Foundation by Issac Asimov book review

I have been fascinated by this series for several years now, revisiting the experience of reading the previous book – Prelude to Foundation, that I read almost 20 years back. The concept of a mathematician on a quest across galaxies, searching for a sample size for his statistical experiment of predicting the future of the Galactic empire and how he eventually decides the very planet where he resides to be the perfect case study was too much of a fantastic premise. I used to relate India as how Hari Sheldon, the mathematician, relates Trantor as the perfect sample set, for gauging this world. For this country has all the natural wealth, landscapes, resources, almost 14% of world population, civilization stretching across several millennia, cultural richness, you name it, you will find it here. Just like how Hari can predict the fall or future of the Galactic empire, a reasonable statistic for this world can be derived from the performance of this great country. 

Foundation refers to the group or setup which Hari had formed, predicting the eventuality of the collapse of the empire and how it can serve as the fountainhead of future. The book in itself is structured as a set of novels/chapters that happen several decades apart in sequence. The story begins with an young mathematician coming to Trantor on Hari’s invite to assist him. Upon arrival, he is met by Hari and his associate, soon after which he gets arrested along with Hari. The political overlords, fear the brashness of Hari’s predictions and fear it may create unrest amongst general public and decide to banish him into a far of planet on the extremities of the galaxy. Surprisingly, based on his prediction model, having known about such an outcome, Hari and his team are already prepared for the eventuality. Along with 100 thousand of his group, he leaves to a distant planet and sets up his “foundation”. The second set of story, begins some years after his demist, where a group of scientists have taken up on preparing Encyclopedia Galactica as their life’s quest, as ordered by Hari. They have formed a setup/board of scientists who run the planet and are dead against any political or military ambition as pursued by their council head. Having been placed in a delicate situation where the nearby kingdoms, which even though are under the command of the emperor, are having rebellious intentions. They all eye the nuclear power and the knowledge of which is available with the scientists group and want to invade the planet to acquire that for themselves. The councilor plays one kingdom against the other and ensures their own planet is protected from any attack, there by avoiding the crisis as predicted by Hari on his capsule, that was buried in a vault, half a century prior. The third part of the novel happens couple of decades after the successful mission by the councilor who is know heading the planet. He is widely respected and equally revered for his aura. A new religion called “science” having infiltrated across all the near by galaxies and planets, run by priesthood (scientists) who control the nuclear power fueling their planets, is under the control of the councilor. When an attack on his planet by the immediate bigger kingdom seems imminent, he makes a trip to that planet and cleverly turns the tables on the invader. The fourth part is about how traders rise to the occasion and takes control.

I loved every single section of the book and still reeling from the after effects of its relevance in present day world. The timing of the book might’ve resulted in different connotations and associations with the happenings of that era. But the same is relevant even today, shows how much ahead was it of its times and the thought process behind its creation!! The political landscape, the diplomacy, the jealous/ambitious nature of individuals resulting in war like situations, how people en mass depend on individual strong men to lead them, mob mentality, difference between a rebel and one who is just a power monger, you can go on and on about the multitude of view points that one can derive from that book. By luck, I started with “Prelude” and now into “Foundation” even though they might’ve not been written that way or published in that order. This book is not restricted to one genre and encompasses multiple themes. Would be wonderful if they make a series out of it like “Star wars”. Not sure how it would be received though, for the magic it offers in print form may be difficult to be reproduced on screen. On to the rest of the “Foundation” series, hoping it would be as interesting as the first two.