Sixty Days and Counting - Kim Stanley Robinson

Sixty Days and Counting is the final novel in Kim Stanley Robinson's Science in the Capital trilogy, a work that focuses on the impact of rapid climate change on a near future (when he wrote it, the novel is set right about now) earth. It is one of Robinson's most political books, not so much because of the ideas in it, he's discussed quite a few alternative economies in the Mars trilogy for instance, but because of how close to home it is. This novel is so left leaning by American standards that it will have many a conservative frothing at the mouth within a few chapters. For me it is not as radical as it may seem to others but I have a hard time seeing anything like this happening in the current US political climate.

Democrat Phil Chase, Charlie's boss, has been elected US president and a global response to climate change is high on his agenda. To show how urgent he thinks change is, he launches a slew of initiatives in the first sixty days of his presidency and keeps pushing on long after they have passed. Charlie, Frank and Anna are swept up in various parts of this campaign. The environmental crisis is not waiting for the world to get its act together however, evidence of irreversible changes and imminent system collapsed keep surfacing. A global approach is needed to keep the planet inhabitable in the long run.

Robinson is certainly not afraid to include some very controversial ideas in this novel. In the opening chapters Frank in particular is looking at alternative energy to replace the carbon based systems that currently power the US. The debate focuses on whether alternative sources like wind, time or solar energy are ready to take over, or whether additional nuclear plants will have to be built to cover the transition. He even points out the good (public) record of the US military when it comes to nuclear power. Personally I'm not convinced by this argument. There simply is no good solution for nuclear waste and the idea that we can keep it safe and controlled for the tens of thousands of years some of it needs to degrade doesn't strike me as very convincing. The events in Fukushima has recently made a lot of people jittery about nuclear power plants again but Robinson could no have known that. Interestingly enough, Frank does reach the conclusion that somehow harnessing the power of the sun is the only source that could possibly meet demand and still be sustainable.

Another interesting idea that some will fight tooth and nail, is the connection Chase makes between social justice and environmental degradation. Women's rights in particular, he points out, are linked to birth rate. With women in control over reproduction, the birthrate drops to about the replacement rate. Something that needs to happen to keep humanity from further overshooting the planet's carrying capacity. And this is but many of the social feedback loops that are related to environmental issues. Thus, Chase pursues a policy of technological and social change. In fact, he uses one as leverage to achieve the other. It is at the same time good to see the realization that a technical fix is not enough to solve the problem (Fifty Degrees Below is more focuses on technological fixes than this book) and vexing to see how Chase goes about it.

There is a sense in the novel that once the US has identified something as a problem that needs immediate action, things will get done. In fact they go so far as to strongarm various parties into compliance. It is an unbelievably arrogant position when you take into account that more progressive parties tried to make a start with the reduction of greenhouse gas emission in the early 1990s through the Kyoto protocol. Their targets were of course laughably modest but it was a beginning. The US never had the intention of actually ratifying it. It wasn't alone in this position but to suddenly put yourself forward as environmental champion is not very likely to be taken seriously by the rest of the world. In fact, without the string of natural disasters that Robinson puts in the book, I very much doubt even the strongarm tactics of the US would have been successful. It is probably an accurate portrayal of the attitude in the US political system but annoying nonetheless.

A third interesting aspect of the situation Robinson describes is the fact that permanent change is considered inevitable. The situation at the South Pole in particular is considered to have passed the point of no return. Interestingly enough, reports have recently started appearing that saome scientists consider a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet inevitable. Robinson portrays this event in a bit more dramatic way but some of it may come to pass in the not too distant future.

Chase has developed a strategy of adaptation and mitigation to deal with it and to he does not shy away from huge projects to weather the crisis. The restarting for the oceanic conveyor belt described in the previous book is small compared to what is proposed in this novel. The uncontrolled release of genetically modified lichen (a Russian project out of Chase's control), filling up desert basins to create huge salt water lakes and pumping water from the ocean back up the Antarctic plateau are the most eye-catching ones. It's terraforming on the scale described in the Mars novels only this time applied to earth. The sheer magnitude of the changes and the impossibility of predicting their effect with any kind of accuracy made me even more sympathetic to Ann Clayborne's Red position in those novels. Of course, on Earth we may not have the luxury of a choice. It makes you wonder what a world in which decisive action was taken earlier would look like.

Change is obvious in the lives of the main characters too. Frank reaches the conclusion that a blow to the head in the previous book has impaired the workings of his brain and he decides to have an operation to have it fixed. In the mean time he also has to deal with the relationship he started with Caroline and his desire to go back to California. He has quite a bit on his plate in this novel, it is a miracle he has time left for work. His alternative lifestyle has moved to the background a bit in favour of the spy storyline. Robinson seems to get the timing right for this one. The absurd tangle of US intelligence agencies is starting to unravel in this novel, when the president realizes how much of a mess it is. Where Chase's election has a lot in common with the election of Obama in 2008, the latter seems much more reluctant to do something about the gross abuse of power and lack of democratic control over these agencies.

Charlie in the mean time, is faced with another tough decision. With his boss in the White House, he is forced to choose between giving up his job or going back into the office and put his son Joe in daycare. He would rather wrok from home until Joe is old enough to go to school but when the president insists, he agrees to try. He can't stop worrying about Joe though. His wife Anna is faced with another dilemma. She is offered a position in the advisory team of the president. She prefers to stay at NSF however, taking pure science over a mix of science and politics. With a stay at home dad and a mother with a head for numbers and math, Joe's parents make a statement about the traditional role pattern between men and women. It is in fact the same one that returns over and over again in the novel. We can change things if we want to.

Sixty Days and Counting is the most optimistic of the three in a way, but reading it didn't make me share Robinson's optimism. In the book things get done. Despite my annoyance with the way the American political system believing the universe revolves around them (really, in that respect they can teach Wall Street a lesson) you get the sense that the characters in this novel will not let the world cook itself. We have now arrived more or less at the point in time where this novel is set, and if I look around, I still see an outrageous level of denial about the state of the planet and how much trouble we are really in. Robinson is right, we can change things if we want to. But apparently we don't. There is a good chance we'll see another El Niño event this year and some predictions indicate it will be a strong one. Let's hope it won't be the hyperniño described in Forty Signs of Rain. I'm beginning to wonder if in the end, that is what it will take to wake people up. I'd much prefer it if people read these books, thought about it, and not let it come to that.

