\n
Novel 1: Foundation (5\/2-5\/17)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
(read by Dan Lazar from cassette)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
This is perhaps the most famous series (it or the Robot<\/em> series) written by science fiction giant Isaac Asimov. The book is a set of 5 short stories originally published in science fiction magazines. The concept is simple: the great galactic Empire is about to collapse, as predicted by psychohistorian Hari Seldon, so what comes next. Psychohistory is a combination of \u201cscience and psychology that equates all possibilities in large societies to mathematics, allowing for the prediction of future events\u201d. The first book covers about 200 years across the five novellas. Each is centered around a major character and a couple of supporting characters and, potentially, a \u201cSeldon Crisis\u201d. The theory of a Seldon Crisis is that it is a social and political crisis with both an external and internal pressure which leaves only one possible course of action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
We listened to sound files that were taken from an old audiobook on cassette. This added an unintentional bit of atmosphere as the 50s sounding male voice implored the reader to turn over the cassette at the end of each track. It fit well with the post-Victorian exposition, matter-of-fact \u201clogic\u201d, and 40s-era science fiction. The prose was not as descriptive as the Victorian need to describe everything but it wasn\u2019t the clean plot-only prose of today. Much ink was spilled trying to set up the mood and environment but it was mostly germane to the plot. The prose was not dissimilar to the 30s and 40s noir mystery novels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Book 1: The Psychohistorians<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Characters:<\/strong> Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Seldon Crisis:<\/strong> End of the Empire (not technically Seldon crisis)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Plot\/Notes:<\/strong> Mathematician Gaal Dornick arrives on Trantor to work on a project led by psychohistorian Hari Seldon. He is followed by government agents, asked about his potential work, and warned away from Seldon. When he gets to his hotel room, Seldon is there and shows him the math that says the 12,000 year Galactic Empire is about to fall. Both are arrested and Seldon put on trial. He convinces the rulers of the truth of this and states that he can make the subsequent dark ages last only 1K years instead of 30K years. Rather than martyr him, they allow him to take 100K workers to Terminus, a world at the far edges of the galaxy, and work on the Encylopedia Galactica, a collection of all human knowledge (also, the chapters often have entries from the EG as an intro, adding nice flavor).<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
A lot of the first book is exposition and mood setting. \u201cModern\u201d things like encyclopedias and visas and even a \u201cfuturistic\u201d pneumatic tube treated as commonplace both to ground the reader and to make the new science fiction inventions like the various atomics to seem commonplace. In a way, if feels a little small, though. The future doesn\u2019t feel that far in the future, in terms of inventions (limited atomics), and it just feels like a 50s world, culture, and science on a large scale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The bigger takeaway here goes to the scope and the idea that humanity went out and colonized. The plot is basically the fall of the Roman Empire only across a galaxy, using the past to predict future echoes (\u201cThe fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a rising bureaucracy, a receding initiative, a freezing of caste, a damming of curiosity\u2014a hundred other factors. It has been going on, as I have said, for centuries, and it is too majestic and massive a movement to stop.\u201d). However, the innovation is that rather than the moon populated by \u201cmoon men\u201d or Martians who are just like humans but not from earth- it\u2019s manifest destiny spread across an entire galaxy. Without the invention of Trantor, there is no Coruscant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
