Book Review: SECOND FOUNDATION (Foundation # 3) by Isaac Asimov

 Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"It was a time of absolutes, of the great final generalities, at least in thought. It was a sign of decaying culture, of course, that dams had been built against the further development of ideas."

This is the third book in the original FOUNDATION trilogy: this epic literary quest about the mathematician/prophet Hari Seldon's mission to preserve civilization from mankind's destructive tendencies of war and chaos.

What I appreciate about Asimov is how unpredictable the plot is: you THINK you know where it's going, who's the bad guy, where the secret hideout is... but then you're proven wrong. And the most seemingly insignificant character or tidbit in dialogue can turn out to be the most important of them all. Very few authors can do this. Agatha Christie and Isaac Asimov are absolute masters of this!

Most sci-fi novels are about external forces like big space ships and hyperspace and deadly futuristic weapons of mass destruction. And FOUNDATION has them, but this volume in particular was mainly about the battles FOR minds, WITH minds.

"When can a man know he is not a puppet?"

Imagine if an enemy, intent on being invisible, was able to meddle with your brain, changing your motivations, your very self, entirely undetected?! The horror!!!

And it's so relevant to today, if you think about it. We ARE battling for hearts and minds and souls, and so the true conquest is no longer of physical territory, but of idealogy.

It's the best feeling in the world to finish this book, knowing I have Books 4 and 5 on hand. Ahehehe.

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