Ron’s Reviews > Foundation > Status Update

Done with parts 4 and 5. It's an entertaining collection of stories, and I think it provides an interesting illustration of how societies and morality develop over time. However, they read like an Encyclopedia Brown mystery; the conclusion always involves revealing some critical piece of information which we couldn't possibly have known.

Thoughts so far: Good, but not amazing. Each Part skips ahead a considerable period of time (Hardin himself says he'll be long dead before the next act begins), so there can't be any one central character. It does provide an interesting study of how societies are formed and advance, how to preserve order, how to fight off competitors. Structure is very episodic, like The Martian: problem, solution, next chapter.

Part 3: Thirty years later (80 FE), Hardin's still in charge. They've helped rebuild the nearby kingdoms, disguising technology as religion to allay the barbarians' fears. The Anacreon kingdom, however, wants to seize the center of power, and they have far more firepower than the Foundation. Anacreon launches an attack, and Hardin leans on the clergy to force them to back down.

Part 2 summary continued (spoilers) : Seldon explains that the Foundation is a sham. It doesn't really matter whether they finish the Encyclopedia. It was a pretense so that Seldon could create the base conditions that (probability dictatates) will shorten the coming Dark Age. They will face a series of crises over the next 1,000 years, each of which will force their hand toward the one correct course of action.

Part 2 skips ahead fifty years to the early-ish days of the Foundation. Control rests in the hands of the scientists, and Mayor Salvor Hardin is trying to get them to pay attention to the obvious political threats around them. They do nothing, prompting Hardin to seize power and mobilize the people into action. Then a recording of Hari Seldon appears and explains the real purpose of the Foundation's existence.