book
Foundation, Isaac Asimov, 1951, 304 pages.
Rating: 8/10 (liked it a lot).
I had the hardest time telling whether or not I like this book. But it went by quickly (as in I didn't want to stop reading), and I want to read the sequels, so I guess I like it. It's a very unique book. Since it's 1940's sci-fi, at first I expected typical Atomic Age cautionary tales, which it absolutely is not. It's science fiction in the way Dune or Star Wars are science fiction; basically fantasy set in a sci-fi universe. And yet it's completely unlike those stories. It has the contemplative tone and pacing of classic science fiction. And nothing happens. Asimov points this out himself in his 1982 introduction: "I hadn't read the Trilogy in thirty years... I read it with mounting uneasiness. I kept waiting for something to happen, and nothing ever did. All three volumes... consisted of thoughts and of conversations. No action. No physical suspense. What was all the fuss about, then? Why did everyone want more of that stuff?" So if you're expecting a novel -- or even if you're expecting a story -- you will be very disappointed. The similarities to Dune had me expecting a modern science fiction novel, and so the constant lack of anything happening and repeated anticlimaxes were extremely frustrating. So I thought maybe I didn't like it. But no, in fact I like it a hell of a lot, and for the life of my I can't figure out why.
Total pages: 3,085/10,000 (30.85%)
Time left: 8 months, 25 days (74%)
Rating: 8/10 (liked it a lot).
I had the hardest time telling whether or not I like this book. But it went by quickly (as in I didn't want to stop reading), and I want to read the sequels, so I guess I like it. It's a very unique book. Since it's 1940's sci-fi, at first I expected typical Atomic Age cautionary tales, which it absolutely is not. It's science fiction in the way Dune or Star Wars are science fiction; basically fantasy set in a sci-fi universe. And yet it's completely unlike those stories. It has the contemplative tone and pacing of classic science fiction. And nothing happens. Asimov points this out himself in his 1982 introduction: "I hadn't read the Trilogy in thirty years... I read it with mounting uneasiness. I kept waiting for something to happen, and nothing ever did. All three volumes... consisted of thoughts and of conversations. No action. No physical suspense. What was all the fuss about, then? Why did everyone want more of that stuff?" So if you're expecting a novel -- or even if you're expecting a story -- you will be very disappointed. The similarities to Dune had me expecting a modern science fiction novel, and so the constant lack of anything happening and repeated anticlimaxes were extremely frustrating. So I thought maybe I didn't like it. But no, in fact I like it a hell of a lot, and for the life of my I can't figure out why.
Total pages: 3,085/10,000 (30.85%)
Time left: 8 months, 25 days (74%)