4 ms·

Any reason in particular for Foundation? I'm reading it right now and I love it, but it doesn't strike me as a life changing kind of book.

by mkaziz 10y ago

lcall 10y ago
Maybe life-changing is a strong way to put it, but I think of the stuff every time I read about SpaceX etc. I read the trilogy when I was a youth, and in recent years re-read it and a few others in the series. It just makes exploration seem exciting, which hovers in the back of my mind. Maybe like the "wild west" did for earlier generations. Plus the ideas on government, managing populations subtly or brutally or otherwise, unity vs. individualism (one entire planet had explicitly decided to have one mind, in a way, shared by the whole ecosystem). Then the robot stuff has another whole set of ideas & interactions, which spurred thinking on individual agency and what is a "person" and why. (And some content which I wish I had not read as a boy, though it's mild compared to other sci-fi. It wasn't the right time for such thoughts.) I gather that some ideas for the Foundation series came from Asimov's reading about the Roman empire. And I admire his sheer abilities in writing both so prolifically and enjoyably. (Edit: I could have mentioned in my original post about books: The Little Schemer (Friedman et al) and another, fat, textbook on Scheme (also Friedman et al; he was the professor) changed, somewhat, how I thought about programming.)
gknoy 10y ago
It was the first book that I can recall reading that was quite definitely Science Fiction. The scale at which he imagined things was amazing. Re-reading it recently, I was struck that my nostalgia seemed stronger than the experience itself, but it pretty much got me to read every damn bit of science fiction I could from then on. So, not sure whether it's an amazing book (it was to me when I was 12), but it definitely set in motion a life-long love of science fiction books.

Any reason in particular for Foundation? I'm reading it right now and I love it, but it doesn't strike me as a life changing kind of book.

by mkaziz 10y ago

Any reason in particular for Foundation? I'm reading it right now and I love it, but it doesn't strike me as a life changing kind of book.

lcall 10y ago

Maybe life-changing is a strong way to put it, but I think of the stuff every time I read about SpaceX etc. I read the trilogy when I was a youth, and in recent years re-read it and a few others in the series. It just makes exploration seem exciting, which hovers in the back of my mind. Maybe like the "wild west" did for earlier generations. Plus the ideas on government, managing populations subtly or brutally or otherwise, unity vs. individualism (one entire planet had explicitly decided to have one mind, in a way, shared by the whole ecosystem). Then the robot stuff has another whole set of ideas & interactions, which spurred thinking on individual agency and what is a "person" and why. (And some content which I wish I had not read as a boy, though it's mild compared to other sci-fi. It wasn't the right time for such thoughts.) I gather that some ideas for the Foundation series came from Asimov's reading about the Roman empire. And I admire his sheer abilities in writing both so prolifically and enjoyably. (Edit: I could have mentioned in my original post about books: The Little Schemer (Friedman et al) and another, fat, textbook on Scheme (also Friedman et al; he was the professor) changed, somewhat, how I thought about programming.)

gknoy 10y ago

It was the first book that I can recall reading that was quite definitely Science Fiction. The scale at which he imagined things was amazing. Re-reading it recently, I was struck that my nostalgia seemed stronger than the experience itself, but it pretty much got me to read every damn bit of science fiction I could from then on. So, not sure whether it's an amazing book (it was to me when I was 12), but it definitely set in motion a life-long love of science fiction books.