Christy's Reviews > Foundation
Foundation (Foundation, #1)
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Honestly, I don't get why this book/series is so popular. There are some interesting elements to it (for instance, the use of religion as a tool of mass control and the implicit resultant argument that religion is no more than a fraud, "the opiate of the people," after all), but the book gave me little to enjoy or dig into. The forces of the novel are broad, historical, dealing with masses of people; this means that there is little to no room for individual characters here and little to be done by the few characters who do appear. One leader says, in fact, in response to a crisis, the threat of warfare and annihilation, "I'm going to do nothing. One hundred percent of nothing, and that is the secret of this crisis" (191). This is a recurring theme. Plus, there are no female characters to speak of. One man's wife makes a brief and apparently unnecessary appearance for a page-long chapter, but that's it. All else is done by and to men.
There are a couple of minor things I do like about the book. One is Salvor Hardin's statement that "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent," which I like for its endorsement of nonviolent alternatives. Another is the characters' habit of saying "Space" or "Galaxy" instead of God when they exclaim or curse.
There are a couple of minor things I do like about the book. One is Salvor Hardin's statement that "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent," which I like for its endorsement of nonviolent alternatives. Another is the characters' habit of saying "Space" or "Galaxy" instead of God when they exclaim or curse.
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Reading Progress
September 29, 2007
– Shelved
September 29, 2007
– Shelved as:
readinglist2-sf
September 29, 2007
– Shelved as:
science-fiction-and-fantasy
Started Reading
June 25, 2008
–
Finished Reading
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I agree with most of what you said, but I am old enough to have read the Foundation Trilogy within a few years of when it was first published and at the time it was groundbreaking. Much like Star Wars started a completely new direction, Foundation did the same for Science Fiction way back when.
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![Nick Johnson](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![JethOrensin](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1545662044p1/58356674.jpg)
Asimov seems to like that trope. Have you read his small story "The Last Question"? (You can find it on the internet - I cannot link it, just google "Last question Asimov pdf" and a link from Princeton comes out first - it is only 9 pages and worth your time).
It SEEMS repetitive, but at the end it rewards you with a very unique ending and idea and you go "now THAT was very interesting/smart. I had never thought of that this way"
The difference is that unlike the Last Question where Asimov presents the idea for all to see, each smaller Foundation story does not do that. Those that miss the point are usually the ones that declare to be bored of the book.
(Of course there are those that are bored of it because they are so smart that they figured out the plot/solution of each tale on their own, but, let's face it, that is not likely to be the majority of the people that complain about the book)
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![JethOrensin](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1545662044p1/58356674.jpg)
Yeah, but humans have not ... they are subject to the same trickery and tactics that are evident in those old books.
You could say that "Fahrenheit 451" is "old SF", but can you honestly say that "because it is old there is nothing interesting or worthwhile about it"?
> spend months rereading Asimov's ouvre
I've actually done that and I will always consider it as a time well spent. :)
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People are allowed opinions. An opinion cannot be wrong.
You shouldn’t need to read every book written by an author to “be able to pass judgement”. How silly!
I’m halfway through Foundation and it’s hard to follow, almost disjointed. Concept is great but style is outdated.
Oh no! As if I’m leaving an opinion when I’ve only read one Asimov book!
![JethOrensin](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1545662044p1/58356674.jpg)
LoL Really? Of course it can be.
Look things are simple. If you say "I read this book and I do not like it" fair enough and no problem.
If you say "I've read this book and I think the author is this and that and whatever epithets", that's not fair and not right, especially for an author like Asimov that penned 500+ books.
The main "issue" here is that the "opinion" is that people complain that Asimov doesn't like women, because THIS book doesn't have any.
What me and other people noted is that OTHER Asimov's books have the MAIN CHARACTER being a woman, and a VERY VERY smart and successful one.
Ergo that "opinion" is, in fact, wrong, because it is based on "insufficient data for meaningful answer" (to make a "Last Question" reference) :)
In order to have a valid opinion on a book, you need to read the book.
In order to have a valid opinion on the author, you need to read MORE than one books.
Simple.
![Brandi](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1354679063p1/15183866.jpg)
I can still enjoy things from the past that are well written and executed even if the world has evolved.
![Mike Potter](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
![Mary Ellen](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1675617549p1/37827256.jpg)
Also, at least half of this book was published (in short story form) before the atom bomb, around the time the very first female politician was elected, 10ish years before color tv and space travel, and 20 years before the women’s rights movement.
Asimov helped science fiction become a serious genre. He focused on the (now very relevant) issue of man vs. technology, which was not something heavily explored.
I agree that it is very dry. It is 98% dialogue. It reads more like a radio script than a story. But, the science fiction we enjoy today is what it is because of Asimov.
It helps to have some context.