Author: Isaac Asimov
Genre: science fiction
This is the first of Asimov’s novels that I have read.
Before this, I had read a few short stories of his and of course heard a lot
about him. So I had been curious to know what the fuss is all about. I must say
that I was not disappointed.
The Foundation series includes three books. The first book describes the events occurring in an
unnamed galaxy where there are many planets inhabited by humans. The story starts
with there being a Galactic Empire that has been ruling the galaxy for many
thousands of years. However, a psychohistorian predicts the fall of this empire
and start of a dark age. In order to shorten the dark age and bring forth a new
empire, he sets up an institute on a remote planet and calls it the Foundation.
The rest of the book follows the trajectory of this foundation and its
inhabitants.
One of the first interesting ideas put forth in the book is
that of psychohistory- that a large population of people will behave in a
certain manner and that can be used to predict the future- for thousands of
years in the book. This idea was intriguing because understanding the behaviour
of a large group of people is a part of sociology and economics.
Although considered
as science fiction, what struck me most about the book was not the science but
the politics behind it. To me, the most interesting part of the book was how
the lead characters had a deep sense of politics and how the minds of people
work. The rise and fall of the initial empire, the idea of an empire based on
one religion and later on; purely on trade were reminiscent of the various
empires that we had seen in history.
The style of writing is easy and engaging. Asimov clearly
knew how to capture a reader’s attention. Moreover, he managed to sneak in a
lot of complex ideas of politics and psychology into his story. The ideas were
made easy to understand with great explanations.
It was an enjoyable read overall. I think it is better
suited for adults or at the most older kids. I can’t wait to read the next one
in the series and write about it!
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