Author's note: This book is what I have based in entire page, FOUNDATION on, so I have finally written a review. Maybe not the best, and I try not to summarize it. When you compare the downfall the the galactic empire in the first two books (Foundation; Foundation and Empire), to that of the United States today, you will get a clearer picture on why I have used this theme. One more thing: my own page, Facebook and this blog, is NOT a "fan club" of the book, just a comparison.
This is Isaac Asimov’s masterpiece. This is about the fall of the Galactic Empire, consisting of the entire Milky Way galaxy. In the story, there are twenty five million inhabited planets, with a population in the quintillions, set 50,000 years in the future. The planet of origin had long been forgotten, and the citizens of the galaxy knew of no other form of government. Nobody in the galaxy was aware of what was to happen.
Nobody, except one man, a psychologist named Hari Seldon. He invented the concept of psychohistory, predicting the behavior of human masses. The behavior of one human being is unpredictable, but the behavior of masses of people can be predicted in their reactions to any event. The greater the mass, the easier it is to predict their reactions.
In predicting the fall of an empire, Dr. Seldon foresees 30,000 years of barbarism, a dark age, ahead for humanity. The fall of this empire could not be averted, but the period of barbarism could be reduced from 30,000 years down to 1,000 years, so Dr. Seldon sets up two foundations, “at opposite ends of the galaxy” in order to observe and intervene when necessary when a major crisis arises, and for the Foundation, the First Foundation in this case, can deal with it and move on with its work.
Dr. Asimov himself has stated that this trilogy is based on the book, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” You can see the resemblances here. Rome itself was also known as Terminus back in the days of the empire. When Rome fell, it did split apart into feudal kingdoms before the Renaissance, and then the nation-state came into being. Don’t forget the Barbarians, the Germanic tribes to the North of Europe.
With this, you have an interesting book. Little kingdoms are formed as the empire falls apart, all trying to be the top power, with several battles taking place here and there. There are different planets with different physical features; one planet always faces its sun, with the inhabitants living on the border day/night (twilight) zone. Another planet being cold nine months of the year, and, of course, Trantor, the capital with one gigantic city covering the whole planet, until it gets sacked.
What is different is that the two foundations, in the book, try to minimize the barbarous, or chaotic, era to 1,000 years, controlled by the First Foundation, which is openly displayed for all to see. The Second Foundation was a lot more mysterious, with no one knowing where it is.
Terminus is a planet with no natural resources, so the people, especially the scientists, placed there have to use their ingenuity to come up with ways to control the masses in the galaxy by way of a religion, the Galactic Spirit (similar to Christianity) and also come up with miniature technology, i.e. atomic weapons and power plants the size of a golf ball (my example). Whenever Terminus, of the Foundation is threatened, the image of Hari Seldon appears in a room, where the top echelon of the Foundationers gather, and Seldon tells of the crisis he predicted and tells the Foundationers what they should do about it. Terminus rises from a threatened entity to an indispensable society, with the other kingdoms highly dependent on it.
All goes well, and the First Foundation starts to rise as a new force in the galaxy, until the coming of an unforeseen conqueror, the Mule. The Mule has a way of controlling minds from afar and uses it to establish his own empire. He could turn his most bitter foes into his closest allies through mind control. (One person pointed out to me that this is similar to the coming of Islam, but this is very different).
This is where the mysterious Second Foundation comes in, and both the Mule and others start to search for it, to destroy it, but the Second Foundation uses deception to lead these searcher off the track. They also have a “counter mind control” that threatens the Mule himself.
This book will take you to planets and lead you into battles, battles that were started by those you would not suspect for reasons that you would never guess. In a way, this book could be a psychology book, teaching you the reactions of the masses whenever a crisis occurs. Psychohistory is becoming a new and important discipline in our society today.
The original trilogy was written in the early 1950s, but it is not dated by any means. All of these situations could be applied today. For example, look at the condition of the United States and see what could be ahead for them. Look at the masses of people and how they react to the present crisis we are in, and will find a lot of similarities.
Asimov has written two sequels to this trilogy, and two prequels after that, leading you to other series of books, including the robot novels, but this trilogy is the core of his writings, and it is a good stand along book, or books, since there are three of them.
If you decide to get into his “Foundation series,” read this trilogy first, then delve into the robot novels and others, then reread this trilogy.
