Seeing that Irving fans hated that book too makes me more likely to give him a chance. If people were writing to defend it I'd think that Irving fans just had bad taste or something, so I'll probably check him out at some point, got lots of other stuff I'm planning to read first though.

It's been a while since I read DADOES but I don't see how you could get that Dick was making some point about how the androids should be destroyed. The androids are unable to feel empathy, whether a being unable to feel empathy are undeserving of empathy is one of the main questions of the book. I think it's a fact…

The Worst Irving is "The Fourth Hand"
At least I expect it to is. It's the only one I read (found it on a book exchange shelf in China) and it was terrible so I never read anymore, but I have heard it was his worst book, so maybe I should give him another chance?