Mario the lone bookwolf's Reviews > Foundation
Foundation (Foundation, #1)
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Mario the lone bookwolf's review
bookshelves: asimov-isaac
Mar 07, 2018
bookshelves: asimov-isaac
Read 2 times. Last read September 30, 2022.
Psychohistory and predetermination have become driving forces of the Sci-Fi genre for very good reasons
AI, Big Data, internet, and digitalization of everything made it possible
Psychohistory itself has many real-life counterparts, I won´t even start counting. Just think of everything that gives one the possibility of predicting the future like statistics, AI, mathematics, etc that is combined with knowledge about all of the history of humankind and already available data. It´s exactly how the world is long-time managed today and Asimov saw it coming.
Modern real life psychohistorians
A big data analyst, spin doctor, etc. is in a certain way already a psychohistorian, because she/he predicts different periods of time of the future with sometimes great accuracy. And that is just what humans can do, a sophisticated AI may be the ultimate oracle, the all-knowing mixture of Cassandra and Nostradamus.
Epic knowledge battle between humanities and natural sciences
An allegory of the competition of soft vs hard science and in this special case, they are worthless without each other and no one can really get stronger without the other. Great use of this fact for the plot too, as the so highly developed technical foundation can´t survive without the soft sciences. Although, super psi forces could probably be made both ways, by meditating or by brain implants, but both combined may be the best way. Onsidedness, too mental biological, or too high tech machine driven, is always bad.
5 short stories combined into one of the funniest mirrors of human society
Each one is dealing with another form, satire of, or smart solution for the stereotypical stone age, feudal, neoliberal, extremist, ideologic, theistic, craziness. With science and smartness, many of these maladies can, if not cured, at least be contained to not spread the mental virus infection to other planets and finally the whole galaxy. To see which badass non violent ways the protagonists find for new diplomatic solutions of avoiding war and escalation is very satisfying. One could even go so far as to even see some prophecies for real life Mutual Assured Destruction and similar stuff, but that would be a bit too far fetched.
See the impact in dozens and hundreds of works of sci fi that have been inspired by Asimov and why there is no substitute
It´s a bit like with Tolkien and fantasy, without Asimov, sci-fi might look completely different and especially not as fascinating as it is. Especially because the other players in the game at this founding time can´t reach the same entertainment levels mixed with philosophy and satire. The only great and also famous titan at the same level is Clarke with very heavy mental overloads while reading and sometimes feeling more like work or learning than entertainment, brrrrr. Dick and Heinlein simply aren´t that great writers and the pretty unknown Lem and Capek are as badass difficult to read as Clarke. Social sci-fi has some pearls, but because this is a completely different (also pretty unknown and underrated) sci- fi subgenre than space opera, military sci-fi, and sci-fa, comparisons aren´t possible. The focus on audience and thereby writing style is just too different.
When rereading a third time, I´ll try to fully fill all the grandiosity in this review
But it´s simply too much and I´m too lazy. Not just all the brilliant story ideas in the first part and how they develop or reappear during the rest of the series, but all the deeper stuff, allegories, and metaphors, the cynicism, wit, and humor in both plot and the characters. All just simply at a level that it could hardly ever be reached again except by some new geniuses. But comparing them with Asimov and how they modified, darkened, or continued his legacy would be as much avoidable work as mentioned expanding this review to ridiculous length because, you know. Procrastination until resurgence or until it´s too late forever, but at least no stress or pressure.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
AI, Big Data, internet, and digitalization of everything made it possible
Psychohistory itself has many real-life counterparts, I won´t even start counting. Just think of everything that gives one the possibility of predicting the future like statistics, AI, mathematics, etc that is combined with knowledge about all of the history of humankind and already available data. It´s exactly how the world is long-time managed today and Asimov saw it coming.
Modern real life psychohistorians
A big data analyst, spin doctor, etc. is in a certain way already a psychohistorian, because she/he predicts different periods of time of the future with sometimes great accuracy. And that is just what humans can do, a sophisticated AI may be the ultimate oracle, the all-knowing mixture of Cassandra and Nostradamus.
Epic knowledge battle between humanities and natural sciences
An allegory of the competition of soft vs hard science and in this special case, they are worthless without each other and no one can really get stronger without the other. Great use of this fact for the plot too, as the so highly developed technical foundation can´t survive without the soft sciences. Although, super psi forces could probably be made both ways, by meditating or by brain implants, but both combined may be the best way. Onsidedness, too mental biological, or too high tech machine driven, is always bad.
5 short stories combined into one of the funniest mirrors of human society
Each one is dealing with another form, satire of, or smart solution for the stereotypical stone age, feudal, neoliberal, extremist, ideologic, theistic, craziness. With science and smartness, many of these maladies can, if not cured, at least be contained to not spread the mental virus infection to other planets and finally the whole galaxy. To see which badass non violent ways the protagonists find for new diplomatic solutions of avoiding war and escalation is very satisfying. One could even go so far as to even see some prophecies for real life Mutual Assured Destruction and similar stuff, but that would be a bit too far fetched.
