Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? A Chapter by Chapter Retelling

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. Take one of my favorite sci-fi books and go through it chapter by chapter. Share my thoughts, break it down, and maybe convince a few people to pick it up.

The book is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Published in 1968. You probably know it better as the book that inspired Blade Runner.

What This Series Is About

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to retell this book one chapter at a time. Not just a dry summary. More like me telling you about the book over coffee. What happens, what I think about it, and why it still matters almost 60 years later.

The story takes place in a future San Francisco, January 1992 (well, Dick’s version of 1992). Nuclear war has wrecked the planet. Most animals are dead or dying. A lot of people moved to Mars. And the ones who stayed behind live in this dusty, empty world where owning a real animal is basically a status symbol.

Our main character is Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter. His job is to “retire” (that’s the nice word for kill) androids who escape from Mars and try to blend in with humans on Earth. These androids look exactly like people. The only way to tell them apart is an empathy test.

And that’s where things get interesting.

Why This Book Matters

Philip K. Dick wrote this in the late 1960s, but it asks questions we’re still dealing with today. What makes someone human? Can a machine feel? If an android acts exactly like a person, treats others with kindness, and is afraid to die, is it really okay to kill it?

Roger Zelazny, another legendary sci-fi author, wrote in the introduction that Dick had a special talent. He could take big philosophical ideas and wrap them in stories that feel personal and real. You don’t feel like you’re reading philosophy. You feel like you’re following a guy through a really bad day at work.

And honestly, that’s what this book is. Rick Deckard has possibly the worst workday in fiction.

What to Expect

I’ll post one chapter per day. There are 22 chapters, so we’ll be at this for a bit. Each post will cover what happens in the chapter and my take on it.

If you’ve seen Blade Runner but never read the book, you’re in for some surprises. The movie and the book share the same DNA, but they’re very different stories. The book has stuff the movie never touched. Things like Mercerism (a shared virtual religion), the mood organ (a device that lets you dial in any emotion you want), and the whole obsession with real vs fake animals.

So let’s get started. Tomorrow we begin with Chapter 1, where Rick Deckard wakes up and immediately gets into an argument with his wife about their mood organ settings.

It’s going to be a good ride.

Book Details

• Title: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
• Author: Philip K. Dick
• ISBN: 9780345508553
• Series: SF Masterworks
• First Published: 1968

Next: Chapter 1: The Wake Up Call