011. We Can Build You (1972).

We Can Build You by  Philip K. Dick (1972).

This book starts with tons of promises, I was literally drooling with expectation really, and then.……fades into ….. OBLIVION….. Sigh.

The CONCEPT is great, but….

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layers. – Louis Rosen. A spinet sales man. 

Co-founder of MASA Associates which sells the electric organs (spinet) made by his family for decades. 

His ordinary but boring life goes completely upside down when his partner, Maury, comes out with something called Electronic Simulacrum (=sort of old fashioned cyborg). 

Later on, series of insane events turns him into mentally unstable paranoiac.

Maury Rock. Louis’ partner.

A really intense guy, his hands shakes all the time, who is always looking for the way to improve the business.

With his daughter Pris and engineer Bundy, they create the first Electronic Simulacrum (ES), Edwin M. Stanton, an American civil war hero who fought for the freedom and the democracy as a closest adviser for Abraham Lincoln.

Pris. Maury’s daughter. Just released from the hospital. She has been in mental clinic in the custody of federal bureau since her third year in high school.

In this world, government involuntarily apply something called McHeston Act upon people and sort out mentally ill persons out of the society and put them on ward. 

Naturally, they have literally tens of thousands of patients in several wards all around the country.

Pris, despite of her sickness, is a brilliant designer and inventor and practically creates first two ES, Stanton and Lincoln.

Bob Bundy. An electronic genius who assembles ES based on Pris’ blue prints. He has a speech blockage - knows the answers but can’t figure out how to answer them.

Sam K. Barrows. A self made billionaire.  Smart, passionate, effective, manipulative, calculating and eccentric as hell.

Maury stupidly approaches him with ES hoping for a multi million dollar deal for their invention and that is the beginning of the actual story.

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lace. – MASA’s office in Ontario, Oregon and Barrows’ office in Seattle. But the location in NOT important for the story at all. 

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lot. – This is where it gets CRAZY. This book is essentially two different books in one cover.

The first half is a very good SF fiction with some intensity and brilliant imagination. However when it hits the middle point, it changes its direction and becomes kind of a twisted/psychedelic love story (?).

Her is the story. You better be ready.

In order to revive the slumping MASA business and electronic organ sale, Maury with help of his genius daughter and engineer chooses to build the Electronic Simulacrum- a cyborg with its own mind like Replicant in Blade Runner.

Also out of all the historically famous figures, Maury picks up Edwin E. Stanton for their first ES. The experiment is overwhelmingly successful. Stanton is more real than actual human being.

The only problem is the production cost. $6,000 for one ES which is roughly $36,000 in today’s money. In order to get funding for this project, Maury approaches Sam K. Barrows, self made legendary billionaire. 

Then for the final push to impress both Barrows and Louis’ father who strongly opposed the idea, Maury orders and creates one more ES, Abraham Lincoln. From there it gets quite complicated for our, readers’ delight.

1.      First of all, Lincoln. The more he learns about the present, the worse his depression gets. He has to go through the mental counseling at the end.

2.      Stanton who is a natural leader with fierce temple and determination becomes a chairman of the board of MASA associates.

3.      Barrows who owns vast amount of land in MOON wants to send brain-washed ES family ( a father, a mother, a son, a daughter and a dog-a good American family ) to the Moon so that he can creates false impression that Moon is a cozy and family oriented place to stay and therefore, he can lures unsuspected family into buying the houses his company build in Moon. (Barrows himself hates Moon because there is nothing in Moon, no air, no sound only an endless mountains of sands and the black sky. Really depressing.)

This outrages Louis and Maury but when they refuges Barrows’ deal, Barrows leaves the MASA factory with Pris and Bundy back to Seattle, literally shutting down the ES factory in MASA.

By this time, Louis is already hopelessly in love with Pris and after several crazy attempts to get her back, Louis ends up in the mental hospital himself with obsession and hallucination. During this period, Lincoln acts as Louis' adviser and Stanton disappears completely from the entire story-line.

 At the end of the story, Louis is released from the ward but Pris goes back to the hospital cause she is never actually cured properly.

What did I tell you? Crazy story, right?

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erdict. –Philip K. Dick is a genius SF writer. 

Why? Because (are you ready?) he is THE ONE who creates

The ONE and ONLY

RICK DECKARD. A.K.A. BLADE RUNNER!!

They made a film based on his book called “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1962)”.

Yep. That’s right. Possibly the most influential SF novel of the past 3 to  4 decades. The coolest for sure. But with this book, he kind of lost the focus, I think.

With all the civil war references, with Lincoln and Stanton, two most important persons  in the history of US and the world, this book could be so much better.

I mean, with their combined charisma and the brain, Lincoln and Stanton, they could start another civil war against totalitarian government or corrupted corporations !! And what about the politics? Since they are programmed to think and act exactly like the originals, they could even start their own political party!!

But sadly, the author put them aside for totally different story line half way through the book. Once it becomes clear that it turns into a weird psychotic love story, my interest is drifted away, too.

Despite of the story melt down, this book still contains very interesting concept of the future (similar to BLADE RUNNER, but not as dark), and even during the crazy love story, there are a few intelligent discussions about human kinds, the future and love.

Because it is written in 1972 (40 yrs ago), some of the technical aspects are a bit retro. For example, Electric Simulacrum’s voice system is run by tape recorder! (which is kind of charming if you think about it.).

Do I recommend this book  to anyone? Sadly, NO.

Like I said before, great concept but difficult story line to follow.

One last thing.

He was completely obscure as a writer during his life time, but after his death (1928-1982), his popularity due to the films based on his books such as Blade Runner (1982), Total Recall (1990), Screamers (1995), Minority Report (2002), A Scanner Darkly (2006), The Adjustment Bureau (2011), his friend founded PHILIP K. DICK Award for the best original paperback SF novels.

 Long live the SF KING!!