Foundation Group Read Pt 1
January 9, 2012 in Blog
Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting a group read of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation. I’ve read very little ‘classic’ sci-fi so I jumped at the chance to join in.
In this post, I’m answering questions about the first half of the book, (and next week, you guessed it! The second half (and I’m sure the book as a whole).
For the purpose of satisfying curiosity, is this your first time reading Foundation or have you read it before?
This is my first time reading the books. In fact it’s my first time reading anything by Asimov.
For those reading Foundation for the first time, what expectations did you have going in and has it met them or surprised you in any way?
I didn’t really have any expectations going in, Asimov was a name I’d heard about obviously, but he’s never been an author I’ve ever thought about or looked into reading before, so I really had no preconceptions about his writing style. So far it’s turning out to be much more towards the science end rather that the fiction end of Science Fiction, but it’s proving remarkably easy to read.
What are your thoughts about the structure of the novel thus far? (I am referring to the brief glimpses of different parts of the history of the Foundation with big time gaps between events in the novel)
I’m not entirely sure as yet. It makes for an easy read, in that so far it’s been broken up in to segments that have pretty much matched the time I’ve had to commit to reading it. But (and I’m sure it’s partly the author’s intention), I feel I’m missing out on the ‘bigger picture’.
One thing I remain confident of though is that by the end of the book, I will know what I need to, and it will all fit together.
What are your initial thoughts on the field of psychohistory?
Interesting. I do find it odd I suppose that it can predict the future so exactly (For example knowing the new colony would be having issues with its neighbours, just as Seldon is due to appear), when there are so many things that could have an effect and change things. That it trumps things like say a Sliding Door concept or Chaos Theory. All these thing have to come together for it to work.
Asimov makes it work within the novel, and I suppose the point is, it is meant to make us think and question.
What, if anything, is holding your interest thus far, what are you enjoying about Foundation?
See above! The way the author is pulling everything together, slowly feeding in bits of the bigger picture.
What, if anything, are you not enjoying about Foundation?
Well, normally I’ve very much a ‘character based’ reader normally, so not having a single character (or two) to take us through the story is outside if what I would enjoy normally. Not saying this is stopping it from being enjoyable though.
You may have covered this in answering the other questions, but if not, what are your thoughts/feelings about the Galactic Empire. Is it a practical thing to have a galaxy spanning government? Can you imagine such a thing and do you think it would work?
I’ve watched Star Wars so I can imagine it. 
Seriously though, as a concept I can see it as something that would be aimed towards, but could it be successful? I’m not sure. As I live in the UK, I can’t help but think of the current (and previous) turmoil taking place in the EU and see parallels. Could they really make it work? I don’t know.
Yet until the point of time we join the book, it has been so successful that complacency has set in.
What are your thoughts on Hardin’s creation of a religious system in which to house scientific ideas and technology while keeping the users of that science and technology in the dark?
Clever on his part. For it so far seems to have done what he set it out to do. As a reader thinking about the concept though, I’ll be honest. I’ve not thought about it enough. Perhaps as we head into next week I’ll have read a little more about it and have some thoughts.
Kailana (37)
Clover (14)
Alyce (13)
Amanda (10)
Carl V. (10)
Nikki-ann (9)
I also compared this work with the troubles in the EU. I recently moved to London and I’ve started to pay more attention to the eurozone crisis. Like the novel, I’m not sure how they will hold it together.
It is interesting that so far Asimov is convincing me that Hari can predict the future. Only time will tell if that is true.
I think he’s managed to convince me as well. I’m interested in how he’s managing to do that when there are so many millions of events that need to come together to meet the precision he seems to have so far.
I think it’s interesting though that even Seldon isn’t infallible, as evidenced by the fact that he had the wrong number of chairs in the room. His predictions are good to a point, but there are still a lot of variables.
I didn’t think of the chairs like that. Good point. I’m looking forward to seeing when he appears next and how accurate he still is then.
On the Blog: “Foundation Group Read Pt 1″ http://t.co/2r4LFclO
In some ways I think at this point in the story we are meant to be missing out on part of the bigger picture. There is an element of mystery to the goings on that will only be revealed as the series continues.
Your first Asimov, eh? I mentioned somewhere else that it has been long enough since I’ve read this that I don’t remember if I feel this is entirely representative of his style or not. I know other stories are much more character-centric, although it is the ideas that almost always have the highest priority. I hope in the end you end up liking him, because there are some other great Asimov stories out there.
Coruscant is reportedly modeled after Trantor and I know when I think of Trantor I see the planet as it was imagined on screen in the SW prequels, and I know from some of the SW novels that I’ve read it hints at some of the problems of trying to police an enormous galaxy. Which is I guess why a rebellion would work, ha!
It feels very plausible to me that an ever expanding empire would reach a point where it could grow no more and would begin to crumble back upon itself. I enjoy seeing Asimov’s portrayal of that in the various chunks of history we see in the story.
I hope you’ll go along with us and read all three books. There are some interesting characters coming up in the next two books.
Yeah. I Don’t think it’s like there is going to be some massive revelation on the last page, much more of a gradual thing as the book progresses.
I certainly plan to continue on at this point as long as I can keep up with a couple of review commitments I really should be reading, and of course the new John Green.
Yes, it is a bit different to not have any characters to really concentrate on. It makes the reading a bit disjointed, but at the same time is not really bothering me. I am keeping most of my impressions until the end because I want to see how everything plays out. I am sure that with each new section a new revelation will be made about the larger picture. I am intrigued.
It is definitely intriguing, that is for sure.
I’m going to try to get the announcement out tomorrow for the next group read, Foundation and Empire.
Hi
This is my first Asimov and I’ve enjoyed reading it much more than I thought I would. I don’t really mind that it’s very narrative led – at least not for now! I can’t wait to see how things turn out. I do keep trying to second guess things but I don’t think I’ve done very well with that so far so I’m just going with the flow now.
Thanks
Lynn
I’m not minding the narrative led approach either at the moment, even though as I say, I normally prefer a strong likeable MC (or two) to root for.
It’s great that this group read has a good mix of Asimov newbies and those who have read it multiple times. I’m one of the newbies also. It’s funny how I never questioned the size of the Empire in Star Wars, and yet in Foundation it just seems so impossibly huge. Maybe because the book mentions actually numbers.
“it has been so successful that complacency has set in.”
quite the danger for galactic empires, eh? complacency tends to lead to stagnation, and that’s the danger zone. at the end of this first reading section, Hardin is trying to hard to fend off the stagnation, but he also knows that if does anything rash, it could destroy Seldon’s carefully laid computations.
It’s been like 10 years since I read Foundation, and I don’t remember what happens next!
[...] In this post, I’m answering questions about the second half of the book, (last weeks post can be found here.) [...]