Foundation by Isaac Asimov was my first foray into the world of science fiction. Asimov was born in Russia in 1920 and moved to the United States at the age of 3. He would grow up to become one of the most prolific writers of the science fiction genre. His books are celebrated to this day as classics of the science fiction world.
Now that we have a bit of background, I'll jump straight into the review. This review contains no major spoilers, so you can proceed to read this safely! The whole premise of Foundation is that the universe is controlled and ruled over by the Galactic Empire. Hari Seldon, a professor who lives on the planet of Trantor, predicts that the Galactic Empire will fall in 3 centuries. He predicts this not by using a crystal ball, but rather by applying a scientific discipline known as 'psychohistory'. Psychohistory is a discipline that combines statistics, mathematics, psychology and sociology in order to make predictions.
Now, psychohistory is honestly one of my favourite aspects of this novel. The way that Asimov puts detail into this science and its workings makes it seem so realistic yet incredibly futuristic at the same time. One of the laws of psychohistory is that you can only use it to predict the behaviour of large groups of people, rather than that of one or two individuals. The second law is that the population must not be aware that psychohistorical analysis is being used to predict their behaviour. In other words, if the population is made aware of a psychohistorical prediction of their future, they may change their behaviour, thus changing the outcome entirely. It's this type of detail that really makes the world of Foundation seem so much more real and immersive to me. It reminds me of the laws in subjects we normally take at school, like Newtons Laws in physics or the law of supply and demand in economics.
Throughout the book, Asimov shows such creativity and imagination when it comes to all the little details that as a reader really help you almost feel like you're inside the book. There's this scene early on in the book, where a young man named Gaal Dornick is travelling from his home planet to Trantor to work with Hari Seldon. Asimov describes the process of interplanetary travel in delightfully fantastic detail. When Gaal reaches Trantor, he books a ticket to the nearest hotel. Gaal is handed a glowing ticket and a thin line of light forms on the floor surrounded by hundreds of other such lines in various colours. Gaal is simply told to follow his line, and that so long as he is on the right path his ticket would keep glowing. I found this detail to be so incredibly perfect. It's something that one could easily picture in a futuristic setting; masses of people being guided to their destinations by glowing beams of light. It's also eerily similar to how we look down at our phones these days to follow the lines and paths that Google Maps shows us. Instead of colourful light on the floor, we are surrounded by wifi signals.
I really enjoyed the way that Asimov describes and integrates some really neat futuristic technologies throughout the book. One of my favourite technologies in Foundation is that of the 'magic chain'. Well, it's not actually called that, but that's what I'll call it since it's not really given any specific name. It's a little metal chain that you put around your wrist, and when you turn it on it creates this awesome cloak of swirling iridescent light around you, or as Asimov puts it,
"It was as if someone had torn the aurora borealis out of the sky and moulded it into a cloak"
The main plot of the novel surrounds Hari Seldon's desire to limit the catastrophe that will befall the universe after the fall of the Galactic Empire. As I'd mentioned earlier, Seldon has predicted that in 3 centuries, the Galactic Empire will fall. There is no way to prevent this. However, he knows that he can limit the ensuing period of chaos after the fall from 30,000 years to just 1000 years. In order to do this, Seldon sets up the 'Foundation' on a remote planet known as Terminus. The Foundation's job is to compile vast encyclopedias to preserve knowledge for future generations. By the time the Foundation begins its work, Seldon is no longer alive. Instead, he has recorded a series of messages in a 'vault' that will open and automatically be played to the Foundation members at specific times. I won't talk too much about this, since I don't want to have any spoilers here. I will just say, however, that when the first of Seldon's messages plays, it disrupts the Foundation and leaves many members feeling confused and at a loss for what to do.
What follows is a series of minor local squabbles coupled with interplanetary politics and trade deals. The mayor of Terminus, Salvor Hardin, finds himself in a pickle when he realises that Terminus could soon be under attack from the neighbouring Four Kingdoms. What I thought was so unique about this book was the fact that it didn't present a conventional solution to this problem. Normally, one would expect that in a sci-fi novel, when one planet is under threat, this would result in advanced galactic warfare of some kind. Instead, Hardin comes up with an ingenious solution to protect Terminus that involves no violence or fighting of any kind.
Hardin exercises complete control over the 4 kingdoms by offering them access to nuclear technology under the guise of religion. The 4 kingdoms have lost all knowledge of nuclear power, but Terminus, on the other hand, has full nuclear capabilities. Hardin trains people from the 4 kingdoms on how to operate nuclear technology and tools, but disguises it all as a religious ritual, instead of revealing that nuclear power has a scientific basis. This ensures that the 4 kingdoms cannot replicate the technology, and thus become completely dependent on Terminus. I found this whole concept to be so distinctively intriguing. The way this 'religion' is used to exercise control and manipulate the other 4 kingdoms plays out in a manner that is most exciting.
I can easily say that this is probably one of the best novels I've ever picked up. I'd never read a science fiction novel before this, so I went in with a set of preconceived notions mostly shaped by what I'd seen in mainstream media. I went in expecting nothing more than action-packed, high-adrenaline scenes of space warfare and interplanetary travel. What I got instead was a beautifully written story of politics, strategy and society set against a backdrop of a space-age universe with marvellously magical technology.
I really did love the experience of reading this book, and I wish I could erase it from my mind so that I could go back and read it for the first time again. The only thing I can say I didn't like as much about the book is that the style of writing made it hard for me to follow along at times. I found myself getting lost here and there and having to look things up on Google to understand what was going on in certain chapters. I was on Reddit looking for other people's opinions on the book, and I found that one Reddit user had the perfect explanation for why I was finding it hard to follow the plot. This person said that Asimov often informs the reader of events not by describing them, but rather by having the characters discuss the event after they experience it. In other words, the events happen 'off-camera', and the readers are presented with dialogue between the characters talking about the event. I do think this 'off-camera' style is one of the reasons why a common complaint I've seen in other reviews of this book is that it is somewhat confusing. This did not, however, make me dislike the novel. I felt that the concepts and ideas presented in this book, such as psychohistory, were so insanely imaginative and intriguing. The overall plot and unique concepts this book has to offer made me feel that it was worthwhile to struggle through some of the more confusing parts.
Another common complaint I found while reading other reviews of this book is that there is not a lot of character development. We don't get to know a lot about the characters or their personalities or any of the intricacies that make people who they are. Personally, this actually did not bother me at all. I was so captivated by the grand ideas of psychohistory and the politics of the Galatic Empire that I didn't even really notice the lack of character development. I actually think that minimal character development was rather suitable in this context, since it kept the focus on the big picture, on the events that are shaping the future of the Galactic Empire rather than getting caught up in personal storylines of the characters. Indeed, psychohistory itself can only be applied to large swathes of people, so why focus too much on the issues of the individual characters?
All in all, I think that the concepts and ideas presented in this novel are really what make it a must-read. I think that the insanely imaginative concepts presented in this book make up for what it lacks in writing style or character development. Indeed, the fact that this book is still talked about and praised over 70 years after its publication is a testament to his greatness.
Do leave a comment and let me know what you think!
© Shreya Alagramam
Commentaires