Saturday, October 8, 2011

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Cambridge Proficiency Exam Set Text)

I am so happy that I taught the Cambridge Proficiency Test preparation course the past year. Otherwise, I would never have read Philip K. Dick's profound novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", which is one of the set texts for the CPE Writing Paper.

Recently, I went searching for some audio commentary about the author and came up with several online links. There are some downloadable ones that you can play on Windows Media or iTunes, and some which can only be played on RealPlayer. Below are some of the links. Most fascinating for me are the recordings of interviews with the author (not necessarily about this particular book, however). Seeing and hearing the author in his own words gives a reader another perspective from which to view a work.

For a review of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I can recommend the cromely.blogspot.com which has references to some key passages, . This site is ongoing, so the reader may want to check out reviews of other books made this year. To see how the cover artwork on the book changed from its first printing to its most recent one, visit this page. If you're interested in doing a follow-up study of films based on Dick's works, you should look at this link. CPE students have watched the movie "Blade Runner", based on this book. Some students didn't like the movie at all; others liked seeing the book interpreted on screen and then comparing it with the film. The book is definitely a winner!

1 comment:

Eleven said...

Thank you for the comment, Justin. I've checked out Accelebrain and it sounds good. Because I didn't want to sign up for trial use, I can't access this software. Flashcards on 3.5 x 5 index cards is my suggestion to students who don't want to be tied to an app or their computers.