Foundation Review

For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.

Hari Seldon, the creator of psychohistory, calculates that the great empire will fall. He forsees that there is a way to reduce the time of darkness that will endure from 30,000 years? to 1,000 years. He devises a plan and at each chapter, you read a story, that's just a part of the great scheme of things.

The book explores the idea of people are unimportant and the greater scheme of things is. At each chapter you see a new roster of characters, each one with so little characterization that I forgot who they were (doesn't help they all talk the same way), and the problem they are trying to solve. The problem itself is the better part, the urgency is always at maximum. If you want characters, this is not the book, the better part is seeing the whole come together.

The book is very easy to read, and for the scope of story it tells, too short (only about ~300 pages and ~77,000 words).

This book is considered a classic, and I see why. I hope the next books develop some character or better plot solutions. If you don't mind characters with little personality, I recommend this book.

Foundation

Isaac Asimov