Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick Tempe Public Library VIP Book Talk Led by City Councilman Kolby Granville Table of Contents Discussion Leader: Kolby Granville ......................................................................................................................... 3 Summary .................................................................................................................................................................. 4 About the Author ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Bio ................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................... 7 Discussion Questions ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Turing Test ............................................................................................................................................................. 11 Quotes .................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Similar Reads .......................................................................................................................................................... 13 Discussion Leader: Kolby Granville Kolby Granville was elected to the Tempe City Council in May 2012. He previously co-chaired the City Council's Neighborhoods and Education Committee and was named by the Arizona Republic a 2013 Tempe Person of the Year. He was also named "Friend of Maple Ash" award winner for 2015 due to his support of neighborhoods. Kolby has spent the last 25 years as an active Tempe resident. He graduated from McClintock High School in 1992. Kolby has three degrees from ASU; a B.A. in Secondary Education, a M.Ed. in Educational Media, and a J.D. While at ASU, Kolby competed on the Sun Devils archery team, achieving All-American status as one of the top 10 collegiate male archers in the United States. He was also active in the Residence Hall Association, and undergraduate student government. After graduation, Kolby moved to Changchun, China where he worked as a curriculum developer and teacher. Upon his return to Tempe, he was appointed to the Tempe Municipal Arts Commission and the Board of Directors for the East Valley Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. In the wake of 9/11, Kolby moved to Mozambique with the Peace Corps and served as a teacher trainer. More recently, Kolby served as a member of the Tempe Development Review Commission and the Tempe Affordable Housing Trust Fund. He is a former board member for the Scottsdale International Film Festival, the Phoenix Boys Choir, and Commitment To Schools. He currently serves as VP for Friends of TCA, is a lifetime member of Tempe Sister Cities, and is active in his neighborhood association. Kolby left being an attorney at Mariscal, Weeks, McIntrye & Friedlander to be a teacher and currently teaches Humane Letters and US History/Government at Tempe Prep Academy. In his free time, Kolby likes to rock climb, run long distances, do triathlons, watch movies, write and paint. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tempe.kolby Twitter: @kolbyg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kolbywg/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kolbyg Websites: http://www.tempe.gov/granville | http://www.kolbygranville.com/ 3 | P a g e Summary In the year 2019, lifelike robots clash with their human makers in an effort to alter the destiny for which they have been programmed. Rick Deckard (a.k.a. Decker) is assigned the task of hunting down and killing five escaped androids who have defied programming and gone off on their own. He has been hunting escaped androids all his life. Yet now Decker is aware of other tensions in his life. He begins to acutely perceive how dehumanizing the world has become and wonders fitfully about the distinction between survival and living. With mood-adjusters, mechanical pets and chemically maintained lawns, he has trouble discerning the barrier between reality and illusion. The mission becomes more than Decker's job; it becomes a mission that defines him as a man. Genres: Science Fiction; Futurism, Philosophical Fiction; Literary Sci-Fi; Post-Apocalyptic; Dystopian; Postmodernism; Cyberpunk Storyline: Intricately plotted; World building Tone: Thought-provoking; Bleak; Atmospheric; Dark humor; Offbeat Subjects: Artificial Intelligence; Empathy; Uncanny Valley Time Period: 21st century AD Characters: Rick "Decker" Deckard - Bounty Hunter John Isidore – A genetically degraded human who protects Android, Pris Stratton Rachael Rosen – A Femme Fatale style character who Rick requests be tested by the Voight-Kampff machine Iran Deckard – Decker's wife Pris Stratton – Android who lives in Isidore's apartment building Luba Luft – Android opera singer Phil Resch - Android Bounty Hunter Roy and Irmgard Baty – Android couple; Roy is the leader of the Androids Buster Friendly – Android talk show host Sources: Gale Books & Authors research database, Tempe Public Library EbscoHost NoveList Plus research database, Tempe Public Library 4 | P a g e About the Author Philip K. Dick B: December 16, 1928 Chicago, IL D: March 2, 1982 Santa Ana, CA Awards and honors: Hugo Award, World Science Fiction Convention, 1962, for The Man in the High Castle John W. Campbell Memorial Award, 1974, for Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said British Science Fiction Association Award for best novel, 1978, for A Scanner Darkly Guest of honor, Science Fiction Festival, Metz, France, 1978 Philip K. Dick Memorial Award was created by Norwescon, an annual science fiction convention in Seattle, WA Inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington, 2005 Bio Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American writer, whose published works mainly belong to the genre of science fiction. Dick explored philosophical, sociological and political themes in novels with plots dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states of consciousness. In his later works, Dick's thematic focus tended to reflect his personal interest in metaphysics and theology. He often drew upon his life experiences in addressing the nature of drug abuse, paranoia, schizophrenia, and transcendental experiences in novels such as A Scanner Darkly and VALIS.1 Later in life, he wrote non-fiction on philosophy, theology, the nature of reality, and science. This material was published posthumously as The Exegesis. The novel The Man in the High Castle bridged the genres of alternate history and science fiction, earning Dick a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963.2 Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, a novel about a celebrity who awakens one day to find that he is unknown, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel in 1975.3 "I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world we actually have, because 5 | P a g e the world we actually have does not meet my standards," Dick wrote of these stories. "In my writing I even question the universe; I wonder out loud if it is real, and I wonder out loud if all of us are real."4 In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime.5 Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty,6 eleven popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, The Adjustment Bureau and Impostor. In 2005, Time magazine named Ubik one of the hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923.7 In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.8 Sources: 1. Behrens, Richard; Allen B. Ruch (March 21, 2003). "Philip K. Dick". The Scriptorium. The Modern Word. Retrieved April 14, 2008. 2. "1963 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved June 26, 2009. 3. "1975 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved June 26, 2009. 4. Bernstein, Richard (November 3, 1991). "The Electric Dreams of Philip K. Dick". The New York Times Book Review. 5. Kimbell, Keith. "Ranked: Movies Based on Philip K. Dick Stories". Metacritic. Retrieved November 20, 2013. 6. Liukkonen, Petri. "Philip K. Dick". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. 7. Grossman, Lev (October 16, 2005). "Ubik – ALL-TIME 100 Novels". Time. Retrieved April 14, 2008. 8. Library of America Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s 6 | P a g e Bibliography SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS Solar Lottery (bound with The Big Jump by Leigh Brackett), Ace Books (New York, NY), 1955, published separately, Gregg, 1976, published as World of Chance, Rich & Cowan (London, England), 1956, reprinted under original title, Vintage (New York, NY), 2003. The World Jones Made (bound with Agent of the Unknown by Margaret St. Clair), Ace Books (New York, NY), 1956, reprinted, Mariner Books (Boston, MA), 2012. The Man Who Japed (bound