Blade Runner (Movie-Tie-In Edition)

Whenever a really good book is adapted into a really good film, the combined package is more than the sum of the parts. That is the case with this book and subsequent film. Other examples of excellent duets are "Solaris" and "Angel Heart/Falling Angel". (Board games being made into films rarely make it in my book, as exemplified by Clue.)What I like about these couples is that the book and the film both take a different spin on the core matter resulting a more interesting, multi-layered story content.In this particular case, the two are quite different, but the book delivers some nice background and some meaty details which would have been difficult for the film to digest and present. The Deckard of the book is decidedly not the Harrison Ford of the film, and he is [unhappily] married ! He also comes off more as a working stiff rather than the self confident, independent and assertive movie Deckard. Realism can be so dicey in film, but it is the very heart and soul of literature of this type. Consider Ian Flemming's own James Bond, who in the book Goldfinger, worries about about money, repairs to his car and consumes Benzadrine before going to the Casino with his boss to give him confidence, and later questions if he perhaps took too much. In a nutshell, this illustrates the difference between the two Deckards.I now berate myself for not reviewing the book as a book, but as a companion to the film. The story involves a man living in a future Los Angeles, several years after a murkily described world war. The successful types have all left earth and went on to colonize other planets, while leaving the "losers", riff-raff, poor and an infrastructure (like law enforcement) behind on Earth. To our way of thinking, it does not seem so bad. Even the lowliest dirtbag gets to ride around in a hover [car/van?] and housing is plentiful. However, amongst the peculiar futuristic twists in logic and shifts in standards, the population has fallen so drastically that it now vogue to live in very crowded areas, in close proximity to one's neighbours. The cultural outcasts on the other hand, may live alone in a huge completely empty appartment building, or block, or neighbourhood. In another twist (considering the new Japanese electronic pets) The afformentioned war killed off much of the animal life on the planet, and one of the most coveted posessions is a real live animal pet such as a rabbit or a horse. For the lower class, electronic substitutes provide an acceptable facade, the way a bicycle can substitute for a BMW.One of the tasks for the law enforcement division is the elimination of human electronic substitutes who are patently not acceptable, as their presence on Earth is indicative of massacaring their human former owners and escaping. The reason these androids escape to Earth differs in the book and the film, but the basically attempt to hide and merge. However, their inability to demonstrate any sort of empathy (an exclusively human reaction) eventually reveals them to be artificial. Deckard's job is to track down these articial humans, apply an empathy test and destroy them when he determines them to be androids. (He has never, apparently, killed a human by mistake).A new type of android is developed that has memories implanted from real people. This new type may or may not be detectable by current testing methods and Deckard lands up in the middle of attempting to earn large bonuses tracking several of these new androids down and killing them.Inevitably, there is some confusion, with some telltale signs prompting one to think that some humans are androids, and some androids are human. This raises the philosophical question about the substantive difference between the androids and humans, the ethics of terminating an otherwise completely convincing human.If I had read this book before seeing the film, I would have described it as being a little quirky and eccentric. However, taken in the complete package, as I have described, is is both an extremely rich foundation *and* extension of the film.

When I saw Blade Runner for the first time I realized that I had just seen something that was original, smart and that related to me in many, many ways.I found out that it was loosely based on the book, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and decided that if the movie is as good as it is and it's a condensed version of the story in the book, than the book should be just as good, if not better.I ordered it from Amazon and started reading. I was only a few pages in when I realized just how "loosely" the movie was based on the book. The book was an entirely different experience.This book is filled with compelling drama, deception, sci-fi, and 1940's crime-noir style storytelling (complete with the classic femme-fatal) and it does not dissapoint.Sure, you already paid to see the movie, and you might be thinking, "Why would I pay to read the same story?" You aren't. You will be pleased with this book emensely - it's a completely different story.

I was really excited to read this book. I loved the movie and never have gotten around to reading the source material. With baited breath I ordered the book and awaited it's arrival. It showed up just before I had to go to work, so I hopped in the shower just after unboxing it. All I can say for sure about this book is that my dog LOVED it. He liked it so much in fact that he enthusiastically spread it out all over my floor while I was showering. 5 stars. German shepherds approve

A classic science fiction novel that inspired a great movie. I would recommend it to any sci-fi fan, as long as they are willing to jump into some philosophical thinking (the book probably won't be enjoyed as simple beach reading; it requires a bit of abstract thought to truly see how good its story is).

Arrived and packaged as expected.

Book came in really good condition. Not a huge fan of the story though, had to read it for a philosophy class

2.5 really. Definitely not my favorite. I can appreciate PKD's vision of what the future could be, but I didn't like the character of Rick Deckard at all. I couldn't feel anything for him except dislike. There were also quite a few times in the book where I had to stop, scratch my head, and then re-read the passage, and it still didn't quite make sense to me. (Or as I like to call them, my "Huh?" moments.) I can see how this influenced cyberpunk and later sci-fi authors, and I appreciate this novel for that, but it just didn't work for me. I read this quite a while after I had seen the movie, and I liked them both about the same. The book and the movie are significantly different from each other, and Deckard follows different paths to achieve the same goal of "retiring" (killing) the androids. I thought that paths were interesting, just not interesting enough.

A great read, something I believe that stands well beside one of the best Sci-Fi films of all time. This paperback reprint bears the name of the film-version, BLADE RUNNER, along with the original publishing title, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". Reads quickly and paces well with noir/detective elements of dialogue and action alongside transcendental periods of reflection and exploration. Like PKD? Then you'll dig this book. Like the film? Well, it differs from the novel quite a lot and I think says something just as poignant, albeit with a different trajectory and emphasis.