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A review by cynicusrex
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
3.0
If I had read this book at release, I'd probably be bedridden. Sadly I couldn't enjoy this book as much. For one, I missed character development. But I'll give that a pass since most humans as individuals are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, especially if you want to move forward. This is obviously true in statistics—or should I say psychohistory—but I'm referring to the similarity in how Elon Musk's companies operate. He's sometimes seen as a brute because of his high expectancy and sometimes harsh treatment of employees. But if that's what it takes to save humanity, so be it. The same goes for Isaac Asimov I suppose. If you want to write a book spanning more than a dozen decades, one can't get distracted by a single character.
What annoyed me was the fact that many technologies or customs in this book have already proven to be inaccurate compared to our current technology. They still use coins, they still write encyclopedias, they use pocket calculators, religion is still a thing; although a sort of scientific one, they smoke cigars, people still have the same intelligence, people wear robes, frippery remains a major contributor to the economy. This might convince me in the course of ten decades in the future, but not ten millennia and then some.
This is still an amazing piece of literature for which I am probably still too young, inexperienced and ignorant to fully appreciate. Knowing this was written in the 1950's amazes me. Objectively the book is worth more than three stars, but for me it's not. He got the story right, but not the timescale.
What annoyed me was the fact that many technologies or customs in this book have already proven to be inaccurate compared to our current technology. They still use coins, they still write encyclopedias, they use pocket calculators, religion is still a thing; although a sort of scientific one, they smoke cigars, people still have the same intelligence, people wear robes, frippery remains a major contributor to the economy. This might convince me in the course of ten decades in the future, but not ten millennia and then some.
This is still an amazing piece of literature for which I am probably still too young, inexperienced and ignorant to fully appreciate. Knowing this was written in the 1950's amazes me. Objectively the book is worth more than three stars, but for me it's not. He got the story right, but not the timescale.