Book Details
Title: Sixty Days and Counting
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Publisher: Bantam Books
Pages: 388
Year: 2007
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0-553-80313-6
First published: 2007

Fifty Degrees Below - Kim Stanley Robinson

Fifty Degrees Below is the second book in Kim Stanley Robinson's Science in the Capital trilogy. It's a near future science fiction novel tackling rapid climate change, a topic that has always greatly interested me. I read it for the first time in 2006, when my classes in things like atmospheric chemistry, environmental systems analysis and ecology were still more or less fresh in my mind. Back then, I thought it a bit better than Forty Signs of Rain, which was a bit of a disappointment to me. After this reread I still feel it's an improvement but for slightly different reasons. I guess my expectations played an important role in my initial read.

The National Science Foundation is starting to put its plans to become the global coordinator of the human response to rapid climate change in action. Scientist Frank Vanderwal has agreed to stay on a year longer and help with the project. He has had to move out of his apartment however and with the flood wrecking many homes in the DC area, fining an affordable living space proves to be difficult. While the NSF projects grind on, defying a hostile White House, Frank tries out life as an urban nomad. With the harshest winter in living memory about to descend on North America, things are going to get very challenging both personally and professionally for Frank.

In my previous review I wrote that I had some reason to believe that the novel was set in the 2040s but that it didn't really seem to match with other elements in the novel. In Fifty Degrees Below, more and more hits showed up that would make it more likely that the novel is set right about now. Phil Chase for instance, is mention as having been a reporter in Saigon. Even if he started his career early and got there late in the Vietnam war, it would still mean he is pushing a hundred in the 2040s. A group of Vietnam veterans show up in the novel as well, one mentioning being involved in the Tet-offensive. I'm going to have to look into the Antarctic treaty some time to see where I went wrong. Of course setting it 2014  doesn't match with the presidential campaign described in this book.

In Forty Sings of Rain the novel focused on three major characters, Frank Vanderwall and Anna and Charlie Quibler. Fifty Degrees Below is almost entirely Frank's territory. If you don't like this character, and I have seen plenty of comments out on the web from people who don't, then this novel is going to be dreadful. Personally, I like Frank just fine. He is intelligent, resourceful, impulsive and still obsessed with the prisoner's dilemma and sociobiology. He's also very lonely and throughout the novel shows increasing signs of paranoia, a development that will carry over to Sixty Days and Counting.

In this novel Frank is trying out some of his scientific theories. Although he makes a token attempt to find another place, he convinces himself rather quickly that he can do without a permanent home. It's a fairly common theme in Robinson's work. A lot of his characters are constantly on the move. Frank finds his live with a minimum of material possessions liberating. Although he has a semi-permanent shelter in one of city's parks, closed after the flood, his activities are spread out over the city. This roving lifestyle is perhaps not as extreme as Nirgal's run with the ferals in Blue Mars but the hunter-gatherer Frank so often thinks about is very present in this book. It makes me wonder what Frank, or Robinson himself for that matter, would make of Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines.

His explorations in the park and his experiences as a homeless man often lead Frank to think about how hopelessly ill prepared most people are to live without modern conveniences. He tries to convince people to stop wearing cotton during the coldest parts of winter for instance, and does a lot to help a group of homeless people he's been in contact with. On the other hand, he also feels that if you know how, survival even in this cold winter is quite possible. He thinks about how his basic survival gear, Frank is an experienced mountaineer, has not survived since the time of Ötzi the Iceman. Robinson's interest in Ötzi is one of the things that would eventually inspire him to write Shaman. Frank's new lifestyle will get him in trouble eventually and in a way contributes to his loneliness but he displays a kind of happiness in parts of the novel that clearly wasn't there when he at the end of his first term as NSF.

Frank is full of contradictions in this novel, primitive living conditions if a highly developed urban environment, lonely but surrounded by millions, some of whom he could consider his friends, cynical of politics yet involved in a project to get science some political leverage, a self confessed rationalist deeply moved by Buddhist principles. When you think about it, it's no wonder he looses his mind. But even that is not straightforward, Frank suffers a trauma to the head that clearly influences his behaviour too. Some readers may not like him much, I think he is a fascinating character.

One drawback of this almost entirely single point of view approach is that it gives a very one sided view of events. Frank rationalizes his choice to become homeless by ignoring the drawbacks of his new lifestyle for instance. All this primate on the plain stuff works very nicely when you are strong and healthy and experienced. Mistakes can be very costly. For all his talk of happiness, there must have been a reason why the hunter-gatherer lifestyle was ultimately abandoned. Another obvious issue is Frank's growing paranoia. How much of the spy stuff is actually real? The reader has no way to judge. One has to constantly keep in mind Frank is unreliable and for some readers that gets tiring.

Fifty Degrees Below is frighteningly relevant in two aspects. The fist is obviously the harsh winter it describes. The title of the book refers to a particularly cold night when the temperature in Washington DC drops to -50 °F (or about -46 °C for those of us used to a more sensible temperature scale). It was cold in parts of the US this winter but fortunately for the people living there, DC didn't get that cold. The mechanism appears to be a little different, as far as I know the termohaline circulation hasn't stalled (yet), but the link with the disappearance of the polar ice cap is certainly there. Unfortunately, this winter in the Eastern US doesn't seem to have inspired the sense of urgency when dealing with the problem of climate change Robinson describes in the novel. I guess we need a few more signs to get us moving.

In the novel the NSF does get things going however. It focuses extensively on the political side of getting things done. Frank is quite cynical about the whole process. The mudslinging and corruption of pure science to fit a political ideology disgusts him. Fortunately his boss Diane better at politics. Like the previous novel, there is not much actual science in this novel. Where Forty Signs of Rain focused on the process of science, here we get to see the political side of things. One thing that does get described is an attempt to restart the sinking of saline water in the northern Atlantic and thus restart the thermohaline circulation. Between the lines, Robinson does explain the science of this and notes that there are tipping points in all sorts of physical and biological processes that offer opportunities for mitigation strategies. When dealing with climate, relationships are rarely linear.

I must admit I have my doubts about the feasibility of the technological fix Robinson describes but it does make for a very dramatic scene in the final part of the novel. It is a very visible attempt to do something, and therefore from a political point of view useful, but much more structural changes need to be considered to really bring the situation under control. Climatic terrorism, as the incumbent republican president keeps referring to the situation, cannot be dealt a finishing blow that easily. The simplicity of political reasoning is dominant in this novel but Robinson makes sure the reader understands the problems with it. In a way, the Chase campaign reminded me of the Obama campaign in 2008. There's a huge sense of optimism but in the background also the nagging question whether or not he can actually deliver.

