though this is the only book of his that I read, it seems like he has a great focus on the idea aspect of science fiction. He embraces these "what if?" scenarios without sacrificing a good plot. In this book he paints a dark picture of a post-apocalyptic world where Mars has been colonized after a dreadful world war left much of the North American continent under a coat of filth. The outlook is bleak and grey without any signs of clearing up.

There are 2 focuses in the story. One focus is on Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter from a police department who tracks down and "retires" androids. The second focus is on J.R. Isidore. Rick is hired to track down a group of Nexus-6 androids who emigrated from Mars. They are purported to have more wits and cognition than other androids. Because androids are beautifully crafted to look and perform just like human beings, a test needs to be administered to find out whether they are in fact an android or human. The test uses different signals to measure the amount of empathy. It's possible that androids have false memories implanted and go throughout their life believing that they are a human being. Anyways, the bounty hunter retires a few androids and tracks the remaining three to a beat down complex where J.R. Isidore is helping to shelter them. He falls for one of the androids, which is identical in appearance to another android that the bounty hunter has aiding him. By the way, if you've ever dreamed of having sex with a beautiful android, that is possible. Rick Deckard proved it. He also proved that even though androids aren't really living, one can still feel empathetic towards them.

Empathy was a huge principle tossed around everywhere in the book. The book also briefly touches upon the idea of organized religion and consumer media. Citizens own something called an empathy box in their home where they can subscribe to Mercer- a supposed Messiah of the Mercerism religion. Oh, and just to explain the title...Owning animals is a sign of status. It's also a sign of empathy to care for another living creature. This is because most animals died of radiation (or something similar) from the war. A person can purchase a living animal, however, they can run a pretty penny. Therefore, the option of electronic animals who look and act just like real animals exists. If a human being longs to own a living animal, does an android long to own an electric animal?

Anyways, I'll leave it at that. The book took around 50 or so pages to really get going, but once it did, it was really engrossing. The entire book was actually great and I will also agree that it is probably a little ahead of its time. I really need to read Asimov's robot novels so I can have another robot/android book to compare it to. I am at work now and will start Man in the High Castle to pass the time until 7:30am.