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November: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin.
December: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
A poll for the January 2019 book will be around the 15th, unless you want it sooner (not sooner than the U.S. midterms).
Discuss Foundation by Isaac Asimov in the comments below.
As for Liu Cixin's best known novel:
"Wildly imaginative, really interesting." ―President Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy
The English translation for The Three-Body Problem was published in 2014 by Ken Liu under Tor Books.
Consider using <spoiler>text</spoiler> wherever you feel the need to do so.
Previously: Announcement post • Mars, Ho!
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SoylentNews Book Club: Discuss Foundation, Start Reading The Three-Body Problem
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A Smith & Wesson beats four aces.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by rleigh on Sunday November 04 2018, @10:34PM (1 child)
Foundation is one of my favourite books (and series). I just finished re-reading the whole collection a few weeks back. What sets Foundation apart from other science fiction is the sheer scale and ambition of the author. Describing societal and technological change across hundreds of years within an entire galaxy. On my first reading, ~25 years back, I found it a bit jarring. There is a change of protagonist for each phase of development of the Foundation, with earlier characters referred to as historical figures in later parts. It's clear that this is a collection of short stories assembled into a book, but it works really well. Much better than the later books, Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth in particular, which are particularly and unnecessarily long and overly repetitive. They could have used some editing to keep them as fast paced and focussed as the originals; they really start to drag, despite the underlying story being interesting.
While intended to be futuristic, much of the technology in the book, as well as the habits and attitudes of the characters, seem quaintly old-fashioned through modern eyes. However, this is no fault of the author. The writing is a product of its time, and he can't be criticised for failing to foresee dramatic technological progress several decades after they were written. The technology is fortunately only a means to an end, to provide a setting for the real story, and so for the most part does not overly detract.
Where I personally feel the books come into their own is their characterisation of humanity, and the decline of civilisation, which has many parallels with our own society in the present day. While all humans individually have agency and free will, as a mass our group behaviour is theorised to be predictable through the mathematical science of "psychohistory". The subtext is that our perception of free will is less than we perceive. We are greatly influenced by the society we inhabit and our ability to effect change as an individual is microscopic; this is best illustrated by the actions and fate of the Imperial General, Bel Riose, as well as his counterpart on Siwenna, Ducem Barr, both of whom are individually powerless to act against fate despite their bold actions. This is perhaps more true today than ever, with mass surveillance and machine learning able to predict individual desires, behaviour and action with ever increasing accuracy; though Asimov did not himself describe mass surveillance on this scale for psychohistory to function, he did have the Second Foundation to monitor society and to correct undesirable changes so as to keep the progress of society on track.
The prequels Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation cover a single period in time in more detail: the life of Hari Seldon on Trantor itself. The overall picture described is one of unrelenting decay, with the fabric of the highly technological world-city decaying around him, with him being powerless to stop it despite being First Minister. We also see that the technological decay is accompanied by decay in the moral fabric of society as well, with there being an increase in a lack of respect for the environment and other citizens, as the city becomes increasingly dirty, violent and unmanageable, up to the point society eventually collapses entirely and the planet is sacked and left in ruin. There's a clear parellel here to the modern day decline of Western industrial society; though I doubt Asimov intended this at the original time of writing, it nevertheless resonated quite deeply with me as I see the same declines in our own cities. While we might individually have the motivation and skills to turn things around, if the forces at work in society act to prevent us doing this we can feel crushed and powerless. If only we had a Seldon to see us through to the other side.
(Score: 2) by Murdoc on Monday November 05 2018, @01:25AM
I feel pretty much the same as you about the book(s); I love how the story is about grand forces of combined humanity shaping the future and yet it is still told on the personal level with individuals playing their parts, often with little or no knowledge of these forces. The stories are also often as gripping as any other, with imminent danger and time pressures (like the "Seldon Crises") so it's not just a heady, cerebral accounting of people talking about big ideas. I also just love stories about really smart people doing really smart things. Some of the solutions devised by the protagonists are just brilliant. Prelude and especially Forward the Foundation are my favorites, showing the development of psychohistory from the guy who didn't even think that it could be done. The original Foundation book comes next, and yeah, Foundation and Earth last.
Maybe there was. I noticed that parallel as well, and if I recall correctly Seldon wasn't well known outside of certain circles, so I think that perhaps Howard Scott might be the closest we've had to a real Hari Seldon. He formed a group of scientists to study the future of human society, and while their science may not have been as sophisticated as psychohistory, they did accurately predict the Great Depression to within an accuracy of 6 months (their projection was for the autumn of 1932, instead of the spring of 1933). Of course, no one listened to them either. And knowing what was the cause of the collapse, they were able to devise a solution to it, which they called Technocracy [technocracy.ca] (although nothing like we know the term as used today). So they both found the solution to society's problems in science. I also find it amusing that they both have the same initials (H.S.).