MY RATING : ★★★★★
The last review of the year ! I had to end the year with a banger right?!
FOUNDATION IT IS.
The amazing thing about Foundation is that it’s not the typical book structure and form I usually like. There’s no character development, no character diversity (no females character ARRHHUM) they are all politicians, traders and scientists, and no action or whatsoever. Speechifying everything .
The secret key of this book is Hari Seldon’s psychohistory. A science where you can predict mass behavior with a lot of complex mathematics formulas.
“Psychohistory dealt not with man, but with man-masses. It was the science of mobs; mobs in their billions. It could forecast reactions to stimuli with something of the accuracy that a lesser science could bring to the forecast of a rebound of a billiard ball. The reaction of one man could be forecast by no known mathematics; the reaction of a billion is something else again.”
—Isaac Asimov, Foundation and Empire
You know that sensation of deja-vu where you see something and it reminds you of something else that has the same pattern? Like a sudden pop-up link in your head? That happens to me whenI read this part of the book. It reminds me of Boyle’s gas law where the molecules moves in an unpredictable way but having a lot of molecules, it become predictable. In this case, if you have enough people, it can predict their behaviors.
Hari predicted the Fall of the Galactic Empire and everybody (mostly the Emperor) is doomed aka FUCK:ED. The story follows how Hari Sheldon deals with the information, how the generations after him will treat the threats with diplomacy and intellect. Violence is the enemy in this book. One of the reasons why we don’t see much actions.
There are so many great ideas in this book, and for all of the scifi lovers out there : you need to read this book for its intrigue. Forget about the spaceship battles and pew pew ! This one is all about words and the power it brings to the future. Asimov’s writings have set him one the master of sci-fi and this work is one of his finest. This story is published in 1951 and reading the story now with the eyes of a human being 65 years later (66 in a few days), it proves he was one of the few people who had the courage to talk about tomorrow as if it were today.
I hosted a surprise giveaway for Christmas on this post and, the lucky winner is : JESS from A confused Artist please provide your email and we will contact you ! Stay tuned for another giveaway very soon 😉
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This sounds awesome. Thanks for featuring things which always seem to peak my interest!
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Happy it did peak your interest! You should totally read it this review didn’t do it justice at all 😂-Trang
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I really enjoyed the original Foundation trilogy. After that, I kept reading his various add on books until I didn’t like the series as a whole. I should have stopped with the good stuff 🙂
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LOOL you wished it was as good as Foundation huh. So can you confirm that Foundation is his best book? :O – Trang
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I think the trilogy was the best of the Foundation series. I’m not sure I’d qualify it as his best work, because some of his short story collections are phenomenal. The man excelled at the short story.
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Omg which ones was your favourite ? 😀 I’m curious now to read his other work now . Is I,Robot you mentioned in one of my posts fit in that category ? -Trang
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If asking about the Foundation trilogy, 2nd Foundation was my favorite.
As for books of short stories, his “Collected Works of…”, which is only 2 volumes, really show cases his writing chops. But I also own I, Robot, so that should say something about its quality 🙂
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Thank you so much I’d have to look for that 🙂 What was in the 2nd Foundation that stands out more for you ? :O – Trang
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It had more of a specific outside antagonist. A concrete villain as opposed to nebulous “forces”. At least from what I remember 🙂
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If you are into ebooks, I can email you the first “Best of Asimov Collection” if you want to try something risk free [besides a potential waste of time that is]
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Omg yes please ! 😀 I’d love to read it ! You can send it to : bookidote@hotmail.com
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Fantastic review 🙂 I was recommended this book a few weeks ago so I added to my 2017 sci-fi challenge! I admit that when reading your intro I wanted to delete it from the list, haha! No women? They indeed are doomed. Psychohistory sounds both complicated but fascinating.
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LOL you shouldn’t delete it from your list because of that 😂😂 such a beautiful book! What’s in your scifi challenge? :O
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What a wonderful review! I’m definitely adding this to my list!💁🏻
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YAYYY 😘😘
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Okay, so Foundation has been on my list for literally years. I am embarrassed that I have yet to just read it already. This review proves I definitely should be doing so and that there is probably more to it than I originally though. Grabbing copy soon!
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OMG YESSS. It’s really worth it! I’ve heard about this book a long time ago and I’m so happy that I finally get to read it 🙂 – Trang
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I am definitely intrigued by your review. I have no clue what this book is about but it sounds interesting and the fact that you’ve rated it so highly as well is a huge draw for me adding it to my to-read list as well.
This one is definitely going to require more research, but I love sci-fi books and am always looking for more so maybe this will be one I pick up in 2017.
Great review Trang! 🙂
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YASSS pick it up! I didn’t want to put on more details than it needs to. I think it’s more exciting when you discover the universe while reading it 🙂 -Trang
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I think that’s the best way to write a review for a book like this, you want other people to be able to discover the story for themselves you know.
Either way it’s on my to-read list so hopefully I’ll be able to get around to it soon! 😀
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Sounds wonderful ❤ ❤ Great review 🙂 🙂 x x
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Thank you!! 🙂 Do you like reading Scifi books?
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Your welcome 🙂 🙂 Yes, I love them x x
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Gosh so glad you liked this book- I’ve had this on my tbr a while now- desperate to read it! Great review!
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Omg take the summer to read it or something ❤ ! – Trang
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Yes!! Definitely! 😉
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Oh my God this is awesome thank you so much my email is jchristinewebb@gmail.com
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