The second aspect I found strangely relevant is the surveillance theme in the novel. In Forty Sings of Rain Frank met a woman working for a nebulous secret service. As their relationship evolves, he gets to know more about her work and the inner workings of the organisation she is working for. Frank is amazed that he would be interesting enough to keep an eye on and that it would be so easy. After Edward Snowden's recent leaks, we know that what Robinson describes is positively tame to what is going on in reality. Where the science Robinson describes, still works pretty well, I'm afraid reality has overtaken him on this point. One particular weakness is the low-key role of information technology (and the possibilities to monitor the communication it enables) seems odd. It's one area where technological development almost seems to outpace the capacity of society to adapt to it.

The trilogy is often being described as eco-thrillers and quite a few very dramatic events take place in this novel. Whole islands disappear into the sea, blizzards rage, elections are being manipulated. There is plenty of material for a real thriller here. Robinson didn't write a thriller though. He uses these event to make a point but they are not what the novel focuses on. As such, I think the thriller label is a bit misleading. If you go into these books expecting some Michael Crichton or Robin Cook you're in for a disappointment. Treat is as a near future science fiction novel works a lot better.

I think Fifty Degrees Below is a better novel than Forty Signs of Rain. It's his most political novel up to that point and probably also the one that is most likely to polarize readers. The tighter focus on a single character will not be appreciated by all readers but does give us the most detailed look into the mind of a type character that Robinson portrays in a number of his novels: the scientist engaged with society, working not just to expand the sum of human knowledge but to put this knowledge in practice too. Through Frank's eyes we see science reaching out to society and politics in a way that clashes with the traditional view of science as the pursuit knowledge only. Will science be able to overcome the shortcomings of the current political process? Will science help us deal with the current crisis better than the current policy of denial?

Fifty Degrees Below poses some very fundamental questions about the way we run the world at the moment. Not everybody will agree with Robinson's views but it makes for fascinating reading. At it's core, this novel is not a thriller but a political statement and the message is 'we need to do something now!' Read it as such and there is plenty of material to think about. It hits a lot closer to home than the Mars trilogy or other novels set in various places in the solar system. Earth is old, full and complicated and changing the direction we're headed is hard. The details of a story tackling such a complex subject and the details of science underpinning will always be debatable  but Robinson captures that sense of complexity and inertia in society very well. All things considered I think I got a lot more out of this novel than during my first read.

Book Details
Title: Fifty Degrees Below
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Pages: 405
Year: 2005
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0-553-80312-3
First published: 2005

Forty Signs of Rain - Kim Stanley Robinson

Forty Signs of Rain is the first volume in Kim Stanley Robinson's Science in the Capital series. I got my first copy of this book, a mass market paperback, in a book store in Gothenburg, Sweden in June 2005. Unfortunately it turned out to be a misprint, the order of the pages was very mixed up so that the first pages in the book dealt with the storm that was supposed to be the climax of the novel. Of course I was back in the Netherlands by the time I found out and you don't exactly hop on a plane to Sweden to get your money back. I read it anyway but trying to figure out what goes where in the story was a bit of a challenge. A few years later I replaced it with a hardcover, which made for a lot easier reading.

The novel centers on the National Science Foundation, a US government agency that funds all sorts of fundamental research. Thee main characters, all with a connection to the NSF, try to tackle the problem of rapid climate change in their own way. Signs of climate change appear everywhere in the novel and the world has gotten to the point where not acting on it is a luxury that it can no longer afford. While Charlie Quibler tries to get legislation sponsored by Senator Phil Chase to pass, his wife Anna and her colleague Frank Vanderwal realize that science will be pivotal in dealing with the crisis and that the NSF cannot afford to maintain its passive attitude.

Robinson sets the tone early in this novel, indicating that it opens shortly after the Arctic polar ice starts breaking up in summer, one of the many warning signs that the world's climate is about to change drastically. There are no firm indicators as to when this novel is set, although the presence of Phil Chase is a firm link to Robinson's 1997 novel Antarctica, in which he is a minor character. That novel is set two years after the expiration of the Antarctic Treaty which was renewed for 50 years in 1991. That would mean Antarctica is set in 2043. Forty Signs of Rain doesn't have that much of a futuristic feel to it, although cars seem to have come a long way. If it is indeed meant to have been set in the 2040s, it looks like Robinson underestimated the speed with which the Arctic ice cover is breaking up. Since the turn of the century new record lows for the Arctic ice cover had been recorded with depressing frequency. Somehow, setting it sometime in this decade seems more fitting.

What Robinson describes in this trilogy are so called trigger events. Occurrences that suddenly and drastically change the climate in a matter of years rather than the long time frames we are used to when dealing with climate. A lot of possibilities are mentioned in the book but there are two that stand out. The first is what Robinson calls a Hyperniño, an extended El Niño event that in the novel sends big storms barrelling into the coast of California. The most important one is the stalling of the oceanic conveyor belt. A system of currents in the worlds ocean driven by differences in water temperature and salinity. Without the Arctic ice cover to provide a sinking of cold and saline water, the system stalls, severely distorting the heat distribution in many places on Earth. This last threat is noticed at the end of the first novel and will be an important element in the following books.

Climate is a notoriously complex scientific issue and changes to it are surrounded by uncertainties. Just about all available evidence points in the direction that the world is warming up however, and the world is currently ignoring the problem at its peril. Without a decent education in the natural sciences it is very easy to fall for misinformation being spread about the issue. One persistent and to scientists intensely annoying error is to mistake weather for climate. I think this XKCD comic illustrates it perfectly.  The point Robinson makes in this book is that policy surrounding this issue should be based on scientific observation and evidence rather than be dictated by the short term interests of capitalism. It is quite a bold statement given the current political climate. One that probably would sent more than one US senator into a rage.

One could say the attitudes of both Frank and Charlie border on being undemocratic at times. There is a sense of frustration in these characters at the political process and what they perceive as the sheer stupidity of people refusing to re-examine their convictions in the light of scientific evidence. Robinson's characters are great believers in the scientific method, something that returns time and again in his entire body of work. Where the scientists in Red Mars have a blank slate (or at least that is how Sax would see it) to work with and politics are months of space travel away, scientists in the capital run into the political realities of Washington on a daily basis. Although the thoughts of the characters can be quite vehement in opinion of the way politics deals with climate change, the novel as a whole advocates a different role for science in a more diplomatic way.

