Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rating – 10 / 10
I just don’t understand that after hearing about Asimov and his works for almost four years and even after watching ‘I, Robot’ and the laws of Robotics, why I didn’t read a single book of this great author for such a long time. Foundation Series is must read for any science fiction fanatic like me and although I got to read only the Foundation Trilogy, out of the whole series, I totally loved it. No doubting the fact that it would just be a matter a days before I get my hands on the whole series and read it through.
The plot is similar to Star Wars, but only to the fact that it is the story of a Galactic Empire and how it goes about its tasks. The story begins with the mathematician Hari Seldon, with the help of his theory on psychohistory, predicting that the First Galactic Empire is going to fall and it will followed by thirty thousand years of chaos, which will be followed by the Second Galactic Empire. All of science and its discoveries will be lost in these thirty thousand years. There is only one way out - to set up a Foundation at the edge of the galaxy which will be responsible for preserving all the knowledge of the galaxy and create the Encyclopedia Galactica. But even this will only reduce the span of thirty thousand years to a thousand years. Nothing else can be done.
The comments of Hari Seldon create an uproar amongst the people who are holding high posts in the Empire under the king. They refuse to believe him and he has to undergo a trial. He is finally allowed to setup this foundation but told to do so quietly without attracting much attention. This trial sequence was fabulous, where Seldon tells the complete truth about what is going to happen to the Empire, etc.
Under the able leadership of Salvor Hardin (who is my favorite character in the series), the Foundation is able to save itself from the first Seldon crisis. Hari Seldon appears in the time vault after the first crisis, and tells the leaders that the Encyclopedia Galactica is a fraud and the actually purpose of the Foundation is to establish the Second Galactic Empire and that there is a Second Foundation at the “Star’s End” that is going to help them do it. This particular revelation stunned me completely. After this, I began to realize what the whole story is going to be and how it is going to move ahead. The Foundation is also able to avoid the second Seldon crisis under Salvor Hardin, with the help of spiritual influence. And after Salvor Hardin, Hober Mallow, a merchant, takes control and understands that to move further, the progress is through trade and spiritual control cannot work any more.
There were so many questions rolling in my head after I finished the first book. Some of them were –
Did Seldon know everything that is going to happen to the Foundation and the Galaxy?
What is the Second Foundation?
The Foundation is just a bunch of scientists, how are they going to take control of the whole Galaxy with absolutely no fleet?
The best thing about Foundation is that it is derived from very basic things that are part of human history. Asimov relies on simple principles of politics and conquest to show how great leaders lead their empires. It is this closeness to the human society and politics that I enjoyed the most. And of course, the most funny part was the very definition of Psychohistory – Future History (an oxymoron!).
I just don’t understand that after hearing about Asimov and his works for almost four years and even after watching ‘I, Robot’ and the laws of Robotics, why I didn’t read a single book of this great author for such a long time. Foundation Series is must read for any science fiction fanatic like me and although I got to read only the Foundation Trilogy, out of the whole series, I totally loved it. No doubting the fact that it would just be a matter a days before I get my hands on the whole series and read it through.
The plot is similar to Star Wars, but only to the fact that it is the story of a Galactic Empire and how it goes about its tasks. The story begins with the mathematician Hari Seldon, with the help of his theory on psychohistory, predicting that the First Galactic Empire is going to fall and it will followed by thirty thousand years of chaos, which will be followed by the Second Galactic Empire. All of science and its discoveries will be lost in these thirty thousand years. There is only one way out - to set up a Foundation at the edge of the galaxy which will be responsible for preserving all the knowledge of the galaxy and create the Encyclopedia Galactica. But even this will only reduce the span of thirty thousand years to a thousand years. Nothing else can be done.
The comments of Hari Seldon create an uproar amongst the people who are holding high posts in the Empire under the king. They refuse to believe him and he has to undergo a trial. He is finally allowed to setup this foundation but told to do so quietly without attracting much attention. This trial sequence was fabulous, where Seldon tells the complete truth about what is going to happen to the Empire, etc.
Under the able leadership of Salvor Hardin (who is my favorite character in the series), the Foundation is able to save itself from the first Seldon crisis. Hari Seldon appears in the time vault after the first crisis, and tells the leaders that the Encyclopedia Galactica is a fraud and the actually purpose of the Foundation is to establish the Second Galactic Empire and that there is a Second Foundation at the “Star’s End” that is going to help them do it. This particular revelation stunned me completely. After this, I began to realize what the whole story is going to be and how it is going to move ahead. The Foundation is also able to avoid the second Seldon crisis under Salvor Hardin, with the help of spiritual influence. And after Salvor Hardin, Hober Mallow, a merchant, takes control and understands that to move further, the progress is through trade and spiritual control cannot work any more.
There were so many questions rolling in my head after I finished the first book. Some of them were –
Did Seldon know everything that is going to happen to the Foundation and the Galaxy?
What is the Second Foundation?
The Foundation is just a bunch of scientists, how are they going to take control of the whole Galaxy with absolutely no fleet?
The best thing about Foundation is that it is derived from very basic things that are part of human history. Asimov relies on simple principles of politics and conquest to show how great leaders lead their empires. It is this closeness to the human society and politics that I enjoyed the most. And of course, the most funny part was the very definition of Psychohistory – Future History (an oxymoron!).
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