Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? - REVIEW

I believe that science fiction is not for everyone.

The complexity of the imagination means that we do not imagine the same thing. Complexity is what creates the universe and at the same time we are the ones who contribute something to the story.

I've never been a big fan of science fiction books, but by contradiction, my favorite book is science fiction. A short, enjoyable book that I would definitely recommend to any reader, science fiction lover or not.

Today I'm going to talk about one of the most fascinating stories ever written. A book that inspired one of the most important science fiction films of all time.

I consider that it is not a well-known book much to my regret and especially considering the popularity of the movie and that's why today I wanted to write something about this novel.

is a novel written by Philip K. Dick in 1968 and this is one of the most curious aspects and that personally attracts my attention the most.

A small book of around 200 pages set in 1992, with a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk style (omg who doesn't like it?) after a nuclear war. The main character is Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who has to "retire" (i.e. kill) six escaped Nexus-6 model androids, while a secondary plot follows John Isidore, a man of sub-par IQ who aids the fugitive androids.

And that's the fun, what's fiction and what's natural? Who's the good and who's the bad? All these philosophical questions are presented in the face of a social critique that seeks to judge the decadence of life, poverty and unrest.

The story revolves around Mercerism, a prominent religious/philosophical movement on Earth. The movement is based on the story of Wilbur Mercer, a man who lived before the war. He strives to reverse the decay of the tomb world and ascend back to Earth by climbing an immense slope. His adversaries throw rocks at him along the way, until Mercer reaches the top, and the cycle begins again. This mixes the concept of a deity with a cycle of life-death-rebirth, in the manner of Jesus Christ, with the importance of union and empathy.

Real and artificial life forms are divided into hierarchies. Animals are considered enormously precious, humans are given less consideration, and androids are simply insignificant. Humans are divided between those who can migrate outside the Earth and those who, due to genetic defects produced mostly by radioactive dust, are not allowed to leave the planet (the so-called "specials" or "knuckleheads"); and androids are continuously improved, creating new android models that are superior to the previous ones.

Throughout this story, the protagonist begins to doubt even himself.

Androids are so real that even they themselves are not aware of what they are. They think they are people, so much so, that when they begin to suspect that they are robots, they act in the same way as humans themselves: natural denial. What if the ones we thought were humans are also Nexus?

The book plays with this unknown, making the reader constantly doubt and even making us doubt our own reality.

We see a gray, desolate world, full of silent empty apartments in progressive ruin, where everything seems to deteriorate, simply because the Earth is being abandoned.

The need of the human being to leave the earth is something that especially catches my attention. Why is there always that need to flee?

A book written in the 60s asking so many existential questions, mixing the post-apocalyptic style of science fiction, but without losing that point of reality within all this fantasy. 

The modernity of the novel, the closeness to reality and above all, the timelessness, are key aspects that make this book: perfect.

I think that at this point some of you will have figured out what movie it is about (one of my favorites, I probably have it in the top 5):

Blade Runner

Around 1977 Hampton Fancher wrote the screenplay for a film loosely based on the novel by Philip K. Dick. However, Fancher's drafts focused more on environmental issues and less on questions of humanity and religion, which was the central part of the novel. When director Ridley Scott joined the film, he wanted to make numerous changes to the script and eventually hired David Webb Peoples to make the modifications after Fancher refused.

The film departs perceptibly from its original inspiration. The changes have prompted many critics and followers (myself included) to consider both as independent works.

I will always recommend the book as it's very different from the movie, I consider it more special, closer to what we know today and therefore: real.

I hope that someone dares to try this magnificent book that helped me to free myself from reading block. 

If you have already read it, I would love to know your opinion about it.

And if I have discovered your next reading, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Until next time :)