I have this uppity series of books I want to read. The current one is Illiberal reformers: Race Eugenics and American Economics in the Progressive Era by Thomas Leonard. It promises to be quite good. But after reading this stuff for a while I just can’t stand it anymore. I then retreat to a Louie L’Amour or Luke Short western. Good stuff! But I am yearning for another escape and for me that is science fiction.

Years ago I read Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation. This series was started in 1951. Asimov’s Robot series was started in the early forties.

I am not particularly well read in science fiction but I know what I like. Asimov and Bradbury. A friend has suggested I investigate the River World series. That may be next.

The original Foundation series has been expanded upon both by Asimov and others. You can do a Wiki search for the details. For some reason I have decided to read the entire (Asimov written) Foundation series, then the Robot series.

In a nutshell the Foundation plot revolves around a galactic empire that is deteriorating (deterioration of infrastructure in particular!). The Hari Seldon character has started a chain of events that will shorten the inevitable collapse into barbarity from ten thousand to one thousand years. Seldon is a psychohistorian.  A predictor of the future based on mathematics. Read the rest of this entry »