Fundació

The Foundation series are some of my favorite books. They're definitely a product of their time (Asimov was clearly more comfortable with writing short stories for magazines than with writing novels, and his biases are obvious in the misogynistic treatment of the few women in the story) but their basic ideas hold up well.

I personally really enjoy the rather dry political tone, and both the lack of focus on character development and the long time-skips are fitting given the premise of the story (which posits a theory of "psychohistory" in which the overall trajectory of a large group is emphasized over the actions of individuals, and which can be used to predict and direct the future over long periods of time). The plot twists and reveals also never come out of nowhere, and sufficiently tie back to previous details to make each individual part feel neat and tidy.

This is a very good novel- the beginning of a major life's work. Clearly no one should expect this novel comes to a closure. It is instead a beginning of a' mystery' and tale of evolution.

Una nova i preciosa edició d'un clàssic entre clàssics. Una saga escrita entre els anys 50s i 90s del segle 20 (no us perdeu especialment els 3 primers volums) que, com sempre feia Asimov, mentre ens explicava històries de tecnologia, robots i espai en el fons ens parlava del ser humà, com a individu, com a col·lectiu, de com ens relacionem, de com ens veiem com a individus i com ens projectem a la societat.

Sure it’s great literature kind of dripping in bigotry and misogyny but I’m sure it had its time and place in the sci-fi hall of fame. Cool TV series though.

I really enjoyed the book's "prose" or rather lack thereof. The writing is very straightforward, reading at times more like a play, including many grand monologues, rather than a novel.

However, the book's subject matter is not fun at all: It basically describes various ways in which political operatives acquire more power, always justified by "the survival of civilization". All in all, it reads as a praise of imperialistic tactics, which is pretty gross.

Really shows its age, but still a page turner.