Foundation by Isaac Asimov (novel #201)

"A civilization falling. Nuclear power forgotten. Science fading to mythology – until the Foundation had stepped in."

 

In a far distant future, during the waning years of a vast galactic empire, a single scientist, Hari Seldon, is charged with treason precisely because he is predicting the end.

 

Seldon is the galaxy’s preeminent authority on psychohistory, which he has advanced to such fidelity that he is able to predict major events in future human history: in this case the fall of the Galactic Empire and the ensuing 30,000 years of chaos and suffering. Seldon purports the fall is certain and unavoidable, but that with intervention now, the 30,000 years can be mitigated to merely 1,000 before the rise of the second Galactic Empire.

 

The trial is part of his plan. It is helpful to be smarter than everyone around you, especially the unbelievers. With some clever subterfuge, Seldon is “sentenced” to exile on a distant world, along with his disciples, which is exactly what he wanted. There, he begins forming the Foundation that will intervene to spare humanity the unnecessary 30,000 years.

 

Seldon only survives the first 40 or 50 pages, depending on the version. The rest of the tale narrates four different epochs of future history. Each separated by a “Seldon Crisis”. Seldon occasionally reappears, via prerecorded hologram, to guide his future disciples along the way. The leading disciple, Salvor Hardin has the following to say, about Seldon’s psychohistory:

 

The Foundation, as he [Hari Seldon] says, was established as a scientific refuge – the means by which the science and culture of the dying Empire was to be preserved through the centuries of barbarism that have begun, to be rekindled in the end into a second Empire.

 

…the future isn’t nebulous. It’s been calculated out by Seldon and charted.

 

There is occasional reference to a Second Foundation, at the opposite end of the Galaxy, which does not come into play in this book.

 

Which is my only complaint. This book, Foundation, is incomplete. There is no closure. It ends abruptly and unsatisfyingly. I knew it was the first in the Foundation Trilogy, and this is one of the reasons I’m not a big fan of trilogies. You never know, without reading reviews and risking spoilers, if any one book can stand alone, or if you must commit to the entire thing; in this case – the entire thing. I intended to do so regardless, but I would have been rather annoyed had I intended to read a single book only to be left hanging. It’s semantics really. Trilogy vs. series. In my opinion, the Foundation trilogy should really be labeled Parts I, II, and III – and in many publication formats today they are, but I don’t believe they were originally labelled that way.  

 

Enough of that. I still enjoyed it very much. Thus far, it’s a bit different from many Sci-Fi novels, as there are no aliens. The only sentient life forms are human. It is probably, the far distant future of Earth’s humanity, colonizing other habitable, but uninhabited worlds. Asimov is never explicit on this point, and there may be some big reveal later, though I doubt it. I think these specifics were left out to allow the reader to infer as they like.

 

My rating 3 ½ out of 5 stars

 

 

This book satisfies the category: Wild Card Classic, in the Back to the Classics 2022 Challenge.

 

The Author, Isaac Asimov is considered one of the "Big Three" of Science Fiction, along with Arthur C. Clarke and  Robert Heinlein

 

There is a device Asimov uses throughout that I found interesting. In his future galaxy, there is no mention of God. There is a religion but it worships the “Galactic Spirit”. It is never personal. Hence, expletives employ cosmic references: By Space!, or I Swear by the Universe, or Great Galaxy!

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