Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — Pre-Reading Guide
Read this before you start the book
📖 What Is This Book?
Set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco, the novel follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter tasked with “retiring” escaped nexus-6 androids. As Deckard tracks his targets, he confronts the blurring lines between artificial and organic life, and the role of empathy in defining humanity.
Basic Facts:
- Author: Philip K. Dick (1921-1982)
- Published: 1968
- Length: ~210 pages
- Reading Time: 6-8 hours
- Genre: Dystopian SF / Proto-Cyberpunk
- Setting: A decaying, radioactive San Francisco in the (then) future.
🏆 Why Is This Book Important?
Literary Significance
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Definition of Humanity
- Dick uses the android as a tool to ask: What makes us human? Is it biological, or is it the capacity for empathy?
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The Nature of Reality
- A recurring theme in Dick’s work is the fragility of reality and the perception of the self.
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Influence on Cyberpunk
- The gritty, urban, high-tech/low-life setting laid the groundwork for the Cyberpunk genre.
Cultural Impact
- Blade Runner: The source material for Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) and Villeneuve’s 2049.
- Post-Humanism: A foundational text for philosophical discussions on AI and synthetic life.
Historical Context
- The 1960s: reflect the era’s anxieties about nuclear war (World War Terminus) and the rise of mass media/technological control.
🎯 What to Think About As You Read
Key Questions to Keep in Mind
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Does Deckard have empathy?
- He kills for a living. How does he justify his actions compared to the “coldness” of the androids?
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The Mercerism Religion:
- Is Mercerism a genuine spiritual path or a tool for social control?
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Status and Animals:
- Why is owning a real animal so critical for social standing in this world?
Themes to Watch For
- Empathy vs. Logic: The Voigt-Kampff test as a measure of the “soul.”
- Entropy and Kiplings: The “gribble” or decay that consumes the world.
- The Artificial vs. The Authentic: Real animals vs. electric ones; real humans vs. androids.
Pre-Reading Guide created: 2025-12-25
For Great Literature 102 - Book 05 of 10