Book Review: PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION (Foundation Prelude # 1) by Isaac Asimov

Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"This is a time of disbelief."

Am reading the books out of sequence, LOL. Dove into this (the first of 2 prequels) after finishing Books 1 and 2. Book 3 is taking forever to arrive (darn you COVID) and I thought it would be safe enough to read PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION while waiting for my book mail.

This seems longer than the other Foundation novels, but every scene is important! Pay close attention!

The central figure in the Foundation series is mathematician Hari Seldon, who can prophesy the future by combining his knowledge of statistics and human behavior in what he calls "psychohistory." PRELUDE describes how a very young Hari delivers a paper on this radical idea, and comes to the attention of the Emperor Cleon himself. This puts Hari's life at risk, and now he must hide in order to protect an idea that he himself does not fully believe in... at least, not yet.

"Why, he wondered, did so many people spend their lives not trying to find answers to questions -- not even thinking of questions to begin with? Was there anything more exciting in life than seeking answers?"

Asimov's like a mystery author in the sense that no scene, no character is unnecessary. And although there was a point in the middle that I was wondering what was the use of all this incredible detail about the several different cultures and peoples on imperial home planet Trantor, all was revealed at the end.

Asimov has also mastered the art of completely pulling the rug underneath the reader, not being satisfied with one, but had TWO MAJOR PLOT TWISTS at the end! It's not easy to surprise rabid readers, but I didn't see these plot twists coming, and thus, enjoyed myself immensely! Complete with gasping and shouting, amazed at how everything came together flawlessly.

I haven't read the other series by the author but I think this is already the start of a merging of two storylines. I dare not say any more for fear of spoiling!

"We live in dangerous times. Just remember that if anyone can make the times safe -- if not for ourselves, then for those who follow after us -- it is you. Let that thought be your driving force."

Book 3 can't arrive soon enough for me to continue with this AMAZING series!

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Book Review: FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE (Foundation # 2) by Isaac Asimov

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Started on Book 2 immediately after finishing Book 1. To be honest, I was left a bit disappointed by Book 1, which I read only after seeing the epic Apple TV+ trailer for the upcoming show. Book 2 more than made up for whatever faults Book 1 had!

In FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE, the tiny independent home world of the Foundation (where scientists work to preserve humanity's knowledge) is pitted against the dying- yet still mighty - Empire. Because of the Foundation's founder Hari Seldon, whose knowledge of human psychology and mathematics allowed him to predict the future for thousands of years, people of the Foundation have become complacent with the knowledge that they cannot fail, cannot be beaten.

But the weakness of Hari Seldon's psychohistory is that it is based on calculated actions of masses of men, and doesn't take into account the anomaly of a single person. And finally, one is born with a super power that can change the future. And there's nothing the Foundation can do about it... or is there?!

Book 2 should serve as an example for the famous adage, "Never judge a series by the first book!" Haha. I now understand and support the hype around the series! Basically, all of Book 1's faults have not only DISAPPEARED in Book 2, but also, Asimov's writing style has evolved in leaps and bounds. He is no longer the scientist - turned - clumsy - sci.fi writer. He is, quite simply, a good writer whose characters BREATHE, complete with a gift for economy and pacing, and dialogue.

Strong female lead? Check!
Mind blowing plot twist at the end that led to an involuntary attack of profanity and book throwing (safely on a soft bed)? Yup!

Asimov's secound Foundation book is the reason why we read. This is what the best of sci.fi can be: the story of humanity, its faults dissected and analyzed, with a prophetic lens... Both a warning and a beacon of hope.

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Book Review: FOUNDATION (Foundation # 1) by Isaac Asimov

Foundation by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'd been meaning to read this book for a long time! Asimov is one of the biggest names in scifi. I had read the first three Dune books by Frank Herbert in college and enjoyed them immensely, but I remember picking up a copy of the first Foundation book and not being carried away by the writing style immediately.

Then Apple TV+ dropped that incredibly epic trailer for their upcoming Foundation series, featuring one of my favorite actors, Jared Harris. And BOOM! The time has come! I thought. Later on the very same day, I saw the first two books on sale at my local bookstore's website! It's a sign!

I didn't know that the book was actually several stories merged in one volume. Read half of the book while queuing for the 2nd vaccine jab. To be perfectly honest, I still found the writing style rather dry. Took some getting used to. Asimov starts the first of five stories/chapters with a loooooot of world building. I was bombarded with so many unfamiliar nouns. The first paragraph was unwieldy:

"His name was Gaal Dornick and he was just a country boy who had never seen Trantor before. That is, not in real life. He had seen it many times on the hyper-video, and occasionally in tremendous three-dimensional newscasts covering an Imperial Coronation or the opening of a Galactic Council. Even though he had lived all his life on the world of Synnax, which circled a star at the edges of the Blue Drift, he was not cut off from civilization, you see. At that time, no place in the Galaxy was."

Depending on the type of reader, you either fell asleep or said Ouch! The brain power required to hang on!

But once we meet the incredible prophet Hari Seldon, I was hooked.

This is a man who uses his knowledge of human psychology, math and statistical probability (aka "psychohistory") to basically predict humanity's future FOR MILLENIA. He predicts the downfall of a 12,000 year old imperial empire, but does all he can to preserve, codify and pass on all human knowledge for future generations to save humanity.

"We cannot stop the Fall... but we can shorten the period of Barbarism that must follow."

He puts up a Foundation, a small community of scientists exiled to the farthest reaches of space, there to work on shortening the coming Dark Ages from thirty to one thousand years. Every few generations or so there is a so-called "Seldon Crisis" where there is only one choice to be made, when the Foundation would either collapse or thrive.

I think the appeal of Foundation lies in the hopefulness of it. The heroes all plant seeds for a future they will never see. In all five stories/chapters, it's the underdog prevailing. With each catastrophe, the courage and persistence of Foundation's overseers sees them through. But for how long, I wonder?

Now on to Book 2!

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Book Review: THE CHILDREN OF MEN by P.D. James

The Children of Men by P.D. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Protection, comfort, pleasure. There has to be something more."
"It's what people care about, what they want. What more should the Council be offering?"
"Compassion, justice, love."
"No state has ever concerned itself with love, and no state ever can."
"But it can concern itself with justice."

***
It was a jolt to open the book to page 1 and read the date of a journal entry: Friday 1 January 2021.

Written in 1992, James' dystopia in 2021 is set in a world where women haven't given birth in 25 years. And science cannot figure out why.

Consider me a new fan of P.D. James. What a blend of beauty of language with suspense! She builds a very credible (and thus a very horrible) world and touches on many themes, on politics, sex, mortality, and ethics, trying to answer the question: of what use is all human endeavour when our race has been marked for extinction?

"Every age has its cruelties."

In protagonist Theo Faron's England, he is cousin to the Warden-slash-Dictator, who rules all in an attempt to provide a dignified way of life to the middle-aged... at great cost to humanity's humanity.

Imagine going to a concert, but because there are no longer any boy sopranos around, the conductor merely presses a button to play a recording.

Imagine a world where half-mad women dress up kittens and dolls and act our their fantasies of motherhood in public.

All of these benign horrors are nowhere near the full scale nightmarish world that P.D. James builds, where the "useless" old are exterminated -- voluntarily for some but not for all; the last generation to be born pampered ("If from infancy you treat children as gods they are liable in adulthood to act as devils."), and the middle-aged turning a blind eye to human rights abuses for the sake of their creature comforts.

Definitely not for young audiences, this book is a sci-fi classic! I can't wait to watch the 2006 Alfonso Cuaron film!

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