Robinson also includes different fields of science. Frank's sections in particular focus on them. He is very much into game theory and a sociobiology, often seeing real world situations in terms of either discipline. On the one hand it is enlightening at times, but he also tends overlook the limitations of game theory in particular. The novel also includes brief descriptions of scientific knowledge, usually related to climate at the front of each part that help the reader understand the issue at hand. With those he manages to avoid having to include too much information in the issue into the thoughts or discussions of his characters. Interior monologues are still very common in this book but they don't tend to contain as much information as the ones in the Mars trilogy do.

That doesn't mean this book is all ratio. Robinson introduces a group of Tibetan monks, living in exile on the fictional  island of Kembalung into the story. They are both the window on the rest of the world in a city that is very focused on the US and American interests, as well as the spiritual part of the novel. Robinson has included Tibetan Buddhism in his work before. Most notably in his alternative history The Years of Rice and Salt (2002), which is based on the Buddhist concept of reincarnation. The plight of the Tibetans, whose new home is threatened by sea level rise, runs parallel to that of the inhabitants of Washington, getting their first taste of the radical changes climate change in the closing pages of this novel. Their response is one of the many ways in which people adapt in this novel. Despite the grimness of the situation no book of Robinson would be complete with a healthy dose of optimism.

Like the Mars trilogy, the Science in the Capital series is more of a long novel than a trilogy in the classical sense. Robinson is building in this novel and some readers my find the story arc in this novel somewhat unsatisfying. Robinson is outlining the threat, building his characters, setting the stage. Personally I enjoyed reading it but that is partly because for me, this was a reread and I know where he is taking it. I very much enjoyed reading Frank's sections for instance because I can already see some of this paranoid traits starting to appear that wil become important in the next novel. Charlie's part on the other hand became less enjoyable as I think the eventual resolution of his storyline is unrealistically optimistic. An opinion that has been shaped in part by the Obama presidency, which of course Robinson didn't know about in 2004.

After my first read of this trilogy I didn't think this was Robinson's best work. After this reread of Forty Signs of Rain I'm still of that opinion. The novel deals with a challenge humanity is facing and at the moment refusing to address in any meaningful way. In that sense I appreciate this work. On the other hand I can't really share Robinson's optimism that the various parts of government in Washington can be made to disengage from the financial interests of those who wish to downplay the problem. I do not doubt that humanity can tackle the problem through science, I just don't see it happening any time soon. The world is not made up of Robinson's highly intelligent characters, resistance to the radical change in thinking he advocates is fierce. Somehow it is easier to see Robinson's optimism and social ideas put into practice in space than in the world of dirty politics we're familiar with. That doesn't mean we should stop trying though, and it most certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't read this book. The ideas it contains are fascinating. Despite my reservations, I am looking forward to my reread of Fifty Degrees Below.

Book Details
Title: Forty Signs of Rain
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Pages: 358
Year: 2004
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0-553-80311-5
First published: 2004

Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson

The very first book by Kim Stanley Robinson I read, and the one that got me hooked on this author, was Blue Mars. I probably read it for the first time in 1998. That's right, the first time I read the trilogy, was out of order. The Mars trilogy spans some two centuries and by the time Blue Mars starts, the story has been under way for quite some time. Despite not getting many of the references to events in Red Mars and Green Mars, the novel made a deep impression on me. I was well on my way to getting a degree in environmental sciences at the time and sheer amount of geology, meteorology, biology, genetics as well as political and social science inserted in that novel was right up my ally. When I finally got my hands on the other two parts of the series it impressed me even more.

In 2020 American astronaut John Boone becomes the first man to set foot on Martian soil. From that moment on, a project to colonize the planet seems possible. The USA and Russia combine forces to select a first group of colonists. A hundred men and women, possessing a wide range of skills and scientific knowledge, are sent on their way in the year 2026 to set up a first permanent basis. Each of the First Hundred have sacrificed years of their lives to attaining the goal of reaching Mars. Their motives and idea differ greatly and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to realize them. No wonder that before they've even arrived on Mars, the first cracks in their unity begin to appear.

One of the much heard criticisms of this book is that it is light in terms of character development. Despite the large cast and frequent changes in point of view character, I don't quite agree with that assessment.Red Mars is a novel full of social, scientific and political conflict and Robinson uses some of the characters in the First Hundred as personifications of certain positions, which may make some of them seem more like a policy than a person. Robinson needs more than one book to flesh some of these characters out completely but in the in he'll get there. The most obvious conflicts the First Hundred get in, and one that provides an overarching story for all three novels, is the conflicts between Reds and Greens. The Reds, their position advocated by geologist Ann Clayborne, think that Mars should be thoroughly studied in its pristine condition before even contemplating changing the planet. They feel the planet, even though it is lifeless, has an intrinsic value that ought to be weighed in any decision making. It is a position that has a certain appeal to it, but given the dire need on Earth for new resources and room to expand, driven by the relentless pressure of overpopulation and ecosystem collapse, it is not one that is politically defensible.

The Greens are in favour of terraforming. The most outspoken advocate of this position is physicist Saxifrage Russel (their names are a nice touch, Saxifrage is a type of plant that grows in the cracks in rocks, sometimes able to split them completely), Sax for short. Sax feels that Mars ought to be terraformed and made inhabitable for as many people as possible, in as short a time as possible, using any means science can provide to hurry the process along. This of course is more likely to win support at home and the terraforming process gets under way quickly. Throughout the novel the position of Ann is underlined by characters witnessing often dramatic changes to the landscape. Robinson carefully mixes a sense of achievement with the enormous risks being taken and the eventual loss of original landscape features. In the economical and political conflicts than play out in the novel it is quite clear what Robinson would prefer. I'm not sure Robinson has made his mind up about the Red-Green conflict.

The descriptions Martian landscape features on the planet are another thing I loved about this novel but will no doubt put some readers off. The landscape on Mars is spectacular, the planet has much more of a vertical dimension to it. It has volcanoes that rise 27 kilometres, a canyon system that dwarfs the Grand Canyon, spectacular cliffs and plenty of other geological features that are many times larger than anything found on Earth. Robinson describes them in a way that makes you feel you're walking on the surface of the red planet. Red Mars was published in 1992, since that time, Mars have been much more thoroughly explored. The results of the research carried out by the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity alone, would probably have been enough to require extensive modifications to the detail Robinson added. That doesn't take anything way from the sheer power of Robinson's imagination and his talent for bringing such a spectacular landscape alive.

