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  • Blade Runner

  • Originally published as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
  • Written by: Philip K. Dick
  • Narrated by: Scott Brick
  • Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (299 ratings)

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Blade Runner cover art

Blade Runner

Written by: Philip K. Dick
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Publisher's Summary

Here is the classic sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, set nearly thirty years before the events of the new Warner Bros. film Blade Runner 2049, starring Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, and Robin Wright.

By 2021, the World War has killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remain covet any living creature, and for people who can’t afford one, companies build incredibly realistic simulacra: horses, birds, cats, sheep. They’ve even built humans. Immigrants to Mars receive androids so sophisticated they are indistinguishable from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans can wreak, the government bans them from Earth. Driven into hiding, unauthorized androids live among human beings, undetected. Rick Deckard, an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, is commissioned to find rogue androids and “retire” them. But when cornered, androids fight back—with lethal force.

Praise for Philip K. Dick

“[Dick] sees all the sparkling—and terrifying—possibilities . . . that other authors shy away from.” - Rolling Stone

“A kind of pulp-fiction Kafka, a prophet.”- The New York Times

©1968 Philip K. Dick (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

What listeners say about Blade Runner

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Weird book, man.

I knew it would be different from the film but, man, this is a weird book. I generally enjoyed the main plot about Deckard finding the androids but even that had some really odd chauvinistic attitudes toward the female characters.
The subplots involving Isidore and his religion (called “Mercerism”) were just plain strange and baffling to me.
If Philip K. Dick we’re trying to make some statement about religion, it was lost on me, like tears in rain.
Final thoughts: if you’re a diehard fan of Blade Runner (the franchise), P.K. Dick, or science fiction literature, it is a must-read, but to the casual listener, it may be a little off-putting.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very good.

I enjoyed reading this book. However this is one of those rare times when the movie is so much better than the book. The performance is really good.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable.

Really enjoyed the audio overall. Was very convenient to have this novel on audible because it was on a reading list for my university. However, Isidore’s voice was a bit distracting and fluctuated between comical and over-done.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story decent narration

Starts strong, story is very good from start to about 3/4 through but the ending somewhat drags out and is a bit anti-climatic.

narration is good and he has a good voice for a cop/detective type story but the narration of the female characters is a bit obnoxious and annoying after a while that might be partially to do with the story though.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

i enjoyed the movies and book

I would definitely recommend this book if you enjoyed the movies and vice versa.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

aweaome

Spectacular from beginning to finish. Great driven characters. Need film adoption of this as is.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This is a WILD ride!

I loved it. I'm a fan of post-apocalyptic dystopian fiction and this is almost as good as Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy.

This book is HEAVY, but it's well worth reading. Themes of what it means to be human, what is "real" vs what is "artificial", examination of religion, examination of societal expectations, the value and nature of life, and the limits of the human experience.

I'm going to listen to it again because I want to see how much more I can get out of it.

Scott Brick is my favourite narrator and he knocks this one out of the park!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Classic Science fiction

I always enjoy the dichotomy between Rick and Phil and how they view the occupation.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Am I human?

I'm going to stop saying"," "I didn't like it" when I really mean that a novel disturbed me. Most of Philip K. Dick's work has that effect on me"," possibly because his stories are both bleak and prophetic. I had to re-read this after watching the Blade Runner films. Now I have to watch the movies again, because there's so much subtext I missed that may derive from the novel.

This book asks the question, "what does it mean to be human?" and, like so many of Philip Dick's stories, implies many more questions. There are no good answers.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A Study on Empathy

This book delves on what it means to be human, as well as on the ability of feeling empathy and compassion for the other, that is, for someone or something that is not you or of your own kind. This seems to be at least as relevant today as it was during the Cold War when it was written. Having said that, the screenplay written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples based on this book for Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) is a much superior work of art and dives deeper into this theme of empathy and humanity.

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