Second Foundation mental powers

[hiruadjas]

Did anyone else really like the descriptions of the powers the Second Foundation had and the way politics were carried out among mind-readers? Has anyone read fiction that incorporates similar ideas (guarding minds, slight mental manipulation, auras) that they really like?

 

[picklematrix]

Robin Hobb's farseer books featute 'the skill', a form of telepathic power that includes certain similar abilities.

 

[Parson]

Cat's Eye by Andre Norton has some of that.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Mental powers are a cornerstone of the Bene Gesserit and mentats in Frank Herbert's Dune.

 

[chornedsnorkack]

Not really. When Mule was confronted by a community of multiple people with similar if weaker mental powers, the gaps in failing to explore the options tended to disturb.

 

[tinkerdan]

Themes : Telepathy : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia
it's interesting that the foundation does not show up until you look under broader terms
Themes : Psi Powers : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia
And the there is this
Mentalic - Wikipedia

 

[Al Jackson]

Did anyone else really like the descriptions of the powers the Second Foundation had and the way politics were carried out among mind-readers? Has anyone read fiction that incorporates similar ideas (guarding minds, slight mental manipulation, auras) that they really like?

John W Campbell , who was strongly mentoring Asimov at that time, was really into PSI powers (was that why he moved to Duke for this physics degree?). My sense of things is that Asimov may have been catering to Campbell*, tho the Mule's powers are more nuanced than Van Vogt’s . Later Asimov avoided PSI powers , well until some of this last works were he gave a kind of 'physics-psi' shade to R Daneel Olivaw.

I did not like the re-introduction of Olivaw to the Foundation series and the tie-em-all-up-into-bundle Asimovian universe... it all came off as a forced story.

*Campbell tried to get a PSI - powered (so to speak) 'Empire' out of van Vogt and ever succeeded ... must have been a boon to Campbell when Frank Herbert submitted DUNE! There he got a ripping yarn well told! (van Vogt was not a very good novel writer.)

 

[BAYLOR]

Did anyone else really like the descriptions of the powers the Second Foundation had and the way politics were carried out among mind-readers? Has anyone read fiction that incorporates similar ideas (guarding minds, slight mental manipulation, auras) that they really like?

Of The member of the Second Foundation, Even though they might have had the nbest of intentions. I found them withtheir powers abilities and methods to be a bit on problematic.

 

[Don]

Perry Rhodan's Mutant Corps brims with all manner of mentalics: telepaths, telekinetics, teleporters, teletemporters (time travelers), ...