Review: Foundation

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



In this novel a psycho-historian predicts that his Galactic empire is about to fall, which would inevitably lead to thousands of years of ignorance and stagnation of all things scientific. He proposes to compose an Encyclopedia so that the previous millenia of human knowledge does not forever dissappear, leaving them to relearn it once order is restored. Finally, he says that this encyclopedia will shorten the time of disorder to about only one thousand years. However, he also knows that his calculations don't work when individuals are knowledgeable of the outcome...

First thoughts, which have little to do with the book but I wish to say anyway: I read awhile back about a Canadian system of writing short stories that were very interconnected. I wondered what those would be like, but if they are like Foundation, than that would be amazing. So what I'm saying is, Foundation, is split into sections of stories which are all connected by following Seldon's path, but are all written in different generations with different characters. I wish I had known this ahead of time, but I caught on soon enough, and still like it. So it's not really a complaint than a surprise.

My only complaint is that Seldon appears after certain crises. So what role does he play? Apart from setting up Foundation in the first place, all he has done is verified that actions past were the correct ones. Of course, he is a historical figurehead to the characters, but they relied so much on his appearances where he's been most unhelpful.

What I did like was the strategy of the characters. It's fun watching brilliant minds have everything work out exactly to plan (which is manufactured by the author, but is great anyway). I also like that they have realized that war would lead to a prolonged period of strife and that instead they should be fostering nonviolent (although sometimes equally oppressive) actions. I'm excited to read more about the journey to the second Galactic Empire.

Also, I can imagine Firefly taking place in Asimov's Foundation setting, which is a fun thought. ^_^



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