While a lot of the scientific debate takes place along the Red-Green spectrum, social and political currents in the novel are a lot more complicated. Some of the First Hundred feel that they are offered a unique opportunity to do away with all the failures of old earth politics and economic theory. One of the greatest backers of an independent Mars is engineer Arkady Bogdanov. His political ideas border on anarchistic and he expresses his ideas about a new Martian society in his architecture. Not everybody agrees with the revolutionary approach of Arkady. Japanese ecologist Hiroko Ai, believes that in order to be fully part of Mars, they have to let go of earth's society completely. She develops a philosophy of live on Mars that shows some distinct religious traits. At the first opportunity that presents itself she and a group of followers disappear into the vast empty spaces of the southern hemisphere to build an utopian society. Some of the ideas Robinson presents using these two characters are very radical. They break with the current political and economic conventions that rule earth completely. They are very interesting to read but some of it is dreadfully difficult to implement and at times the actions of these groups are downright selfish.

These radical ideas are balanced by principles many readers will be more familiar with. There is the Machiavellian politician Frank Chalmers, who has worked for years to see Mars become his base of power and is terribly angry at the fact that he has had to share the place with his friend John Boone. A matter further complicated by the love triangle between Chalmers, Boone and Maya Toitovna, the severely bipolar head of the Russian contingent of the First Hundred. The economic equivalent of Frank's power politics can be found in the character of Phyllis Boyle. A woman who would sell Matian resources to the highest bidder and thinks mostly in terms of short term economic gain. Again most of the First Hundred are somewhere in between but events on earth eventually forces everyone to choose sides. Where Robinson shows all sides without taking one himself in the Red-Green debates, he doesn't manage to do in on the sociological and political front. His ideas are, by American standards, very left wing and if there is any flaw to be found in this book, it is making the capitalists and power politicians a bit too unsympathetic. I very much appreciate the dynamic between Frank and John but Phyllis is a bit too much the personification of religious right wing and economic neo-liberal thinking.

As I mentioned before, the entire trilogy, or perhaps one should think of it as one long novel, spans some two centuries. Robinson could have made it a generational tale. In some way it is, we'll see John Boone's offspring in the sequels for instance. But that would have been a waste of some terrific character as well as loose some of the magic of having the First Hundred around. The people who have witnessed it all, been though all the changes. It lends them a certain status of which they are very much aware. One of them, Vlad Taneev, a biologist and bioengineer, finds a way to repair damage to DNA associated with the ageing process. Using this treatment human lifespans are increased tremendously, triggering a population crisis on the already overpopulated planet Earth. It is one of the driving forces for much of Earth's policies towards Mars. Another of these driving forces is the continuing globalization and formation of a number of huge industrial conglomerates known as Transnats. They have a turnover that is larger than many a national economy can boast and the economic power to go with it. Mars is increasingly ruled by these companies and, not surprisingly, they are not particularly interested in running Mars democratically or even adhering to existing treaties that get in the way of making profits. It's a sad scenario. Many of Robinson's works have a very positive tone to it, but this one can be depressing at times.

The science in the novel, especially when it comes to Mars is getting a bit dated but there are a few other signs that shows this novel was written in the early nineties. One of the most striking examples is the way Robinson describes the Arab immigrants on Mars. Events on September 11th 2001 and the subsequent reaction by the US government have changed western public opinions dramatically. The passage where Frank questions the Arabs' treatment of their women will raise a few eyebrows these days. Then again, a reminder that Muslims are human would not go amiss at the moment either. Another aspect of the novel that will probably not stand the test of time is Russia's role in world politics. Although the balance of power shifts away from the two super-powers of the 20th century in the novel, it appears to be happening faster than Robinson envisioned. Which is one of the few things that is happening ahead of Robinson's time line. Given NASA's current budget crisis, a manned mission to Mars in 2020 seems out of the question. A shame, I rather liked the idea having this world's John Boone walking among us already.

Red Mars is simply one to the best science fiction novels I've read. The scope, attention for detail and variety of scientific knowledge and theories Robinson put into this work are just phenomenal. To me it reads like the hard science fiction written by Arthur C. Clarke (who has an asteroid named after him in the book) and the social science fiction written by Ursula K. Le Guin. It has just about everything I like in a science fiction novel it it. I love the emphasis on environmental sciences obviously, but also Robinson's descriptions of what a new Martian society could be like. What would be possible if we left some of Earth's bad habits behind. It's a stunning vision on the colonization of the red planet. I've read several other books set on Mars, including Robinson's own Icehenge, but the Mars trilogy will probably remain the definitive Mars novel for me.

Book Details
Title: Red Mars
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Pages: 572
Year: 1993
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 0-553-56073-5
First published: 1992

Red Seas Under Red Skies - Scott Lynch

In the summer of 2006 one of the most praised fantasy début of the decade appeared. The Lies of Locke Lamora was a fresh wind through the genre, one that combined a more or less traditional epic fantasy setting with heist novel. It was a fast flowing, at time humorous novel that cleverly made use of flashbacks to give the story and the characters depth. Its success was overwhelming and it must have posed quite a problem for the author. How on earth do you live up to expectations created by The Lies of Locke Lamora? In Red Seas Under Red Skies, the second book in a planned series of seven, Lynch continues his story. Living up to expectations was nearly impossible for Lynch and I mostly agree with the people who say it is not quite as good as the previous book. That being said, it is still a very entertaining book and a worthy successor to The Lies of Locke Lamora.

After their dramatic confrontation with the Grey King in Camorr, life is no longer safe for Locke and Jean in the city of their birth. Having lost the entire fortune the Gentlemen Bastards acquired over the years, it is time to start over. Locke and Jean relocate to the city of Tal Verrar where they start a new confidence game. Posing as traders they work their way into one of the most exclusive gambling houses in the city: the Sinspire. The profits of the house are locked away in one of the most severely protected vaults the two have ever come across. The challenge is irresistible, soon Locke and Jean are working their way up to the most exclusive levels of the Sinspire.

The game is not without complications however. The Bondsmagi have not forgotten what Locke and Jean did to one of their own. They have a score to settle with both gentlemen and when it looks like Locke and Jean are ready for the deciding move in their game, the Bondsmagi step in. They are not satisfied with just killing Locke and Jean, soon they are entangled in a web of lies, deceit and blackmail that may very well cost them their lives. Juggling all these conflicting demands is hard enough already but Locke and Jean are determined to cut the strings attached as well. It will take all their skill to get out of this one alive.

