The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


An ambitious project. In the original Foundation trilogy, Asimov tells the story of a future Galactic Empire of humanity in decline. In response to signs of decay and the prospect of thousands of years of barbarism, a group of psychohistorians -- psychologists who use advanced mathematics and social-economic-political analyses of mass human behavior to predict the major trends of future civilization -- establish a Foundation to preserve knowledge, stave off barbarism, and eventually set up a new Galactic Empire. The first book tells of its establishment and first major struggles; the second narrates the Foundation reaching its zenith, followed by a traumatic upheaval caused by unforeseen and unpredictable events; and the third depicts the aftermath of the upheaval and the attempts by conflicting parties to salvage the original plan for civilization's survival.



The idea of the series is interesting, and Asimov's description of the strengths and limitations of psychohistory is thought-provoking: just how predictable are humans? If our behavior as a group is foreseeable, do we have individual free will? However, Asimov's writing style is rather mundane, sometimes even clunky and awkward, and the "science" aspect of this sci-fi is pretty thin. It's really a book about how people behave in moments of crisis and how we understand ourselves in relation to the forces that (we think) are shaping our future. The big "surprises" are really not that surprising, fairly easily guessed long before the reveal. Still, it's a fun book to read. Asimov's notion of human society is, I think, rather simplified and ignores many of the vicissitudes that affect human life and behavior, but as a space-age version of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall," it satisfies.



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Shakespeare and Early Modern Political Thought by David Armitage

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This collection attempts to expand scholarship on Shakespeare's engagement with the political theory of his time. While not every essay is amazing, they do bring interesting new contexts to a study of Shakespeare's works, and they also complicate recent efforts to claim the playwright as an advocate for republican government. The overall picture that one gets is of a writer fascinated with the exercise of power and extremely cynical about the possibilities for ethical political action. Since most of the contributors are historians and not literary critics, some of the readings are lacking, but its a worthwhile book to peruse.



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