Foundation by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Asimov is obviously quite brilliant. His books took a “quantum leap” forward in the integration of science and literature in the 1950s. His success can be seen in the fact that his books do not seem all that impressive today. Indeed, stories about nuclear power, holograms, and power through knowledge are normal today – thanks in no small part to books like the Foundation.
Like many science-fiction books, this book runs on plot and short on psychology. The fundamental concept of the book is that “psychohistory” predicts phases of history. The universe, at least in this book, is heading to a dark age. Only the scientific knowledge of a small group of people can counteract the “priestly” knowledge based on “religious” control. Clearly, Asimov wants us to embrace science as the foundation for all of existence, in typical 1950s scientific optimism.
And who can blame him? Especially in the 1950s, science has solved so many problems that it seemed continually progression was inevitable. In our post-World-War-Two world, hope sprung forth through the knowledge of a small group of scientists who would reinvent the world.
In life seventy years after Asimov, our postmodern world might demur a bit. Science, though powerful, has not quenched humanity’s thirst. Indeed, sometimes the “priests” of science can seem just as fallible as the priests of religion. Nonetheless, it is fun to peer into Asimov’s ripe mind, where humanity’s thirst for problems is young and the thirst of weakness is fading.