Lynch creates an even more fascinating setting in this book. The city of Camorr, with it's Elderglass buildings, was a fantastic place already, Tal Verrar is even more spectacular. An series of Elderglass islands rising up form the sea. It is as much a vertical as a horizontal city, with each level the fortune and social status of the inhabitants rises. The author adds to this image by describing all manner of strange mechanical and alchemical devices that make life comfortable in the city. It's a lovely creation and a superb fantastical setting but it does come at a price. One of the things I noticed right away on this reread is the very descriptive writing in the first part of the novel. Although I was very taken with the setting I do feel it slows the opening of the story down a bit more than necessary.

In The Lies of Locke Lamora, Lynch writes very much out of chronological order. He mixes scenes from Locke's youth with chapters dealing with his more recent exploits but even within the chapters, the writing often goes back and froth in time. Red Seas Under Red Skies opens in that way, starting with a scene where Jean and Locke confront each other, backed up by crossbows. Chronologically it is in the final part of the novel. I guess you could see it as a way to make the reader aware of the strain the relationship between the two man will have to endure in this novel. Later on in the novel, Lynch makes much less use of this technique. In the first part of the novel, the chapters are interspersed with reminiscences, which cover the time form their departure from Camorr till the final moves in the Sinspire game. These stop a little way before the halfway mark, with the rest of the novel mostly chronological. This shift in the way the story is written is a bit odd. If you like your books a bit more symmetrical this will definitely be noticeable.

Although the novel contains a complete story arc of its own, Lynch is clearly laying some of the groundwork for later book. In The Lies of Locke Lamora he made a point of hiding certain facts about Locke's past for the reader. One of them is his mysterious lost love Sabetha. She's mentioned briefly in the first book but not nearly as much as in the second. Locke keeps his feelings about her carefully bottled up. Not until Jean finds someone to love is he really forced to examine his feelings more closely. There is no resolution for this story line in Red Seas Under Red Skies. Locke's love is expected to make an appearance in the third book, Republic of Thieves, however. It is one of the obviously missing parts in his history. It will be interesting to see why he doesn't go after her now that nothing binds him to the city of Camorr.

Red Seas Under Red Skies manages to capture quite a bit of what I liked about The Lies of Locke Lamora. It's perhaps slightly darker than the previous book but nonetheless a fun read. Locke and Jean's escapades are exciting, humorous and sometimes downright suicidal. I can't quite get over the structural flaws of the book though. It starts very slow and the pacing of the rest of the novel is somewhat uneven as well. Right up to the finale of the book that actually feels a bit rushed. They say you have a lifetime to write your first book and a year to write the second. Red Seas Under Red Skies may have been the victim of this little bit of publishing wisdom. It could have done with another round of straightening out some of the problems. Even with these problems it is still well above merely good though. For fans of the first book this one is a treat. I'm very much looking forward to reading the third part. There seems to be some confusion about when it is actually going to appear but some time in 2011 is still an option. Bring on The Republic of Thieves!

Book Details
Title: Red Seas Under Red Skies
Author: Scott Lynch
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Pages: 558
Year: 2007
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-553-80468-3
First published: 2007

Second Foundation - Isaac Asimov

I read Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Foundation and Empire last year in my attempt to read more of the classics of Science Fiction. Without a doubt these novels left a mark on the genre, they've been read by generations of SF-fans and seven decades after the first Foundation story appeared in in Astounding Magazine, the novels are still in print. They may have been the pinnacle of Golden Age SF, I can't say I thought them great literature. Asimov's style is dreadfully direct and the previous books were in dire need of a good round of editing. The Foundation novels are big on ideas however, I have to give him that. Second Foundation is the final novel in the original trilogy. It contains two loosely connected stories, the first part was originally published in Astounding in January 1948, the second, much longer, part appeared in late 1949 and early 1950 in the same magazine.

Second Foundation is completely devoted to the mirror organisation Hari Seldon set up in Foundation. It's location is shrouded in mystery and several parties are interested in finding it. In the first part of the novel, Search by the Mule, the mentally gifted and unforeseen mutant known as the Mule, tries to find the location of this threat to his rule. He suspects the Second Foundation possesses similar qualities to his own when it comes to controlling people, making the search for them extremely difficult. He still has a few tricks up his sleeve though.

The second part of the novel, titled Search by the Foundation, is set fifty-five years after the first part, almost four centuries after Foundation. The reign of the Mule is history but the question he's left behind is not. Does history still proceed according to Seldon's predictions or has it been wrenched of the tracks by the actions of the Mule? The Second Foundation may have the answer but it has still not been found. Something a group of men on Terminus mean to change. They plan a new search for Second Foundation. What they didn't take into account, is the help they'll receive from the 14-year old daughter of one of the men.

I felt that in Foundation and Empire Asimov was challenging his own creation and asking the right questions about if and how the predictions by Seldon could actually stand the test of time. In this volume I get the feeling he is just trying to be clever by creating a plot with lots of twists and turns. The Mule was without a doubt the most interesting character in the second book of the trilogy. His talent was unique and completely unpredictable. This doesn't appear to be the case to Second Foundation however, he has clearly found their match in them. Asimov snuffs out a potentially interesting storyline here, the Mule's reign ends in stagnation. The Mule is contained, he is relegated to a conqueror whose rise and fall is nothing more than an flash in history, someone who does not leave a lasting legacy. It seems like a waste of one of the psychologically more interesting characters in the trilogy.

Second Foundation remains quite mysterious even with most of the book dedicated to the search for them. Their mental talents are unnoticed but ever present. It creates a bit of a paranoid atmosphere in the later part of the novel, with characters aware that they might be controlled but never sure if it is actually happening. Second Foundation control is always indirect, always in the shadow, leading to a story full of characters trying to anticipate the other, all the while wondering how transparent their actions are. Wheels within wheels, plots within plot but very little constructive being done. In fact, I am somewhat surprised at the rivalry between the two Foundations. The competition between them is presented as natural, even when Foundation clearly can't oversee Seldon's plan. They presume one of them will lead humanity towards the Second Empire and each feels they are the only ones qualified to do it. For groups of people so well educated, they have some remarkable blind spots.

