/lit/ - Literature

>>22350772
Top 3 scifi books for sure
>>22349726
Asimov robots series if fun mix of detective novel+scifi. If you didnt like foundation maybe try that

what do I read next. I just finished 2010: Odyssey Two by Clarke and it was good but I don't think I'm going to read the final two books

1) Authority by Vandermeer (I enjoyed Annihilation, book 1)
2) Embassytown by that bald guy (I loved The City and the City)
3) Three Body Problem book 1 by Cixin
4) Use of Weapons by Banks (Banks can be a slog for me, I read Consider and Player of Games and they were both alright)
5) Lord of Light by Zelanzy
6) The Maltese Falcon by Hammett
7) Foundation book 1 by Asimov

I've read the following from Asimov, the first five Foundation books, I, Robot. The End of Eternity, would I be completely okay going into Robots and Empire or should I check out the Robot Stories + Caves of Steel before readin that one? Robots and Empire feels like the tail end of his robot stories

>>22309783

It depends on if Asimov still believed that the Seldon Plan should ultimately work or not. Asimov was one of the last great men fascinated by the slide-ruler who watched over Science Fiction before the artistas became the Lords of the Last Days before modernity stole the genre from us and relevancy.

His lack of worry to visual detail, writing what feels like radio plays worked really well in a series that was all about social interaction even above technology. What a marvel, a revelation it was to have something like the Second Foundation; yes the material sciences and the encyclopedia galactica are vitally important, but how often were the social sciences not seen as important, or even not something that could be approached as a science in the first place and relegated to art?

One of the all-time greats where I also agree with every naysayer about him, and the same applies to the Foundation series. One of my first real books, and a great one. I do wish that there had been even an inkling of what the end of the Interregnum would look like

Tragically Asimov never progressed the series past Foundation and Earth. Where do you think the series could've gone afterwards? I think a final trilogy detailing the completion of the Seldon Plan through the establishment of the 2nd empire and first contact with a hostile intragalactic alien race would've been a neat conclusion. Final note is that I love Dors and Novi. The Mule was an interesting character as well.

asimov gives me an aneurism, why is he considered a legend? being first to the game? the foundation novels are painful. are the robot novels better?
bradbury > asimov

>>22263086
Inherit the Stars, by James Hogan.
Good one, but its a like watching a black and withe movie if you are not used to, because the phrases he uses, aside of that is fresh.
But I understand this is a series, like Asimov's foundation, and I don't know if read all the others books.

uh because it's a masterpiece of cultural and sociopolitical analysis, much like asimov's foundation. read up to god emperor, if you still don't get it then don't bother. the golden path is not for you.

Asimov's Foundation trilogy

Hey, /lit/ I've got a quick question for you.
I've been going through Asimov, I read I, Robot a few years back, and I've been going through the Robot series, finishing up The Robots at Dawn right now.
I know Robots and Empire joins together the Robot, Galactic Empire, and Foundation series, so I figured I'd ask.
Should I go back now, and read through the other series, before finishing up the Robot one, or can I just finish off the Robot series and loop back? I want to make sure I don't miss anything major

>>22230772
I liked the foundation series. I think it was written as a series of magazine publications and that shows, so each section is sort of self contained and simple.
Hari Sheldon was a psychologist, not a physicist.. and the character is a reflection of Asimov himself. It’s not very technical or heavy on the science but still interesting.

Question as an Asimov casual. I've read Foundation books 1-5 and I'm about to start reading Robots and Empire soon along with The End of Eternity. I was wondering around when chronilogically you start realizing both Foundation and Robots take place in the same universe and which one proceeds the other?


>>22211315

The second chapter was probably my favourite with everyone realizing how fucked they were going up against the moon spawn. I found it to be a huge slow burn but very well written in the character development area.

>>22188544
>wonder if discovering his criminal life has affected my judgement
I find I like his story the least out of the 3. I've only finished the city and the stars and 2001 a space Odyssey, but neither one lived up to the potential that i felt they had

Asimov and Heinlein meanwhile there are multiple books from them I've enjoyed
>Caves of Steel
>foundation and empire
>nightfall
>starship troopers
>moon is a harsh mistress
>the puppet masters
Honestly, I've failed to understand why Clarke is considered on the same level as the other 2

>>22171932
The problem is that sometimes an author may have a preferred order different from the order in which they wrote them. Think Asimov and the Foundation series, for instance. I don't know if that would have been the case with Solzhenitsyn, but it wouldn't hurt to have asked.

