I'm on book 2 now and I've been really interested in it. The main conceit is that this psychologist came up with a theory called "psycho history" which allows him to predict the future more or less by considering material conditions and the psychology of large groups of people and extrapolating from that what the most likely course of history will be. Maybe it's just because I read it after binging theory but it sounds a lot like he just came up with dialectical materialism, although it's used in a fantastical way in the novels.

  • No_Values [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Yep, you're not the first to notice the psychohistory = DM

    Some literary critics have described Asimov's psychohistory as a reformulation of Karl Marx's theory of history (historical materialism), though Asimov denied any direct influence

    Booker, M. Keith. "Monsters, Mushroom Clouds, and the Cold War: American Science Fiction and the Roots of Postmodernism, 1946-1964". Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001. pp. 34-38. "Numerous critics have noticed the parallels between Marx's and Seldon's visions of history." Critics whom Booker discusses regarding the connection between Marxism and psychohistory include James Gunn, Donald Wollheim, and Charles Elkins.

  • D61 [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I have been meaning to find the series and read them.. Last time I read something in the Foundation series was as an assigned book report for school in the 90's.

    • OllieMendes [he/him,any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      If you're into audiobooks you have to make a free account but this site has a nice collection. I recommend the Scott Brick narrations http://audiobookbay.nl/audio-books/issac-asimov-audiobook-collection-fiction-isaac-asimov/

      • D61 [any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        saves this thread for future referrence

        Thanks fam!

  • zazori [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I read the entire series (original trilogy + the two sequels written by Asimov decades later) and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Without spoiling anything, books 4 and 5 are really different from the preceding three, so much so that they don't even feel like part of the same saga.

    spoiler

    And I swear the 5th's ending legit scared me for days, even if it's not the intented reaction.