The ending of the novel is also a bit of a mystery to me. Seldon predicted an interregnum of about a thousand years between the collapse of the first and the creation of the second empire. At the end of Second Foundation almost four centuries of this period has passed. Centuries full of strive, several crises that threatened Seldon's vision and of course the unexpected challenge by the Mule. Why would the next six centuries, which surely must be shrouded in more uncertainty than the first four, be plain sailing? The satisfied attitude of the eventual victor of all the intrigues does not seem to be justified. Apparently the Mule failed to teach them anything about the unpredictable side of nature. Given the two of books that Asimov wrote that are set after events in Second Foundation, the author may have changed his mind about that too.

On the whole Second Foundation struck me as the poorest book in a trilogy that aged none too gracefully. I can see why it is influential and why it was so popular but Asimov's unadorned prose and direct style of storytelling is not something I can get used to. Like Foundation, Second Foundation excels in explaining every detail of the plot to the reader but this time, the plot was not nearly so engaging. After reading the first two books my expectations weren't too hight but I was hopeful that the series might grow on me. I guess this book disappointed me a little. I don't regret reading this trilogy but it is time to move on to something else.

Book Details
Title: Second Foundation
Author: Isaac Asimov
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Pages: 241
Year: 2004
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-553-80373-0
First published: 1953

Foundation and Empire - Isaac Asimov

In my effort to get better acquainted with the classics of Science Fiction I read Isaac Asimov's novel Foundation in October. It was not a bad read but I can't say I was impressed with this collection of five tales centred on the decline and fall of a galactic empire. I've decided to see this through and at least read the original trilogy. Not sure if I really want to wade into the maze of sequels, prequels and books in the series written by other authors. Foundation and Empire is the second book in the original trilogy and was first published in 1952. It contains only two, loosely connected stories both of which are set after the events in Foundation. Both stories were originally published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1945.

The first story, The General, deals with the inevitable confrontation between Foundation and the dying Galactic Empire. The Empire may be in full decline, it still commands the resources of the centre of the galaxy and when a strong emperor and ambitions general rise to the occasion, there appears to be some spirit left yet. Foundation is heading for a new Seldon crisis.
In the second story, The Mule, deals with an threat to Foundation Seldon apparently did not foresee. A rebellion against Foundation lead by a mysterious general nicknamed The Mule is making rapid progress through Foundation space. Rumours of superhuman strength and ability precede the Mule and his rebels. What if Seldon's psychohistory is not as accurate as the people on Foundation like to believe?

The fact that it contains only two stories, instead of the five contained in Foundation, make it more of a novel than a short story collection. It allows Asimov to add a bit more flesh to the bare bones of the stories presented in the first book. I'm still not terribly impressed by the writing though. It is marginally more descriptive than in the previous book but it is still a lot of dialogue. As a consequence, there is still a lot of taking the reader by the hand and walk him/her through the story going on, but I do get the feeling Asimov is asking some more interesting questions here. Foundation was, in a way, repetitive, with the outcome of a crises more or less predetermined. In Foundation and Empire, Asimov uses this predictability as a theme in the novel.

Asimov examines the related concepts of determinism and free will in this second book of the series (for another excellent take on these concepts see The Memory of Whiteness by Kim Stanley Robinson). Seldon's psychohistory claims to very accurately predict the major developments in galactic history, making Foundation believe that although there are not guarantees for individuals, even leaders, the organisation will survive whatever crisis is thrown at it. So far, Seldon has been proven right every time. History plays out as he predicted, it appears to be predetermined. Which raises the question, why bother to get all worked up about some hotshot Empire general doomed to fail anyway? How much room does Seldon leave for free will? What of the belief that some people can indeed change the course of events by being in the right place at the right time? Is the inertia of the galaxy so great that is rolls right over individual initiative? Some pretty uncomfortable questions to ask in a country that follows a dream rooted in individualism.

So then, how do we put Seldon's theory to a real test? One technique used in science is to challenge his assumptions. And it appears Seldon made quite a few to make is models work. For one thing, he assumes that people will be people, now and in the future, and that their behaviour will remain predictable. He also assumes that no individual can have a measurable effect on the course of history. But once in a while, nature throws in a wild card, one that is very hard to foresee. The Mule, with all his rumoured special abilities, fits the bill admirably. He is many things but most likely, he is not human. So now the unpredictable side of nature is pitted against Seldon's deterministic view of the future. It's definitely the most interesting challenge psychohistory has come across.

I guess I feel that Asimov is beginning to put his idea to a serious test in this novel and that alone makes it more interesting that the previous book. It still suffers from the flaws that many books from this era possess. Cardboard characters, sexism (there is actually a woman in this novel but the way she's portrayed will most likely not meet with the approval of the modern female reader), simplistic plot and in Asimov's case, dreadfully straightforward language. Still, I think he's beginning to grow on me a bit. It'll be interesting to see where Asimov takes his story next. From the ending of this book I'd say he isn't done with the Mule yet.

Book Details
Title: Foundation and Empire
Author: Isaac Asimov
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Pages: 244
Year: 2004
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-553-80372-3
First published: 1952

The Mirrored Heavens - David J. Williams

In the summer of 2008 I won a contest over at the site that is now BSCreview.com. The prize was a singed copy of The Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams. The book arrived a couple of weeks later and ended up on the to read stack, where it has been residing ever since. Not a very nice thing to do, I suspect the author mailed these himself. I humbly apologize for neglecting the book for so long. If it hadn't been my latest Amazon order being a bit late, it probably would have spent even more time on the stack. I found a book that is probably a love it or hate it story. Personally, I have decided this book is not really my cup of tea.

The Mirrored Heavens is the first novel in the Autumn Rain trilogy. In this book Williams paints a break picture of the next century. On the overcrowded and environmentally degraded world a new cold war has started and the world is again divided in two major camps. Most of the Americas are united in one camp, while the Eurasian coalition makes up the other party. Some nations have managed to stay neutral but their role on the international political stage is limited. In recent years an understanding between these two great powers has been reached and things appear fairly stable. They have even undertaken a joint project in space project. All hell breaks loose when a mysterious group of rebels known as Autumn Rain brings this project to an abrupt end. We follow several characters through the violence that erupts, both in the real world as well as in cyberspace.

Williams has created an interesting time line for his 22nd century. Unfortunately almost none of it can be found in the story itself. There is a very helpful appendix on the history of the world between 2035 and 2110 in the book and I suggest you read it before reading the novel itself. Some of the novel makes a lot more sense with that time line in the back of your head. The story itself does not give the reader any time to get accustomed to this alien future. It launches into a frantic action scene early on in the book and it takes a while for the story to slow down. Slow being a relative term here. Williams never really lets up the relentless pace he sets early on in the book. Williams obviously likes action scenes and I am impressed with his ability to convey the urgency of battle in them.

