This work was Asimov’s third by publication date in the “Foundation Series” and some interesting concepts are introduced such as the “Hyperspace” idea. Nothing very special about the plot though and the last twist is totally corny. Asimov apparently thought so too and this was one of his least favorite novels. He was persuaded to write the corny ending by H. L. Gold and never forgave him for it!
But it’s quite a pleasant read nevertheless. The hero is a bit unbelievable as he alternates between extreme childishness and stunning intellect. But other aspects are nicely told with cool explorations in the Horse Head Nebula. Earth’s history has become very foggy at this point – a certain character puts forward the theory that the horse head nebula is so called not because some “Horace Head” was the first to explore it, but because it has the shape of an animal called a “Horse” when viewed from earth (which is actually the case.)
It suddenly occurred to me though that science fiction writers have postulated so many cool advances in technology, not one of them ever dreamed up the Internet! What can it mean? That truth is stranger than fiction? That the Internet is truly one of the greatest advances of mankind?
I’ve started reading the next book in Asimov’s series called “Foundation” and it starts off with an attempt to create a centralized repository of all the galaxy’s knowledge – in other words, the Internet itself! Only Asimov never imagined it to be what it is today.
Getting nicely oriented with Asimov’s universe now… :)
You might like Prelude to Foundation (by Asimov) also – it’s a prequel to the Foundation series. In fact, I like it better than the actual series itself :) , possibly because of the ancient history references, and some of the shockers that Asimov has put in it. But to fully appreciate the shockers, you’ll have to read the Robot series as well – including The Caves of Steel and The Robots of Dawn. Asimov somehow managed to make them all part of the same, eon-spanning timeline.
Me – I’m planning to read the entire Foundation series – I’ll keep reviewing the books as I read them :)