See the impact in dozens and hundreds of works of sci fi that have been inspired by Asimov and why there is no substitute
It´s a bit like with Tolkien and fantasy, without Asimov, sci-fi might look completely different and especially not as fascinating as it is. Especially because the other players in the game at this founding time can´t reach the same entertainment levels mixed with philosophy and satire. The only great and also famous titan at the same level is Clarke with very heavy mental overloads while reading and sometimes feeling more like work or learning than entertainment, brrrrr. Dick and Heinlein simply aren´t that great writers and the pretty unknown Lem and Capek are as badass difficult to read as Clarke. Social sci-fi has some pearls, but because this is a completely different (also pretty unknown and underrated) sci- fi subgenre than space opera, military sci-fi, and sci-fa, comparisons aren´t possible. The focus on audience and thereby writing style is just too different.
When rereading a third time, I´ll try to fully fill all the grandiosity in this review
But it´s simply too much and I´m too lazy. Not just all the brilliant story ideas in the first part and how they develop or reappear during the rest of the series, but all the deeper stuff, allegories, and metaphors, the cynicism, wit, and humor in both plot and the characters. All just simply at a level that it could hardly ever be reached again except by some new geniuses. But comparing them with Asimov and how they modified, darkened, or continued his legacy would be as much avoidable work as mentioned expanding this review to ridiculous length because, you know. Procrastination until resurgence or until it´s too late forever, but at least no stress or pressure.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
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Reading Progress
March 7, 2018
– Shelved
Started Reading
September, 2022
–
Finished Reading
Started Reading
September 30, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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Felicia
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Oct 08, 2019 12:16PM
![Felicia](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1464034900p1/13169794.jpg)
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![Mario the lone bookwolf](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1588320656p1/78485297.jpg)
Thx u very much! It´s quite dangerous, concerning invested time, to get in reviewing mode when the titans of genres are involved, so it´s much saver to keep it short and clean. One could get the idea of starting comparing it with other authors of the genre, who they influenced, socio-cultural impact and stuff.
![William](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1593268986p1/36549125.jpg)
I read this so long ago now... I must have been 12-13. I do remember I loved it.
![Mario the lone bookwolf](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1588320656p1/78485297.jpg)
I read this so long ago now... I must have been 12-13. I do remember I loved it."
Thank you for liking it.
Asimov is, next to Lem, one of the even a bit witty, big, old Sci-Fi boom year authors who may have inspired much to most of space opera. The only one who wrote a real series and elements of his works have meanwhile spread over hundreds of works.
![William](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1593268986p1/36549125.jpg)
Thank you for responding to all my comments.
![Mario the lone bookwolf](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1588320656p1/78485297.jpg)
Thank you for responding to all my comments."
It´s me who has to thank you for reading, liking, and commenting on my reviews.
Must be extremely cool to read all the today cult Sci-Fi when the mind is still open and to see the evolution of the genre over decades until today. I´m so addicted to it, I can´t get my eyes away from old to new Sci-Fi, all other genres except fantasy and satire are getting more and more underrepresented in my reading.
It´s just a pity how the complexity and language of Sci-Fi has been downgraded over the years, except of a few authors, to become more mainstream. Clarke and Lem are for instance so complex that many just won´t have the motivation to work through these amazing texts.
![William](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1593268986p1/36549125.jpg)
![Mario the lone bookwolf](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1588320656p1/78485297.jpg)
To make a culture pessimistic triple, the same, possibly, with music too, I don´t really listen much anymore, but the mainstream has established superficial monocultures in many forms of art.
![William](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1593268986p1/36549125.jpg)
![Mario the lone bookwolf](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1588320656p1/78485297.jpg)
As with so many things, it must have been both scary and inspiring to live in such interesting times.
To compensate for the pessimism, technology, and especially anything collaborative, are meanwhile leading to a renaissance of the arts. After mainstream destroyed very much, the independent artists, crowdfunding, social networking,...help establish more new works, songs, ideas,... than in decades of stagnation and degeneration, because the big players that suppressed, anything not lucrative, are losing importance.
![William](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1593268986p1/36549125.jpg)
![Mario the lone bookwolf](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1588320656p1/78485297.jpg)
Good luck!
As you say, it´s amazing, as soon as the dealers are taken away, one can get up to 20, 30 and even more percent for one´s own work instead of just a few percents of royalties or fees, and also being free to write, act, sing,.. what one wants.
Although, to stay pessimistic, the reputation and the scope and range of social media, likes, followers, clicks, add revenue, crowdfunding,... are things difficult to handle and even trickier to reach. If everyone can really have 15 minutes of fame, there is harsh competition.
![William](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1593268986p1/36549125.jpg)
https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Faces-...
Dead in the West is his first published game.
![Mario the lone bookwolf](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1588320656p1/78485297.jpg)
https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Faces-...
Dead in the West is his first published game."
That´s quite amazing and having different talents, not just one specific career, multiplies the options for success.
![Mario the lone bookwolf](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1588320656p1/78485297.jpg)
Thanks, guess I should now get something started where luck is needed...