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Post by blindness on Aug 7, 2022 11:01:55 GMT -8
I am on a mission to read as many big time sci-fi classics as I can, but books like this are not making it easy for me.
I don't know how many times I've heard that Foundation was one of the defining books of the genre, an undisputed classic, etc. I remember I tried reading it before 20 years ago, maybe, but couldn't get through. Same thing now. It's as if I am reading a Young Adult version of a classic where the editor took out all the descriptive, world-building parts and character development, and all that is essential to a good work of fiction, cut it all out because it is intended for people who are only interested in dialogs. Pick any random page in the book ... it's dialogs. The only exposition is whatever's inserted between what the conversing people are saying.
I can see that classic sci-fi probably had a lot of pulp elements and the idea is to make them good read, but, god, how did this book come to be known as a classic?
I am on page 66 of 296. Can anyone tell me that it will actually start building some substance later on? If not, I'll toss this aside and re-read Ringworld. At least I read that all the way through 20 years ago except I don't remember anything from it other than its setup.
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 7, 2022 11:12:20 GMT -8
I am on a mission to read as many big time sci-fi classics as I can, but books like this are not making it easy for me.
I don't know how many times I've heard that Foundation was one of the defining books of the genre, an undisputed classic, etc. I remember I tried reading it before 20 years ago, maybe, but couldn't get through. Same thing now. It's as if I am reading a Young Adult version of a classic where the editor took out all the descriptive, world-building parts and character development, and all that is essential to a good work of fiction, cut it all out because it is intended for people who are only interested in dialogs. Pick any random page in the book ... it's dialogs. The only exposition is whatever's inserted between what the conversing people are saying.
I can see that classic sci-fi probably had a lot of pulp elements and the idea is to make them good read, but, god, how did this book come to be known as a classic?
I am on page 66 of 296. Can anyone tell me that it will actually start building some substance later on? If not, I'll toss this aside and re-read Ringworld. At least I read that all the way through 20 years ago except I don't remember anything from it other than its setup.
I don't know that sc-fi was every about deep, nuanced characters. It was about ideas. Whether it is Marvel movies or Star Wars, it is still all basically westerns with people (or aliens) who are either good or evil. The only thing missing is the black or white hats. I am frankly bored with them. You can either read Asimov or Heinlein for the ideas, not for the characters or sterling dialog. For example, Heinlein wrote long ago that communist Russia would try to control Communist China, but it would turn out with China in control. Pretty good for the 1960's, when China was a global non-entity. |
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Post by blindness on Aug 7, 2022 11:45:27 GMT -8
There are some really good, completely readable ones out there. I still think Dune was a very well written series. I thought at the time that Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy had ideas and chaaracters ... In the fantasy genre, I read the Song of Ice and Fire series twice, and George RR Martin is an amazing as a writer. So some of the writers do have serious writing chops.
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Post by gainsborough on Aug 7, 2022 16:44:42 GMT -8
The Foundation series was a product of its time - writing styles have advanced since then, and nowadays readers expect a higher standard. I recently re-read it, and found the style extremely simplistic.
IMO, the value of The Foundation series was in its concepts. The most important ones are still valid. It's easy to identify the significance of Hari Seldon's creation of "Psycho-history" and its consequences. But the bigger story is hidden and even more significant: how history is made by ordinary people doing ordinary work.
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Post by gr8lurburt on Aug 7, 2022 17:59:22 GMT -8
Foundation was, in some respects, the foundation.
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