/lit/ - Literature

>>22078739
No, the Second Foundation people said they couldn't account for The Mule. Maybe you should pay attention to the books before acting like you know what the hell you're talking about. Seldon was wrong because Asimov fucked up the original theme to the whole fucking series. It was retarded.

And Seldon would have been right about the civil war if The Mule hadn't come along. That much was very obvious.

>>22041693
>I tend to read in order of release so I hadn't considered starting with the prequels.
I have Asimov in my collection and the the prequels have an introduction from Asimov himself. It's amusing to read how once upon a time he enter an elevator where he met a fan who urged him to write more of Foundation series, which put Asimov in consternation, since...it was so many years ago that he forgot what Foundation was about except for in general terms.

Then he wrote the prequels, which were successful enough to continue the series. Hilarious.

>>21992741
You can kinda read Dune as Herbert's critical commentary on the Foundation trilogy.

>Dune is clearly a commentary on the Foundation trilogy. Herbert has taken a look at the same imaginative situation that provoked Asimov's classic—the decay of a galactic empire—and restated it in a way that draws on different assumptions and suggests radically different conclusions. The twist he has introduced into Dune is that the Mule, not the Foundation, is his hero.

>The Bene Gesserit are clearly parallel to the "scientist-shamans" of the Foundation. Their science of prediction and control is biological rather than statistical, but their intentions are similar to those of Asimov's psychohistorians. In a crumbling empire, they seek to grasp the reins of change. The Sisterhood sees the need for genetic redistribution—which ultimately motivates the jihad—and has tried to control that redistribution by means of their breeding program. The Kwisatz Haderach, the capstone of their plan, is not its only goal. Their overall intention is to manage the future of the race. Paul, like the Mule, is the unexpected betrayal of their planned future.

>The irony is that Paul is not a freak but an inevitable product of the Bene Gesserit's own schemes. Although he has come a generation early in the plan due to Jessica's willfulness in bearing a son instead of a daughter, the real surprise is not his early birth but the paradox of the Sisterhood's achievement: the planned instrument of perfect control, the Kwisatz Haderach, was designed to see further than his creators, He could not help but know the emptiness of their dreams. The universe cannot be managed; the vitality of the human race lies in its random generation of new possibilities. The only real surety is that surprises will occur. In contrast to the Foundation trilogy's exaltation of rationality's march to predicted victory, Dune proclaims the power and primacy of the unconscious and the unexpected in human affairs. Paul's wild ride on the jihad, not the careful Bene Gesserit gene manipulation, provides the answer to the Empire's needs.
https://www.oreilly.com/tim/herbert/ch05.html

>>21989642
Foundation is just babbies first cyclical history which terrified the Jew Asimov when he realised it was correct. In his febrile Hebraic mind he devised a plot to keep the most civilised - and thus most domesticated and degenerated - part of Aryan historical cycles going for as long as it could. Sci fi is often based off the whimpering anxieties of the author but this one really took the cake for me. Pretty embarrassing, doesn’t realise that the foundation is literally pure evil, keeping life in its most yeast-like form, no exaltation or higher life. I was always pro it’s enemies. But I do think it elucidates Jewish geopolitics to an extreme degree so I would recommend reading it

I'm afraid I don't have enough information to give you a specific answer, but I can offer some suggestions to help you find the book you're looking for.

Check if you have any old records of the book, such as purchase receipts or library loan records, as they might have the title or author's name.

Try searching for the book cover you described on Google Images or other search engines, using keywords like "sci-fi book cover 80s spaceship hangar" or similar.

Look up lists of popular sci-fi series from the 80s and see if any of the titles or authors sound familiar. Some popular series from that era include Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, Frank Herbert's Dune series, and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series.

Visit online forums or discussion boards for sci-fi fans, and post a description of the book cover and any other details you can remember. Other enthusiasts may be able to identify the book or suggest similar titles that you might enjoy.

I hope these tips help you find the book you're looking for!

>>21991388
You aren't the only one
I prefer foundation as well.

Asimov is not a great writer but it doesn't matter because the ideas are the reason for reading his stories
>laws of robotics
>psycho history
>a planet where it is day time almost all the time
I tried reading dune. Dropped it after 100 pages or so because it reminded me of a young adult novel. Have never had that problem with asimov

>>21989642
Dune all the way.

The first chapter of foundation hooked me hard. Young autist goes to meet old autist who can construct mathematical models which predict the future of civilization.

The description of Trantor beautiful,but later we don't get any of that anymore, just people having autistic conversations acting smug and being pretentious.
The concept is so cool, I am genuinely amazed how Asimov managed to fuck it up and make it so boring. I barely remember the second half of the book.

Should I read the other foundation books, does it get better?

>>21989793
I kept reading
>Asimov is way too dry
before reading Foundation, and now I am convinced anyone who has this opinion either has never actually tried reading Asimov, or they are genuinely too low IQ to get it.
The books are extremely good simply from a literary perspective, there's humor and wordplay on every page.
It is a lot of
>two people, sitting in a futuristic room, talking about weighty issues
but the content of the discussion is always riveting.