These action scenes, as well written as they may be, can't carry the entire novel however and I am less impressed with his characters. Most of them are very well trained professionals. Especially early on in the novel they do their job with a clinical, coldness that makes it hard for the reader to really get into their head. Most of the characters seem to fit this mould, making them hard to keep apart at first. They are also low enough in the various organisations they serve that they get information on a need to know bases. To shoot a rebel base to tiny bits you evidently don't need to know a lot. There is a major power struggle going on over their heads, one that the characters have very little knowledge of. And what's worse, no way of knowing if what they are being told is actually true. In effect, what their superiors tell them acts almost as a deus ex machina, with the direction of the plot changing a number of times when some more information trickles down the chain of command.

Because of all the pulse pounding action the novel provides, the overall story suffered a bit and that is a shame given the effort Williams put into creating a realistic scenario for the next century or so. There are very interesting hints of major changes in society. The US seems to have gone through a political collapse and is now something that could be called a military run state. Voting in limited to veterans (a nod to Heinlein's Starship Troopers perhaps?). There's evidence of oil shortages and severe climate change. The Indian subcontinent seems to have been wiped of the map economically in a past war, etc, etc, etc. Most of this is from the appendix, very little of it makes it to the actual story.

The Mirrored Heavens is something of a mix of techno-thriller and cyberpunk. For fans of either sub-genre there is quite a lot to like about this book. It definitely has some of the best realized future battle scenes I've come across. For someone with my obsession for environmental matters, political considerations and societal change this novel is not a really satisfying read. A lot is hinted at but even more has to make way, to keep the pace of the story as high as it is. The Mirrored Heavens was not a bad read but it doesn't really offer what I am looking for in a science fiction novel either.

Book Details
Title: The Mirrored Heavens
Author: David J. Williams
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Pages: 409
Year: 2008
Language: English
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-553-38541-0
First published: 2008

Foundation - Isaac Asimov

I while ago I asked what would be a good place to start reading Asimov. Normally I can figure out a good place to start but this man's output is enormous, even if you don't take all the non-fiction into account. I ended up with Foundation (1951), probably his best known novel and one of the earlier ones. I'm calling it a novel but that is probably not accurate. Foundation itself is a collection of five shorter pieces, four of which appeared in Astounding Magazine between 1942 and 1944. A fifth was added when Foundation appeared in book form. Although the Foundation series was originally a trilogy, Asimov wrote several more books in this setting later in his career and at some point tied up his Robot and Empire series as well, creating a series of more than a dozen novels. A whole bunch more have been added by other authors, creating a vast future history in which, chronologically, Foundation is one of the later books. Having only read one, it all seems like an unholy mess to me. So for now I am just going to stick to this novel.

In de distant future one huge galactic empire rules the planets settled by humanity. For over twelve millennia this empire has brought peace and prosperity to the galaxy but now it has grown old and tired. A brilliant mathematician named Hari Seldon, working in the field of psychohistory, develops a technique to predict large scale sociological and economic events. He soon realizes that the empire is doomed. He considers the empire to be in a spiral of decline that cannot be stopped or slowed and so he sets his mind to the time after the empire's collapse. A time when the empire will be fragmented, incapable of maintaining its scientific and technological infrastructure. A time of violence and barbarism is inevitable but Seldon sees ways to radically shorten this new dark age. He creates the Foundation.

I guess it is very much a Golden Age novel. It's short and to the point, there is not a woman in sight, lots of people seem to be addicted to tobacco and the writing is not the main attraction of the novel. That last point in particular struck me when I read the first pages. His prose has been called functional, sparse or unadorned, in some places those are very generous descriptions. To me it feels like he did one round of quick editing and that was it. Especially the relatively rare scenes that do not rely on dialogue are often rambling. On the other hand it is this reliance on dialogue that made the book age more gracefully than some of its contemporaries. There are very few descriptions of what the future actually looks like, and therefore few things that appear dated to us. Given the fact that the first story of this collection is almost seventy years old, that is quite an achievement.

Asimov is known as one of the big three of hard science fiction and this novel shows why. There is no doubt in Seldon's mind that his mathematical descriptions of society are accurate and that the predictions, very scientifically always expressed in percentages, as reliable as the math indicates. The Foundation is run as a scientific experiment, in which the participants are carefully kept ignorant to avoid influencing the outcome. Asimov even mentions a second Foundation on the other end of the galaxy. I wonder if we'll find out what happens if these two meet, later on in the series.

Science dominates the Foundation to the point where it turns into a religion. I was struck by the similarities between Frank Herbert's Dune series, in which an organisation known as the Bene Gesserit designs religions for specific purposes. It doesn't stop there. Paul Artreides and his son Leto II also have detailed knowledge of the future (acquired through a different mechanism but no less reliable) and try to force humanity on a path that will be the least costly in terms of human suffering. Interesting enough Herbert's final conclusion is that we shouldn't keep all our eggs in one basket but in Asimov's book the dream is to once again unite humanity and create a second empire.

Part of the novel is inspired by Edward Gibbons' The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (first published between 1776 and 1789), one of the first modern historic studies on the subject. In this book Gibbons states that the Roman Empire fell to the barbarians because it's citizens were no longer willing to do the civic duties necessary to maintain the empire. Which I suppose is what happens to the Galactic Empire, even if it does not have to deal with outside stresses such as barbarian invasions. The Empire frays at the edges, its influence every receding towards the centre. At the end of the 175 years covered in the book it is still mentioned as being around, far away from the Foundation and it's home at the fringe of the galaxy.

I finished this novel two days ago and I still haven't quite decided if I actually like it. It was not a boring read by any means but Asimov's style is awfully direct. On top of the general bad habits of Golden Age writers Asimov leaves absolutely no room whatsoever for ambiguity or doubt. He tells you what happens, as long as you follow his reasoning, there is very little room for any input by the reader in the form of interpretation. The most you can do is disagree with him. I guess I wouldn't have minded if Asimov had made the reader work a little harder. The idea is wonderful, I can even see why it stands out among its contemporaries, but to say it is a great novel... no, I wouldn't go that far. Still, I have decided to read the other two books in the original trilogy as well. Let's see if Foundation and Empire requires more effort on my part.

Book Details
Title: Foundation
Author: Isaac Asimov
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Pages: 244
Year: 2004
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-553-80371-6
First published: 1951