The Foundation "Trilogy," by Isaac Asimov

[Omphalos]

I have never been a very dedicated historian. I just do not have a memory for random names, dates, places and occurrences. I never did well in my history classes, and certainly do not read much on the subject today. But there is one area of history that I do really love, and what little reading I do is in that area. Individual people and what they do are important, but I am always fascinated by history books that address the movements of masses of people. I could care less about Custer, but I loved Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Tojo bores me to tears, but Bataan doesn’t. Stalin did too much evil for me to comprehend, but the Pogroms in the Urals capture my attention every time. There is too much on the History Channel about Hitler for me to get interested, but any story about the plight of the Jews and I’m there. Canadian history is not my cup of tea either, but give me a book on how and why the Arcadians left Nova Scotia and moved to Louisiana and I’m happy for a day or so. I think that may be part of why I have always loved Asimov's Foundation books. They resonate with epic movements of people and future histories of wars in a way that very few other SF books do. And I think that for that reason, the Foundation novels are pretty much required reading for any SF fan...Please click here, or on the book cover above, to be taken to the complete review..