I hadn't consciously read an Asimov story. Which seems difficult, given that he has been credited with 470 of them in his life. But I had somehow managed to not do so.
I was walking with a friend last year, and he had read them. I like hearing what people read, and he tried to describe it to me. "Some statistician determines that a space empire will collapse and crafts a plan to make that dark age as short as possible - if a group of people follow a series of videos he recorded before dying. Every so often, he releases a video in a vault or cave when he determines it is likely that something will need to be done to keep on track with his vision." I replied this sounds completely arrogant and paternalistic to attempt. What kind of man would have the gall to dictate to people how to live from beyond the grave? I was told that the execution was a benevolent vibe rather than an arrogant one. I was amenable enough to try to see it through myself.
The first book was published in the 50s, and a glorious hardcover with scattered illustrations was a good first impression of the series. Which I heard described as a trilogy. (Reading the title of the post? Book 4?! We'll get to that.). First book goes as advertised. I kinda find myself liking the pronosticator, he seems a well meaning and thoughtful figure. A society of scientists are stationed at one edge of the galactic empire with the mission to create a Noah's Ark encyclopedia of all useful knowledge for the coming storm. Strong leaders and figures come across crises as expected and the video direction hints at what to do. The society survives, and the leaders who piloted the society through the crises become legendary figures themselves. I get through 80% of the book and realize that I haven't seen a woman described, even though the book covers a good stretch of time as the society establishes itself. Because I am looking, I finally see a lady, but she is a silly petty wife of a ruler on a neighboring planet. I observe the sidestep, but the book is mainly strong and interesting, so Asimov played to his strengths.
Second book is split into different periods. The society of scientists, the Foundation, have established a basis of survival by technological advances and trade empire with neighboring planets, creating a dependence on the Foundation to maintain a standard of life as the Empire's influence drowns in bureaucracy and administration. The Foundation leaders grow a little shifty in figuring out how to adapt to crises, as they have to evolve or die and strategies of previous generations have to be reconfigured rather than be autopilot course forward. In the second half of the book, something EXTREMELY weird happens - a mysterious conqueror named the Mule is able to take over most of the galaxy, including the Foundation's home planet. How can this be? There was a Plan, what does this mean for the dark age? Turns out that the Mule has the ability to influence the emotional state of others with their mind, they are a mutant psychic. It is noticed that of all the scientists sent to establish the Foundation, there are no disciplines of sociology and psychiatric ability represented. So there becomes a question as to whether the prognosticator did this on purpose to be sure that no one overruled his Plan by guessing or theorizing different paths before they came up as crises. But it is now a problem, because this hostile takeover by the Mule is shaking faith in the Plan coming to pass. Female characters are represented in this book, but they mostly have the feel of neutral male voice, the feminine quality does not have a strong showing. This is possibly bias on my part, but there is more of an effort by Asimov than the first book.
The third book, Second Foundation, deals with the question of whether the Planmaker has established a secret second society of mental scientists to keep his plan on track. This freaks out the current Foundation, and occupies the Mule, who is passively ruling the Foundation. If there is such a secret, it might oppose the reign of the Mule, because there can be wheels within wheels to sabotage efforts of a new Empire under the Mule. Efforts are made, hints are raised, the Mule sends out controlled scouts to sniff out this threat. Ultimately, the Second Foundation agents are uncovered and are able to defeat the Mule. While he is a natural mutant, they trained in mental discipline to be able to manipulate others' minds too.
At this point, I was really confused. This is a far leap from what I was promised in the first book. Yes, I can accept statistical modelling of a future called Psychohistory. That sounds like a premise. I was not expecting to be derailed from the Plan by a Mutant Mind Controller in the second book, but he is a fluke adding tension and drama. Now you get to a third book where through sweat equity, a secret society charged with keeping the Plan maintained on course are ALSO psychic manipulators? What a twist! And this Second Foundation like a cat out of a bag, tries to duck back into the bag to observe and not be detected. But the First Foundation is now paranoid and skittish - what if they are not the chosen ones and are not being manipulated by the devil they know through video, but also by that devil's REAL chosen disciples who might shape events to overrule the governance and autonomy of the first group. A conclusion is reached, where the First Foundation believes they have engineered a technological innovation to protect their minds and root out these Second Foundation psychic freaks.
We now get to the Fourth book, the subject here. The publishers and readers note that the 1,000 year period of the Foundation Plan timeline was not halfway described yet. What were you thinking, Asimov? It may be a trilogy in number and feel traditionally complete for a story arc, but the contents did not cover all that ground you promised. What happens? So Asimov resumes publishing the next book in 1982. He has had years to hone what to do. And he puts a woman as a political leader of the Foundation as mayor. She is his strongest female representation so far, though a bit of an Iron Lady, firm and experienced in how to achieve her desired results through subtle maneuvering in conversational power dynamics. A young upstart is convinced that the video update is too perfect, the Plan is suspiciously back on track. The Second Foundation must still exist and should be found - the First Foundation should not have to wonder if their actions are being manipulated by a shadowy group. So the Mayor sends him on a quest with an old scholar with the intent of drawing out Second Foundation interest. The old scholar is obsessed with finding Earth - the planet of origin of all humanity. Meanwhile, the Second Foundation also has an ambitious upstart in its ranks, who noticed that the group is indeed being too good at getting back on track and raising the First Foundation's suspicions. So he is sent out to try to figure out how to quell this mess a second time by convincing the First Foundation to believe the threat gone again. The book's plot comes to a climax on an uncharted planet, Gaia, that used to be ruled by robots, an institution of automation that no outside world knows about. And this Gaia planet that the Mule escaped from to wreck conquering havoc on the galaxy generations back. And the world has the feature of a common telepathic group consciousness. And once again, I wonder how the series got to this weird place where science fiction has dipped deeper into fantasy evolution. And the politician upstart, who has been described as a flirt, is suspicious of the Gaia planet's first contact, a beautiful young woman, who the old scholar imprints upon with great interest. A decision is made about the future direction of the galaxy, because both Foundations are too powerful and would dominate the galaxy too early with military or psychological might to hold the galaxy in line. Then I get to a last chapter and something else is revealed that I did not expect. Asimov just continues to rip rugs out from under his reader. And I am baffled and fascinated. I like weird things happening. I like being in on the joke when a writer makes weird things happen. But this series doesn't indulge in humor except of a very wry kind. So I don't think Asimov is intending to be funny. I have one more book to go in the series and am REALLY curious how he plans to escalate this chaos into either further weirdness or into some sort of order.
I do not think joy
Motivates this sci fi boy
Galaxy as toy.
