Foundation

[Tio_Holtzmann]

Anyone read the Foundation series by Asimov? What did you think of it?

For those of you who opened this topic cos you wondered why I'd be talking about make-up, sorry to have disappointed you.

Tio_H

[Mahdi]

Not a fan of it.

[ExSPlug]

Just read the first book...now halfway through the second one. The ideas and plots are good and logical, but I prefer the robot series...

[Apollyon]

Darn, not about make-up?

Personally I found them pretty dull. Old Isaac is just too anal for my likings, way too much irrelevent detail for a huge novel. Well, having said that it's not the detail as much as a lot of 'setting the scene'. I'd prefer if he'd leave some stuff to the imagination more and let the readers try and guess at what's going on a bit.

[Caid Ivik]

First book seems to be some kind of communist manifesto, but in next it seemed Isaac laughed at it. I don't know his intentions when he started, but in his later books written in 80s he returns to idea of controlled evolution. That lowers him in my eyes.

[Tio_Holtzmann]

i dunno i think it's good in principle, but the whole plot is essentially predictable cos apparently 1000 years of histroy is set in place by the seldon plan. what i thought was a bit lame was how he used the same plot trick twice - bribing the enemy with technology that only lasted long enough to pull the wool over an enemies' eyes.

caid, how is the first book communist? im just curious, i didnt see that at all.....

do you think some of the ideas in dune are remarkably similar to it tho....there's shields, a merchant's guild, a convention.....even psychohistory is kinda like a mix of mentats and the Bene Gesserit way....?

[Edric O]

Caid, are you the reincarnation of Joseph McCarthy by any chance? ;) You see commies everywhere...

But anyway, getting back on topic, I have to say that I'm a huge Asimov fan. I've read many of his books, but unfortunetaly the Foundation series hasn't been published around here for a long time. I did manage to find the first book, though, and I absolutely LOVED it. What I like most about it is the scale of the whole story. Asimov doesn't just show a particular type of human society at a particular point in time. He shows the entire history of a galactic civilization.

And the idea of "planning" future history is also very intriguing...

[Mahdi]

And the idea of "planning" future history is also very intriguing...

[hide]He debunks that later on in the books.[/hide]

[Edric O]

caid, how is the first book communist? im just curious, i didnt see that at all.....

Well, that's a bit obvious. There are many common points between psychohistory and marxism. There are also lots of differences, but Caid never sees those.

[Inoculator9]

I think it is one of the greatest books ever written. Dull, is an intellectually lazy way of describing it in my opinion.

To Apollyon:

With regards to your "guessing at what's going on" bit... I think that is just your own bias towards suspense :P The novel may have not left much to the imagination, but it makes it's points all the more clear.

[Caid Ivik]

That was a hyperbolic metaphore, pointing out Asimov's fascination in hegelianic philosophy. Marxism itself isn't the best example, but Lenin's form of Party, leading humanity to bright tommorow is very close to Foundation's and later...

[hide]Gaian and Fallom's[/hide]

...projects. Just a thought. In fact, idea of robots, which will...

[hide]logically conclude from preprogrammed behavior, that they simply must lead these projects for very survival of mankind[/hide]

...is for me a sign of genius. About this robotics, Capek created the body - but Asimov gave them soul.

[Tio_Holtzmann]

hmmm....

communism aside, what i did like is the way he uses loads of personal stories to tell the story of a massive timeline. quite ingenius IMHO.

[Vanguard3000]

I've never read it, although it is on my to do list. I, Robot was quite good.