Foundation by Isaac Asimov (July 2017)
First published in 1951, this is the first of a science fiction trilogy. It is set in a world dependent on the field of
'psychohistory', a type of mathematics used by a central character to predict
the future for all of humankind.
This sounds lovely in concept but of course there is a catch. In the world of Foundation, the catch is a scale problem: the predictions are based on mass
action and therefore useless at the individual level. A lot of people I
know could benefit from this understanding, I suppose, but that's
another matter.
I see no sense in offering my
recommendation. A science fiction fan surely has read this book (and the
other two in the trilogy, and the two prequels later added to the
series, and the two sequels, and maybe written some fan fiction of their own).
If
you like plots and reading about the larger forces of history, warfare,
and politics, I bet you've already read this, too. For what it's worth, I enjoyed Foundation enough
to finish it but I'm not going any further into the series.
One amusing side note.
In The Mother of all Questions, Rebecca Solnit references 'The Bechdel
Test'. This measure notes whether a work of fiction features at least
one scene where two female characters talk about something other than a
man (1).
I imagine if Foundation were put to the test, something in the universe would
break (perhaps my computer, bought in 2006 yet still going strong as I write this sentence!). I can only recall one female character in the whole book (who resembled more of a wet blanket than a sentient being) and I do not recall her talking into a reflective surface at any point in the novel.
Footnotes / imagined complaints
1. TOA, the haven of careful readers...
Apparently,
Virginia Woolf made reference to the broader idea in her essay 'A Room
of One's Own'. I read the essay once. It was good.
I missed the reference, though. Whoops...
