Foundation
(Isaac Asimov)
Can we predict the future? This has been an age-old question that has stirred our imaginations. Countless books and movies have already come and several more will come in trying to explain this phenomenon. Issac Asimov also takes up this issue. In what way then is this book unique? It is unique in the fact that it blends in the fields of mathematics, psychiatry, history, and physics into a new field called Psycho-history which will help in predicting the future. The author has to be appreciated in bringing about this new line of thought. New line? The word new is used because we have to remember that the book was written originally in 1950s, certainly then it was new. Coming to the plot, the story takes place in a galaxy where humans have inhabited around 25 million worlds, which are all ruled by one empire. It is about a mathematician, Hari Seldon, who is founder of a field called Psycho-History. Predicting the future is good thing but what happens if the predictions are not to our liking. What should one do if the future that is predicted is bleak? Can something be done to alleviate the suffering that is to come? These are the questions that trouble Hari Seldon and his group of Psycho-Historians. The path they take and how they convince a now dying empire to fund a research to this effect forms a part of the story. While the rest of the story deals with how the choosen people of Hari Seldon move to a remote planet called Terminus, how they establish a home there,and how they overcome the adversities they have to face due to the weakening of the empire, the opposition from the neighbouring planets, their faith in Hari Seldon and his predictions that they have a role to play in the coming future. The novel also deals with faith of those choosen people in Hari Seldon, a person who is acknowledged as a genius of his time, and his predictions. This book is part of series of books on foundation. The first one to be written. It certainly is an interesting read where it deals with not merely the future predictions but also about human psychology in general.
Resumos Relacionados
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- Foundation And Earth
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- Foundation's Triumph
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