This is the evolutionary link between really old sci-fi (Frankenstein<\/em>, Verne, Wells) and more \u201cmodern\u201d science fiction. It feels more akin to Jules Verne like description of the future (\u201cTravel through ordinary space could proceed at no rate more rapid than that of ordinary light (a bit of scientific knowledge that belonged among the items known since the forgotten dawn of human history\u201d): descriptive but with world building rather than descriptive aggregation. This older style of prose helps makes the book feel more like \u201cliterature\u201d while the genre is not often held in high regard. It has weaknesses, like most literature, but we\u2019ll get to that later. As another review said somewhere else: \u201cAsimov just tells a great, exciting, and interesting story\u201d \u2013 the science and treknobabble are secondary or even tertiary plot devices (the characters seem secondary) while the plot is primary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Like Verne, he has his own \u201cmagnets\u201d or \u201celectricity\u201d that are used for plot devices, sometimes to deus ex machina or just hand-waving. The scientific one is \u201catomics\u201d. But the more interesting and unique one is the idea of psychohistory (\u201cA great psychologist such as Seldon could unravel human emotions and human reactions sufficiently to be able to predict broadly the historical sweep of the future\u201d). It is given two major limitations (3rd<\/sup> book): \u201cBecause even Seldon\u2019s advanced psychology was limited. It could not handle too many independent variables. He couldn\u2019t work with individuals over any length of time; any more than you could apply kinetic theory of gases to single molecules. He worked with mobs, populations of whole planets, and only blind mobs who do not possess foreknowledge of the results of their own actions\u201d and, this, from the Encyclopedia Galactica: \u201cA further necessary assumption is that the human conglomerate be itself unaware of psychohistoric analysis in order that its reactions be truly random\u201d. So, in short, as long as the mob was sufficiently large and not self-aware, actions could be predicted and psychology is treated as a hard science, which it really is not now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
There\u2019s a certain fatalism or determinism that runs counter to our modern belief that one person can alter history<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Book 2: The Encyclopedists<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Characters:<\/strong> Terminus mayor Salvor Hardin and Foundation encyclopedia chair Lewis Pirenne<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Seldon Crisis:<\/strong> Balance-of-Power; External: Four Kingdoms of periphery, specifically Anacreon; Internal: weak Encyclopedia committee; Resolution: Hardin coup, pit kingdoms vs each other<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Plot\/Notes:<\/strong> Terminus has no resources and is threatened by its neighbors who have broken away from the empire. Because of the Empire crumbling, the galaxy is starting to fall into a dark age. Terminus continues to develop technology but is stuck in a bureaucratic rut of inaction by the passive rule of the Encyclopedia Board of Trustees. On the 50th<\/sup> anniversary, a hologram of Hari Seldon appears at the time vault and explains the concept of a Seldon crisis. From this rises Salvor Hardon, the first mayor of the city. He stages a bloodless coup to save the planet and turns the three weakest neighbors against the strongest, Anacreon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Hardin pontificates about the failing galaxy: \u201cIt amounts to a diseased attitude\u2014a conditioned reflex that shunts aside the independence of your minds whenever it is a question of opposing authority. There seems no doubt ever in your minds that the Emperor is more powerful than you are, or Hari Seldon wiser. And that\u2019s wrong, don\u2019t you see? \u2026 It isn\u2019t just you. It\u2019s the whole Galaxy\u2026 In Gamma Andromeda, a power plant has undergone meltdown because of poor repairs, and the Chancellor of the Empire complains that nuclear technicians are scarce. And the solution? To train new ones? Never! Instead they\u2019re to restrict nuclear power\u2026 Don\u2019t you see? It\u2019s Galaxy-wide. It\u2019s a worship of the past. It\u2019s a deterioration\u2014a stagnation!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But Hardin is not a power-hungry monster; he is sympathetic and knows that he has to save the planet: \u201cHardin, as he sat at the foot of the table, speculated idly as to just what it was that made physical scientists such poor administrators. It might be merely that they were too used to inflexible fact and far too unused to pliable people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n\u201cTo that end we have placed you on such a planet and at such a time that in fifty years you were maneuvered to the point where you no longer have freedom of action. From now on, and into the centuries, the path you must take is inevitable. You will be faced with a series of crises, as you are now faced with the first, and in each case your freedom of action will become similarly circumscribed so that you will be forced along one, and only one, path. It is that path which our psychology has worked out\u2014and for a reason.<\/em><\/p>\nFor centuries, Galactic civilization has stagnated and declined, though only a few ever realized that. But now, at last, the Periphery is breaking away and the political unity of the Empire is shattered. Somewhere in the fifty years just past is where the historians of the future will place an arbitrary line and say: \u2018This marks the Fall of the Galactic Empire.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\nAnd they will be right, though scarcely any will recognize that Fall for additional centuries. And after the Fall will come inevitable barbarism, a period which, our psychohistory tells us, should, under ordinary circumstances, last for thirty thousand years. We cannot stop the Fall. We do not wish to; for Imperial culture has lost whatever virility and worth it once had. But we can shorten the period of barbarism that must follow\u2014down to a single thousand of years.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n