>>21989642
Foundation was a bore
it's barely a science fiction, it's mainly about politics with many pages of a dialog
everyone is fucking smoking cigarette and reading paper newspapers in fucking thousands years in future, Asimov didn't even fucking try to think this setting through
If you want good SF read Philip K. Dick, Lem, Dune is better too, even Wells or Le Guin
also if you think any of the book as 'reddit' or '4chan' you're a simpleton and you should kill youself

>>21963511
Pick up a good book. And read.
To get started painlessly you might want to find a genre you enjoy, like Science Fiction or Detective stories or Sea Stories... Every genre runs the gamut from masterpiece to hack-work, so you'll basically find your level.
For SF, I'd suggest Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, or possibly the Foundation Trilogy by Asimov as particularly accessible for you. For detectives, of course Sir A. Conan Doyle. Also try van Gulik's Judge Dee books/stories. For sea adventure, you ca'n't go wrong with Moby-Dick.
Kipling is also a good author to try, his Captains Courageous is a fine sea-tale, and I personally enjoy his poetry...

Guys, a long time ago I read almost all of the Isaac Asimov's Galactic Empire cycle, but lost interest around Foundation and Earth. Are the rest any good?

Would you guys recommend Foundation from Asimov to someone who didnt really read any sci-fi before?

>>21898659
Didn't like it, found it hard to read and just bad. I thought instead of the story explaining some idea or concept it was just "take my word for it". Other than a few parts maybe, the conditioned response brainwashing, the deliberately making a part of the population dumb when test tube fertilizing. I didn't even read the whole book. I thought 1984 was better and also easier to read. I've been thinking about trying again though, might try with chapter summaries if there are any online, I did that with Asimov's Foundation and I think it helped. Also what do you mean "good societies"? Wasn't there a passage where kids had "sexual play" like fingering/giving handjobs to each other and shit? How is that a good society? It's not far from what we have though. Sexual liberation is a tool of oppression.

>>21857964
Just don't go into a self-pity or self-loathing spiral and lose perspective. All of this is going to reveal itself within a few years as very ephemeral and meaningless. You will gain far more in terms of life experience and wisdom by just taking a deep breath, regaining your bearings, and doing well this coming year, in spite of everything that has happened, than you would have gained if everything had gone perfectly. You have learned valuable lessons here that many people wait a lot longer to learn, or never learn at all. Some day your son will listen to this story and be comforted that he's not fucked in his similar situation, because you survived it and even made the best of it. An extra year of college isn't that bad. Make it a goal to learn an extra language or something, take advantage of still having access to classes. Join or start a club.

These years of your life are meant to have weird, ugly, non-ideal situations like this. You're meant to throw everything into a business and have it fail for totally retarded reasons, so you can learn the life lesson up close and personal that retarded shit happens. Or have it fail entirely because you were a retard, so you can learn the life lesson that when you're a retard nobody is going to bail you out except you. All these things are good things at your age, and nothing really matters all that much in the long run. The only thing that would matter long term is if you allow yourself to go into a depressive or psychotic spiral because of these events, and let it ruin the next few years of your life too.

This might be a good time to throw yourself into some great books, almost as a form of meditation. Read a shitload of Dickens or Dostoevsky or something, something you want to read. For one guy I know it was Philip K. Dick, for another guy it was Star Trek novels, for me it was Asimov's Foundation and Robert Graves. When I try to remember all the pain and misery I was going through, all I can remember is how much I loved those fucking Foundation books.

It's also good to read literature and history so you can build up examples of great and interesting people who went through highly "contingent" and sub-ideal circumstances like what you're going through now. I had a similar hiccup in my college experience and I remember being comforted by reading about someone brilliant whose college life was derailed by 2-3 years of mind-numbing military service that left him wounded and depressed, and when he came back he just got right back on the horse. It makes you realize subtle little things, like that 3 years of really good work because you're hungry for it can sometimes accomplish more than 10 years of work that went too perfectly and made you complacent.

>>21826492
Ok but any books like Dark Souls and Berserk? Are The Witcher books any good? Only played Witcher 3 because it has cute waifus. Where do i start with WH40k? And just started reading Mistborn and Stormlight Archive, when does it get good? Will fat Martin ever finish winds of winter? Is it true that Rothfuss is a cuck? Any fantasy books like Red Dead Redemption 2? Just started Dune, when does it get good? Did Paul just commit genocide? Asimov's Foundation is boring. Any comfy fantasy books like Legends and Lattes? Truth Shines.

>>21807790
Foundation sucks. Asimov's only gems were short stories

>>21792058
I liked the trilogy or the Foundation by Isaac Asimov

>>21787980
Dune and Clarke I agree with. Asimov, I agree some of the foundation books are overrated. Best ones are Empire and Earth.
Caves of Steel is pretty good too.

Wells is the best of the bunch, time machine and invisble man are both great. War of the Worlds is pretty good too

Asimov is the king of SF. If you are enjoying Foundation, move on to Robots. Nightfall is by and large my favorite short story of his, but they are all great. Too many people haven't read Bicentennial Man because of the movie, but the short story was brilliant. He has such a large catalog, you could be reading Asimov for the next decade at least.

Other than Asimov; Herbert, Clarke, and Bradbury are of course the Godfathers. The Expanse was pretty good, and its more steampunk post apocalyptic, but the Silo series was alright. Another good series ruined by a shit film is the Ender series. Maybe should have ended with Xenocide, but can't be helped. The Shadow series was interesting too.

>>21614517
>4 is Neuromamcer
>5 is Foundation by Asimov

Correct, although others got them already.

>>21613460
4 is Neuromamcer
5 is Foundation by Asimov

>>21613960
>5) Asimov's Foundation series
Correct.

>79) Every isekai anime ever
Not far wrong, but we're looking for a book.

5) Asimov's Foundation series
79) Every isekai anime ever

Great thread OP! Good way find new books I want to read.

>>21595362
Interesting. I have never read Foundation (or any Asimov, really), would you recommend reading beyond the trilogy? also, what are your general thoughts of the trilogy as fiction?