Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Published 1968 · 260 pages · 61,590 words · about 7 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction, Science Fiction

How hard is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? to read?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? scores 72 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it very challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 68 out of 100
Philip K. Dick introduces a rich lexicon of invented and specialized terminology specific to his dystopian future, such as "mood organ," "andys," "kipple," "chickenhead," and "Voigt-Kampff Empathy Test." While the general vocabulary remains accessible, these terms require readers to actively engage with the text to grasp their contextual meaning. This creates a layer of complexity beyond standard contemporary fiction, though not as dense as works like *Gravity's Rainbow*.
Sentence structure: 58 out of 100
The novel features sentences of moderate length, frequently employing multiple clauses and descriptive phrases to convey detailed information and internal reflections. While generally navigable, the prose occasionally uses subordination and coordination to build longer, more intricate sentences, particularly during character introspection. This creates a slightly more demanding reading experience than direct, declarative styles, but it avoids the extreme hypotaxis found in works like *The Golden Bowl*.
Abstraction: 78 out of 100
The narrative consistently transcends its science fiction premise to explore profound philosophical questions, particularly concerning the nature of humanity, empathy, and artificial life. Characters frequently engage in abstract discussions about Mercerism, the meaning of suffering, and the blurred lines between organic and synthetic existence. This deep engagement with theoretical content elevates the abstraction level significantly, placing it closer to works like *Brothers Karamazov* in its intellectual demands.
Information density: 72 out of 100
The narrative presents a high concentration of unique world-building elements, technological concepts, and evolving philosophical ideas per page. Readers are constantly introduced to new terms like "mood organ," "Mercerism," "kipple," and various android classifications, alongside complex moral and existential dilemmas. This requires continuous attention to integrate new information and track the intricate interplay of concepts, making it a demanding read in terms of cognitive load.
Narrative indirection: 60 out of 100
The prose is generally clear, but the novel frequently requires readers to infer the deeper philosophical implications of its world and events. Key thematic questions, such as the nature of humanity and reality, are presented through ambiguous situations like the Mission Street police station, demanding reader interpretation beyond explicit statements.
Symbolic density: 85 out of 100
The text is rich with pervasive symbolism, where elements like electric animals, Mercerism, and kipple carry profound meanings beyond their literal presence. These motifs are deeply integrated into the narrative, serving as central metaphors for authenticity, empathy, entropy, and the human condition.
Ironic distance: 80 out of 100
Philip K. Dick employs significant ironic distance to critique the absurdities of his characters' world, from the mood organ's artificial emotions to the euphemism of 'retiring' androids. The narrative frequently highlights the gap between characters' perceptions and a more cynical reality, culminating in events like Buster Friendly's exposé and Rachael Rosen's manipulative charm.
Resolution withholding: 80 out of 100
The novel consistently resists definitive answers, leaving core philosophical questions about humanity, reality, and the validity of belief systems ambiguous. Events like the Mercerism exposé and Rick's shifting empathy for androids create a pervasive sense of uncertainty, denying the reader easy closure on the story's profound implications.
Structural complexity: 65 out of 100
The narrative alternates between the distinct perspectives of Rick Deckard and John Isidore, creating a parallel and sometimes overlapping experience of events. While the prose is conventional, the deliberate unreliability of the world and the way information is revealed (or concealed) introduce a moderate level of structural intricacy.

How Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is regarded

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? holds a literary regard score of 80 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Prizes

Where Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (118 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? scores 74 out of 100. A second mythos, romance, pulls at it with a weight of 0.25. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic
Examining the schedule for January 3, 2021, he saw that a businesslike professional attitude was called for.
Symbol: Mythical
“I am a fraud,” Mercer said. “They’re sincere; their research is genuine.
Mythos: Tragic Pathos (Irony iv) (irony iv)
“Everything is true,” he said. “Everything anybody has ever thought.”
Genre: Novel + Romance
In a giant, empty, decaying building which had once housed thousands, a single TV set hawked its wares to an uninhabited room.

Where the story of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? takes place

  • Post-war San Francisco and Bay Area, January 2021 (with Seattle and an Oregon-border wasteland), the main setting

6 things that are true of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, with the passage for each

  1. The story is dated: Rick's mood-organ schedule gives the opening day as January 3, 2021.

    Examining the schedule for January 3, 2021, he saw that a businesslike professional attitude was called for.

  2. The Nexus-6 android brain is credited with two trillion constituents and ten million neural pathways.

    the Nexus-6 brain unit they’re using now is capable of selecting within a field of two trillion constituents, or ten million separate neural pathways.

  3. Rick spends his whole bounty money on a down payment for a living black Nubian goat.

    He signed the time-payment contract, paid over his three thousand dollars—his entire bounty money—as down payment

  4. The android Pris cuts the legs off a captured spider with scissors while the Mercer exposé plays on TV.

    With the scissors, Pris snipped off one of the spider’s legs.

  5. Buster Friendly, the TV host who exposes Mercerism, is revealed by the androids to be an android.

    Well, why not. Buster is one of us.”

  6. The toad Rick brings home as a miracle turns out to be electric.

    she poked at its abdomen and then, with her nail, located the tiny control panel. She flipped the panel open.

Scenes in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? that Frye would name

32 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Anagnorisis, untitled
I’m capable of feeling empathy for at least specific, certain androids. Rick discovers that his empathy extends to androids, which overturns his job and his sense of self.
Sparagmos, untitled
With the scissors, Pris snipped off one of the spider’s legs. A ritual dismemberment of the last wild life, staged while Mercer is being exposed.
Agon, untitled
The android dropped the device and, with a snarl, grabbed with both hands for Rick’s throat. The disguised Polokov's attack is the first physical contest in Rick's quest.
Pathos, untitled
Like the picture, Rick thought to himself, and, with his own laser tube, killed her. Luba Luft's death in the elevator is a sacrificial scene that costs Rick his certainty.
Katabasis, untitled
This is the tomb world and I am in it again, but this time you’re not here, too. Isidore sinks into the tomb world among bones and a blinded donkey.
Point of epiphany, untitled
At that moment the first rock—and it was not rubber or soft foam plastic—struck him in the inguinal region. On the desolate hill the empathy-box ascent becomes real, and Rick momentarily becomes Mercer.

Books that share these scenes with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

About the author

Philip K. Dick