Characters:<\/strong> Salvor Hardin, Regent Wienis of Anacreon, and Sef Sermack of the Action Party<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Seldon Crisis:<\/strong> Religion; External: Anacreon conquest due to industrialization; Internal: Actionist party; Resolution: Hardin leverages the religion of science to stop all power on Anacreon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Plot\/Notes:<\/strong> Hardin is now an elder statesman who has spent the last 30 years appeasing the neighboring kingdoms by re-industrializing them. He created a religion around the science and uses that to control the technology. The appeasement has led to the Actionist party on Terminus to attack Hardin for being too lenient while Anacreon\u2019s Regent Wienis and his pawn nephew King Leopold I launch an attack on the planet for being too strong. Hardin is there on Anacreon with his ally Anacreonian High Priest Pol Verisof the night of the attack. In the showdown, Wienis reveals the attack while Hardin reveals his trump: all of the religious scientists consider it heresy to attack the holy Foundation and cut all power to Anacreon. Wienis tries to kill Hardin but fails and instead commits suicide and he returns to Terminus, as popular as ever so the Actionist threat is lessened.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
It often feels like Asimov speaking through Hardin\u2019s epigrams and demonstrating them via plot: \u201cViolence is the last refuge of the incompetent\u201d. He even further explains, using his narration as a political platform: \u201cI consider violence an uneconomical way of attaining an end. There are always better substitutes, though they may sometimes be a little less direct.\u201d He also narrates in epigrams, at times: \u201cIt was childish to feel disappointed, but childishness comes almost as naturally to a man as to a child\u201d or \u201cBesides which, flattery is useful when dealing with youngsters\u2014particularly when it doesn\u2019t commit you to anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The fall of the Galactic Empire has accelerated, as predicted: \u201cAnd now that the Empire had lost control over the farther reaches of the Galaxy, these little splinter groups of planets became kingdoms\u2014with comic-opera kings and nobles, and petty, meaningless wars, and a life that went on pathetically among the ruins. A civilization falling. Nuclear power forgotten. Science fading to mythology\u2014until the Foundation had stepped in\u201d. Hardin\u2019s solution is not that different than the World War US model: get the smartest academics from the 4 kingdoms and train them on Terminus. The difference is that they were also trained as religious fanatics, as well: \u201cIt is remarkable, Hardin, how the religion of science has grabbed hold\u2026 it could be considered that science, as science, had failed the outer worlds. To be reaccepted it would have to present itself in another guise\u2014and it has done just that. It works out beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The previous book talks about the idea that science becomes myth becomes legend. It was shown to already happen in the universe (forgive the dialect here): \u201cSuahly you must know that it is thought that owiginally the human wace occupied only one planetawy system\u2026 Of cohse, no one knows exactly which system it is\u2014lost in the mists of antiquity. Theah ah theawies, howevah. Siwius, some say. Othahs insist on Alpha Centauwi, oah on Sol, oah on 61 Cygni\u2014all in the Siwius sectah, you see.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Meanwhile, even the young opposing young King Leopold makes you think that this information will be lost to history: \u201cEveryone believes it just the same. I mean all this talk about the Prophet Hari Seldon and how he appointed the Foundation to carry on his commandments that there might some day be a return of the Galactic Paradise: and how anyone who disobeys his commandments will be destroyed for eternity. They believe it. I\u2019ve presided at festivals, and I\u2019m sure they do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The real power behind the throne, Wienis, knows the religion is not real: \u201cYes, they do; but we don\u2019t. And you may be thankful it\u2019s so, for according to this foolishness, you are king by divine right\u2014and are semi-divine yourself. Very handy. It eliminates all possibilities of revolts and ensures absolute obedience in everything.\u201d And a certain \u201ceducated\u201d segment of the society still realizes this is true but the masses do not and thus, it\u2019s the source of the power of the Foundation. Is this realistic?;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
