I have been getting back to my favourite genre in literature – science fiction – and decided to read one of its most famous examples, namely Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I’ve just read the first part of the trilogy.
Foundation speaks about a future of humankind, scattered over the Universe, united by the Empire, which is its centre and its heart. But when scientists have worked out the unavoidable fall of the Empire, Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian, founds a Foundation to preserve the culture, technology and art of the old Empire. While Seldon must wrangle with the means and requirements to begin this organisation, his successors must also deal with the problems that await in the dark periods of an almost feudal Universe.
The book has a lot of political intrigue in it, to the extent that I’m constantly amazed by how smart Asimov’s characters are and how very tight the plot and suspense are (it’s almost like reading a crime novel. Except there’s less murder and more Space.) Asimov manages to manipulate the story wonderfully and it was very interesting to read.