Book recommendation: Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
Being of the current generation, I wasn’t around in the 1950s when Isaac Asimov created the Foundation Trilogy – namely three books: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. Isaac Asimov is one of those pioneers in the sci-fi genre and for good reason too as I learned later. Being a passive book reader, when recommended this original trilogy I downloaded the ebook and dumped it on my phone to read “once in a while”.
It was a good book. No – all three were good. That’s why I’m recommending it to those who haven’t yet picked up on this and are looking for a good read.
The storyline begins when the galaxy is united through a single Galactic Empire, and Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian (aka sociologist) predicts the downfall due to stalls in technological progress, breakdowns in control and concentration of administration – as a result 30,000 proceeding years of individual barbarism between worlds until a second empire may rise. He creates a plan based on the probabilities of social and economic trends of quadrillions of people which may be represented statistically – and hence “map” out the future to create the optimal environment upon which a second empire will rise within 1,000 years instead of the originally projected 30,000.
This plan is that of the Foundation. A single group of scientists on the periphery of the galaxy with the supposed single purpose of documenting all scientific knowledge. A series of crises face them, all foreseen by Seldon, and … well, the story goes on from there to develop into something quite extraordinary.
Plot: 5/5, Characters: 5/5, Humour: 0/5 (no, it isn’t exactly your satirical Hitchhiker’s Guide), Readability: 5/5, Overall: 5/5
Well, if that sparked your interest you could pick up a copy in your local library, get an ebook, or request my personally converted plaintext copy.
As a side note, I am here recommending the original Foundation Trilogy, which are those three books mentioned above. The original trilogy has been extended into a series, such as Foundation’s Edge and Foundation and Earth, but I haven’t read those yet – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good.
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