Having read Asimov’s I, Robot, and upon finding his theories on robotics rather fascinating considering the rise of artificial intelligence, I decided to see if I would like his other ideas in the form of his long-spanning Foundation series.
What struck me when I first read it was how relevant Asimov’s writing is, even though it’s been almost 70 years since he wrote the first Foundation novel. This would mean that he was writing a story about people zipping around galaxies in an age where nothing from Earth had even reached space. Even so, the plot remains highly engaging, and surprisingly relevant with regards to its messages about society.
One of the interesting things about Foundation is that it doesn’t really have a main character- the closest thing to one would be psychohistorian Hari Seldon, but since he’s already old and rotting by page one and only makes recurring appearances via holographic recordings he isn’t exactly one to boot.
Anyway, on with the plot.
Essentially, the book is a compilation of 5 stories, each following a character as they use their own methods to preserve and expand the influence of the Foundation, supposedly an oasis for galactic civilisation against the backdrop of a declining Galactic Empire. Each exploits a facet of human society, from religion to trade to science, in order to maintain the Foundation’s integrity and ensure that human civilisation will thrive.
If I’ll be honest, the characters are probably quite weak here. But in all fairness, considering how they’re supposed to be cogs in a giant machines, I suppose I can’t complain when they just zip in and out of a 1000-year plan.
What did stand out to me, though, was the scale and ideas that were being presented by Asimov. As a thesis on human society and its evolution, it certainly does an excellent job at conveying how humanity can be easily blinded or deceived over the years. In a way, it serves to remind us of human history itself, from the Roman times to the modern day, as we see how the Foundation manages to subjugate its neighbours not with violence, but merely with technological sophistication in the form of religion or trade.
That said, though, it was a bit funny to hear of people thinking of nuclear power as the supreme technology considering what we know of it nowadays. The story could also be said to be dated in the sense that everyone walks around smoking cigars without a care in the world.
Still, those are minor nitpicks, and the story as a whole is remarkably coherent and insightful, especially considering the scale of Asimov’s ideas.
On a whole, I quite enjoyed Foundation, and I hope to see more of it soon.
So:
The Good: Grand scale, execution of plot, engaging insights and parallels made with history
The Bad: Uhhh… if I had to nitpick, the characters are a bit weak and it requires a bunch of mental gymnastics to understand how a man can predict history
The “uhh?”: Slightly dated as a story from the 1950s
Overall: Go read it if you want to read some engaging sci-fi.
A Layman's Reviews 