Book Review: Prelude to Foundation

This is a book that fills a few gaps in Asimov’s Foundation Series and deals with the invention of psychohistory by Hari Seldon. Of course, there could be an infinite number of gaps, but the main purpose of this book is to demonstrate the hidden role that robots have played in the building of the two Galactic Empires.

As we saw in Robots and Empire, Daneel Olivaw becomes something like a caretaker of the human race. And we see that role being played here. It was a bit difficult for me to reconcile my image of Daneel as a gentle and respectful individual with the manipulative, assertive and intimidating creature we are introduced to in the last few pages of the book.

Hari Seldon is of course well known to Foundation readers, and though this book outlines how he got started on his psychohistory, it struck me as a bit unrealistic how Seldon was suddenly able to work out the mathematics after being convinced it was impossible. He did this by analyzing history and observing Trantor, but the book never shows him working out equations which we know are the basis of the field as demonstrated by the members of the Second Foundation in the earlier books.

I must say however, that the ending is very surprising. I anticipated part, but not all of it. It’s a bit boring at first and there’s not much action as Seldon travels here and there, but the last quarter of the book really takes off and somewhat makes up for the sluggish beginning.

Asimov also seems to be breaking out of his habit of turning every novel into a detective piece. Sure, there’s a fair share of mystery in this book, but there’s not a single minded focus of the kind we saw in the Lije Baley novels. This is a good thing in my opinion.

I suppose the importance of the book can be determined based on the order by which the reader came to read it. It’s not terribly important to the plot if you come across it as I have – by publication date. But if you’re going according to the recommended reading order, it’s a tremendously crucial part of the series.

Moving on to “Forward the Foundation” now. For the moment, I’m giving “Robot Visions”, “The Positronic Man” and “Caliban” a miss because the first is a collection of short stories, and the last two are not written by Asimov himself. I might read them after I finish up with Asimov’s works, but let’s see.