Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Foundation book cover

It is hard to write a review about one of the most famous science fiction novels of all time, but I will try to do it justice. Asimov originally started the Foundation saga as a series of short stories for Astounding Magazine back in the 1940s. For the novelisation Asimov added the section “The Psychohistorians” to precede the original 4 stories that were published in the magazine. For those reading along with me in chronological order, most of this first story is covered in Foundation and Chaos.

The main plot of this novel revolves around Hari Seldon’s prediction that the Galactic Empire, which has ruled the galaxy for 12,000 years, will fall apart within 500 years. The chaos and civil war which will follow will last 30,000 years unless he is allowed to establish his Foundation to create the Encyclopedia Galactica. The project will store and protect all of the important human knowledge in order to help reduce the time until the rise of the Second Galactic Empire to 1,000 years. For a complete (spoiler filled) summary of the individual stories, refer to the Wikipedia article . I highly recommend reading the books for yourself first though.

The experience of reading Foundation in its chronological order is quite different that reading this book as the first in a series. With no other information available, Hari Seldon is portrayed more like a prophet or god-like figure. This must have been even more pronounced when “The Encyclopedists” was originally published as “Foundation” in 1942. Without the background listed in “The Psychohistorians”, there was no way to see Hari Seldon as a man interacting with others. He is referred to as a prophet of the Galactic Spirit, the founder of the religion of technology which takes place in “The Mayors”. Priests are trained to help operate the nuclear technologies to help the other worlds in the Periphery accept the ‘new’ technology easier. This made me think of the following quote…

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C. Clarke, “Profiles of The Future”, 1961 (Clarke’s third law)

In many ways the mathematical equations which make Psychohistory work are magic. The Foundation members have no idea why they are successful, except that it has been mathematically proven to happen with a high degree of certainty in the short term. In the long term it is possible for the “Seldon Plan” to deviate. This is where the Second Foundation comes in which is located at “Star’s End” across the galaxy. They were given the task to smooth out the bumps which would probably occur as the time went on.

Most of the stories end with what is called a Seldon crisis. This is a point where there Foundation gets into a situation where only one solution is essentially possible. I think the way that Asimov arranges these problems is intriguing because the solutions usually come from angles I’d never have suspected. He also develops strong characters such as Salvor Hardin and Hober Mallow, which become as beloved as Hari Seldon to those of the Foundation.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please prove you are a human * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Post

I, Robot – The Illustrated Screenplay by Harlan EllisonI, Robot – The Illustrated Screenplay by Harlan Ellison

It has been almost 4 years since the movie I, Robot (2004) was released. I was terribly disappointed that the Hollywood movie was barely anything like the book of short stories that I remembered reading, which I explained in my review. After browsing the Internet looking for other reactions I discovered that a screenplay written by Harlan Ellison had received a glowing review from Isaac Asimov.

–edit– 4-16-2008
I just ran across this interesting NPR story from 2004 that talks about the fan reaction to the original I, Robot movie. There are a few comments from Harlan Ellison and Irving Kirchner, director of The Empire Strikes Back, as one the prospective directors. The audio story is available in Real Media and Windows Media Player formats.
–edit–

(more…)

Humans to become immortal cyborgs within 20 years?Humans to become immortal cyborgs within 20 years?

About a year an a half ago, I reviewed The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil. I never did get around to reading his slightly newer book, The Singularity is Near. I just ran across an article that quotes him as saying

I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogram our bodies’ stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, aging. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever.

He goes on to describe a number of medical advancements that seem unbelievable.  He doesn’t really expand on how many people, or rather WHO will have access to this technology.  We can’t very well have billions of immortal cyborgs running around for eternity, now can we? I think that those denied immortality, or at least extended life-spans, would wage war against those that would keep the technology for themselves.

Credit: Telegraph via Geekologie

Note: For those of you not familiar with Geekolgie, be sure to check that blog out.  I added it to my newsreader about 2 months ago and it keeps me entertained every day!

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice BurroughsA Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

I recently started using Overdrive, a digital library site that my local library participates in. I stumbled across Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction. A Princess of Mars was just the first of dozens of stories, novellas, and novels strung together with commentary on Science Fiction as a genre. I thought it would be interesting to branch out to some older stuff that I normally have not had a chance to get to.

A Princess of Mars was originally published in 1912 in All-Story Magazine under the title “Under the Moons of Mars” by Normal Bean. The story begins with the narrator explaining that he is relaying a manuscript given to him in book form. He goes over a brief biography of the main character, John Carter, known as Captain Jack Carter of Virginia — an American Civil War veteran. John finished the manuscript the shortly before his death in 1886. The manuscript begins normal enough, talking about how John and one of his friends were prospecting for gold out West. They found a good spot, and the friend was going to head back to get proper papers for staking the claim. John happens to notice three dots in the distance in the direction his friend departed, and after investigating is convinced that Apache Indians are pursuing his friend. Not much of a spoiler, but here it goes — he tries to save his friend and fails, then finds himself chased into a cave. This is where the story takes a turn toward science fiction. After a brief series of events that I won’t get into, John finds himself in some type of out of body experience then wakes up on Mars. (more…)