Asimov’s universe is confusing and there are two ways to read his books – in the order they were published, or in the order which he recommends. I choose to read them in the original order in which they were published since I assume this allows me to follow along with Asimov’s thought process. Just a quirk, which may not be the best way for everyone.
“Foundation” (Amazon link) is the first “Foundation Series” book to be published though it’s third in the recommended reading order. It’s made up of four separate stories at different points in time with a common thread running through them. I won’t give the plot details, but an outline of the common thread is useful here. Basically, there’s this advanced human Empire which has spread throughout the Galaxy. But at the heart of it, it’s decaying – it’s become bureaucratic and people have begun to lose the scientific knowledge they had. The huge sophisticated machines are run out of habit and no one really understands the way they work anymore.
So a scientist called Hari Seldon (who is a “Psychohistorian”) predicts this downfall based on a combination of human nature and observing the laws of societies. He calculates that unless something is done about it, human civilization will not emerge from the “Dark Ages” for another 30,000 years. So he goes about taking steps to minimize the “Dark Age” to only a thousand years or so. The four stories talk about that thousand year period and how Seldon’s predictions are realized.
It’s very interesting. I don’t know if Isaac Asimov’s style is the typical Sci-fi stuff, but I really enjoy his vision. He’s a true scientist and not just some writer so he manages to think his technologies through and avoid some of the “gotchas” that plague other writers who attempt the same. For example in many futuristic movies I often find myself saying “Why doesn’t he just do XYZ with this technology and problem solved!” or “Why don’t the heroes just do this or that.” It takes real effort to craft a story that makes use of technology and at the same time not leave out obvious uses that can just end the story immediately.
The next novel for me will be “The Currents of Space” which is an “Empire” novel. Nice to know in advance which book to move onto!
It has been many years since I read the original “Foundation”. Somehow I now have two copies of “Foundation and Empire” and I cannot find my copy of “Foundation”. Do you feel that Asimov gave a sensible account of how a galactic civilization could exist for thousands of years and then “collapse”?
Me – Asimov based his account of a collapse on Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. So it’s happened before. But I don’t think it’s all that realistic. IMHO, the Internet would have changed everything – something Isaac Asimov didn’t anticipate. With the Internet fully accessible, all data could have been saved and archived and knowledge would have traveled freely.