Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick is one of Dick’s best known novels. Unfortunately it’s mainly known for the movie it inspired, Blade Runner. The book does a lot more than the movie and ultimately does it better. We get a better sense of Deckard, the people he had to deal with and the civilization that he inhabited.

The entirety of the book takes place on a single day. Over the first three chapters, everything is set up for us. We learn of the religion, the worship of animals, the technology and the main character, Rick Deckard. Deckard is a married man whose wife is not entirely happy. He has a false animal and wishes he could afford a real one. His job is a bounty hunter. Androids have been created to do work on off planets, but when they escape, they try to come back to Earth. If they make it to Earth, Deckard’s job is to destroy them. When the main bounty hunter is injured when tracking down a renegade android, Deckard sets out to catch and retire the remaining bounty hunters.

What Dick does is setup a society where empathy is everything, but gives us a main character who’s job is to kill human looking androids. It’s a fascinating mixture of concepts and gives us a great view into Philip K Dick’s main question: What makes us human? Deckard has to deal with that throughout the book. He needs to use his gut and his series of tests to help determine who is and who is not human. And the toll it takes on him pushes Deckard into wondering if he himself is an android.

If you’ve loved the movie, go and read the book. While it doesn’t have the visual appeal of the movie, it’s a much better and deeper story Highly recommended.