>>22165697
>people stopping reading Hyperion before the Fall
I read Hyperion until after Agincourt happens and I just didn't care. Every character being so bland and sucky dialogue helped. I didn't like Asimov's Foundation either and I finished it. I've had a lot of similar experiences but I now distrust any jew to write a good sci-fi/fantasy story and suspect they're overhyped.

I have greatly enjoyed more sci-fi/fantasy books by Gene Wolfe than by all the others I've read put together. Granted, I probably haven't read that much but I also assume that 90% of what I have not read is complete shit.

>>22165165
I would write a tale parallel to Asimov's Foundation where being in his course is like writing the Encyclopedia Glactica, wherein I realize that all of this is completely pointless. Only the basic knowledge and whatever extra you have must be function as your edge, the rest is irrelevant to the real world. Only survival and stability matter, the rest of academia is a luxury.

I don't actually 100% believe this, but I would want to try and get under his skin if I could.

>>22152861
These books are one continuous story when put in chronological order.
To give you a hint on how that works, The Bible is a redemption arc for Sauron where he becomes known as the metallurgy god YHWH and learns to have pity and gain control without the Ruling Ring.
I'm still uncertain about adding Isaac Asimov's Foundation series to this because it doesn't seems to represent one of the foundational methods for acquiring power and in turn creating society like all the other works here but this is the best compilation I have managed to gather for a proper real world "Encyclopedia Galactica" from that series and like what you're asking for.

>>22147152
My personal recommended reading order:
Little Fuzzy (and optionally its sequels, Fuzzy Sapiens, Fuzzies & Other People)
Four-Day Planet
The Cosmic Computer
Space Viking (his magnum opus)
Federation (short stories collection)
Empire (short stories collection)

and then anything else in his Terro-human Future History series (Oomphel in the Sky and Omnilingual are great). All these stories take place during different eras of the rise and fall of successive human cultures in space, somewhat similiar to Asimov's Foundation. They each have different styles of protagonists and conflicts (the Fuzzy series are practically YA-tier) but you do get a remarkable sense of his principles and values running throughout the loosely-connected time periods. It's very dry in a way, which I love.

Foundation books by Asimov

>>22104930
Too late, also Foundation is a great way to destroy the illusion of Asimov being a good writer.

>>22104177
Okay, but rate my linup

Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Metamorphosis by Kafka
TBD

>>22084187
My favorites in science fiction are as follows:

1) Wells, The Time Machine. Beautiful piece of work in every parameter.

2) Asimov, Foundation And Earth. The foreground works may be required, but once you get there there's nothing more scenic.

3) Clarke, Rendezvous With Rama. His prose style is awkward, but as visions go, this is unforgettable.

>>22078798
I am not overcomplicating things. Asimov went out of his way to overcomplicate things. He spends like two pages explaining how the SF people can communicate pretty much without words, and he does this like every time the First Speaker appears.
>seldon establishes that psychohistory can only predict future for the masses but not individual deviations
The point of this was not to allow for a superhuman empath to come along and mindfuck entire human populations. It was to point out the difference between statistical psychological analysis on macro- and micro- scales. To emphasize that individuals cannot affect psychohistory. Then it turned into a comic book, which is bullshit.

The Second Foundation wasn't even really supposed to be interacting with the rest of the galaxy that early. It wasn't a contingency. It was part of the plan's later stages. That's the logic Asimov himself lays out. You're an idiot who lapped up Asimov's complete 180 like it actually made any sense. The Mule was a shitty idea. I think he just ran out of ideas after the Empire was out of the way.

>>22078770
you're really over complicating things for some stupid fucking reason. probably to shit on beginner sci fi but whatever.
>They spend the whole first book talking up how individuals can't affect history and then comes along an individual who affects history. It's a fucking joke.
seldon establishes that psychohistory can only predict future for the masses but not individual deviations which is what the mule is. the second foundation is there to correct things. asimov didn't fuck up because he set the ground rules from the get go.