I wonder if this book was considered at least a little irreverent, if not downright heretical, at the time? There are a lot of similarities between the religion of science and Christianity, potentially paralleling the Catholic church and the Dark Ages. History becomes myth because history is very controlled or limited to no recorded history so science looks more and more like magic. Hardin and those in the Foundation realize it is a useful tool \u201cI started that way at first because the barbarians looked upon our science as a sort of magical sorcery, and it was easiest to get them to accept it on that basis.\u201d Or \u201cReligion is one of the great civilizing influences of history and in that respect\u201d. Or, in the next chapter: \u201cThe full depth of our religious customs, in the ritualistic rather than the ethical sense, is for the masses.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The showdown between Hardin and Weinis is brilliant \u2013 it\u2019s difficult to write smart and politically astute characters that are believable but he is. Also, the Seldon crises are wonderful plot traps and it\u2019s hard to not feel cheated by the outcome but I did not feel this way at any point in the book.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Characters:<\/strong> Eskel Gorov and Linmar Ponyets<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Seldon Crisis:<\/strong> No Seldon crisis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Plot\/Notes: This one is short, a little boring, and feels out of place. Word of the federation\u2019s \u201cmagic\u201d taking over worlds has spread and one trader (Gorov) is caught trying to trade with a world where it is forbidden. Another (Ponyets) rescues him by making one of the council members rich and powerful with trade of goods like a transmuter that makes iron into gold, showing trade is the next phase beyond religion.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
I wonder if this book would have been better as a complete story rather than parts of a science fiction magazine. It does a good job tying together the mass of people across generations, which fits with the idea of psychohistory. However, it leaves limited room for character development as each story introduces new characters and there are no generational ties (those might have felt contrived, but that has been done before in literature).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The dilemma is that religion is reaching its limits and there needs to be another way. This book serves as the transition: \u201cThe only way we can increase the security of the Foundation here in the Periphery is to form a religion-controlled commercial empire. We\u2019re still too weak to be able to force political control. It\u2019s all we can do to hold the Four Kingdoms.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The transition in the book is from political coup to religious control to economic power. How long should it take for science to become religion to become economic control? It feels like the timelines are too short, especially for a dark age. I hope we get to see how this all plays out over the thousand years. However, I believe the next book deviates from the formula and we never actually get to see the thousand years play out (and my initial reaction to that is disappointment).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The next story will be the conflict between religion and economy:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n\u201cThe religion we have is our all-important instrument towards that end. With it we have brought the Four Kingdoms under our control, even at the moment when they would have crushed us. It is the most potent device known with which to control men and worlds.<\/p>\n
The primary reason for the development of trade and traders was to introduce and spread this religion more quickly, and to insure that the introduction of new techniques and a new economy would be subject to our thorough and intimate control\u2026<\/p>\n
If nuclear power makes them dangerous, a sincere friendship through trade will be many times better than an insecure overlordship, based on the hated supremacy of a foreign spiritual power, which, once it weakens ever so slightly, can only fall entirely and leave nothing substantial behind except an immortal fear and hate\u2026<\/p>\n
For a hundred years now, we\u2019ve supported a ritual and mythology that is becoming more and more venerable, traditional\u2014and immovable. In some ways, it isn\u2019t under our control any more.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n