Foundation by Isaac Asimov was first published in 1951. This book is the first in the Foundation series; the series won the Hugo Award for “Best All-Time Series” in 1966. Foundation is an example of why I am hesitant to read old science fiction. There are a lot of ideas in this book that have been explored and rehashed by authors over the ensuing decades. For example, Asimov describes a world that is covered by one huge city. Coruscant, anyone? I think that perhaps some of the book’s innovations were lost of me because of things like this.
I don’t know if I’d recommend this book because I really didn’t enjoy it that much. I think there was maybe one woman in the entire thing; she was the cold, manipulative daughter of a viceroy or something, and had been placed in a diplomatic marriage. There were a number of male figures in the book, but they were all the same character! It was the same guy, just with a different name. In other words, the characters were pretty dreadful and the dialogue was trite.
The thing that makes this book worthwhile is the premise. The mighty Galactic Empire is crumbling beneath its own weight and corruption. A man named Hari Seldon perfects a field of study called “psychohistory” that allows him to predict large scale population trends. He realizes that the Empire is going to fall soon and sets a plan in motion that will limit the Dark Age effect that would follow the Empire’s fall. He starts the Foundation on a remote planet at the Galaxy’s edge. This Foundation will battle through a series of “Seldon Crises” until it eventually restores order to the Galaxy. Seldon has predicted the course of the Foundation for hundreds of years and posthumously helps to guide things via pre-recorded messages.
Foundation follows the first few decades of this process. Different leaders rise up to meet the challenges of barbarian kingdoms in ways other than violence. They first use a sort of technological religion to gain control and influence, followed by trade and economic domination. Asimov gives some interesting political scenarios throughout all of this. Anyway, it’s an interesting read, but I didn’t find myself that swept up by it. I’ll continue to read the series – hopefully it gets better.