John's review
Prelude to Foundation (Foundation Prequel, Book 1)
by Isaac Asimov
John's review
Prelude to Foundation (Foundation Prequel, Book 1) by Isaac Asimov
John's review
rating:
bookshelves:
sci-fi-fantasy-speculative
My first Asimov book, it was both wonderful and disappointing. I loved the hugeness of the imagination at work here. The bizarre and diverse societies of Trantor with their rituals, structures, foods, ways of living, and just the physical structure of the world itself, with multiple layers and a surface covered with sand and the occasional forest, made for fun reading. As for the disappointments, although it is probably a cliché at this point, I could not stand the squareness of the dialogue, the clumsy yet regular attempts at sexual innuendo, and the thinness of some (all?) of the characters.
Also, and probably more frustrating for me, was how the protagonist, a supposedly brilliant mathematician (we are never privy as to why’s or how’s of his brilliance) develops psychohistory, the (in my opinion) unfortunately-named new science that is supposed to save the Galactic empire. If something so complicated and so important is to be developed by someone so brilliant, I wanted...more
Also, and probably more frustrating for me, was how the protagonist, a supposedly brilliant mathematician (we are never privy as to why’s or how’s of his brilliance) develops psychohistory, the (in my opinion) unfortunately-named new science that is supposed to save the Galactic empire. If something so complicated and so important is to be developed by someone so brilliant, I wanted...more
