What to say about Asimov Foundation and its cycle that has not already been said in the sixty years that separate us from its release? Probably not much. Foundation is probably one if not the most famous literary work of SF the last century. Despite major developments on the political, social and economic fields that have occurred since, Foundation remains a punch in the stomach for the brutal literary reader. Foundation describes the fall of an empire and vision of a scientist who predicted a barbaric era through the "psychohistory," a probabilistic social science that allows to make projections about the future of humanity. This great man project as the "Foundation" whose goal is to preserve human knowledge and survive the collapse of civilization. The Foundation is inordinate ambition: to summarize in a few pages the causes of the rise and fall of empires and the factors to survive and adapt to major social changes of an era. In addition to the relevant reflections suggested Foundation on the role of trade, technology and religion in building the domination of one civilization over another, Asimov puts incredibly well to light the issue of individual choice over social determinism . The writing may seem dry, but you can say the same thing over much of works of the era (the famous golden age of SF). Foundation fluctuates between the novel and the philosophical tale and sleek side should in my opinion beautifully gender. We have not finished talking Foundation, let alone read it.
