Blog 6

I've finished The End of Eternity, which I found to be a very interesting book, mainly in the fact that I've played Metal Gear Solid 3 and Timeshift and everyone loves a good TIME PARADOX every now and then.

To sum things up in order to maximize the amount of time I have left to read a couple pages of "I, Robot" before I go face first into my desk, Harlan, after being repremanded for previous actions, decides to mess with a special mission. A young eternal named Cooper was to go to the 24th century, and do something with a man who had a major role in the time travel technology which eventually became the Eternal's time travel 'kettles'. Harlan messes with the mechanism, and Cooper winds up trapped in the wrong period of time, which is also the supposed point where Eternity is formed. Harlan messes with the machinery, and Cooper is then trapped in the wrong time period. The problem is, Cooper is essental to ensure that Eternity is created (because previous time alterations caused the discovery of time travel technology to be impossible), and in order to ensure that Eternity is created, and that the Eternals actually exist, Harlan must go and save Cooper. Some time paradoxes later, Harlan confronts a woman who belives that the Eternals shouldn't exist, and she then alters time so that Eternity is not formed, and that messing around with time is impossible. Harlan is about to kill her, but then realizes that maybe Eternity isn't really beneficial to mankind. Right when he makes this realization, what's called a Reality Change occurs, and Eternity vanishes from history forever...etc.


Harlan's realization: Eternity might not be the best thing for mankind.

Foundation's supposed mission: Collect mankind's knowledge, and preserve man's intellectual elite, in order to lead humanity out of a dark age.

Yeah, the question of what's good for the human race, but what Asimov says is good?.....don't know yet

at least I'm getting there...

Blog 5 - Literary Themes and Stuff

I'm about a good half-way through End of Eternity, which has included a good amount of messing with time, and trying to improve humanity through the power vested within all of these Eternal guys, but that's pretty much what I've gathered so far.

In response to the blog prompt however, Asimov uses his ability to think of Science-Fiction-esque scenarios where mankind seems to be drawing towards a very negative period. With The End of Eternity, it's the point where mankind's woes reach a point where they can't be repaired, for Foundation, it's a long period of anarchy and barbarism. Asimov then takes his protagonists, and places them in a place where they have the ability to prevent or hinder such an event, while placing his personal views on humanity. Asimov usually addresses what happens when people get their hands on power of such a scale that would allow said individuals to drag the human race down with them, and what people are willing to do to get said power...


Acually, now that I think about it....EPIC THESIS INCOMING

Blog 4 - Book Shift, and the lack of symbolism.

Though it's probably because I've been reading so I'm able to quickly go through these books in order to draw conculsions through only the plots and characters in Asimov's books, I haven't really been able to notice much in terms of symbolism. The major thing that I've managed to spot is how Asimov's idea of the main human emotions is played throughout his books. The very basic emotions and desires that each character shows are essential to the development of the plots that he throws those characters into....


I finished Foundation. Pretty much, oh boy, all is well, but there are sequels, which I'll probably get to eventually... I looked around my grandparent's house and found a copy of The End of Eternity, since my dad was once a sci-fi inclined person (still is, too bad he can't find much time to read...). People say that it's not like Asimov's "Space Opera" or "Robot" focused books, this one's more about time paradoxes, and is claimed to be one of Asimov's best works.

The book opens with a bunch of guys known as Eternals, they're all male, and they can travel through time. They're in some semi-scientific, semi-militaristic organization which is headed by Computers, which are people who...well...compute, and do complex calculations. From what I've gathered so far there's some guy named Andrew Harlan, and he has this...kind of strange world view based off of what he's seen in time, and from what he's seen on the job, which is going through time and making small "Reality Changes" in order to minimize the suffering on humanity. The plot unfolds when the reader learns that after a certain point in history, some part of human society stays the same, and oh god this book is going to be a mindf***...

and I'm only 60 pages in...

Blog 3 - Mid-Winter Break

Ski week, always awesome.


Anyway, I've read through most of Foundation, I'm almost done, a good 80 pages to go. The story has shifted away from Hari Seldon's idea for Foundation, and now, as predicted, the Galactic Empire has collapsed, and after many surrounding worlds have succumbed to barbarism, Terminus finds itself in the middle of an interplanetary conflict involving 4 other planets, each one wanting to try to gain control of Terminus, due to its strategic location. However, the scientists living on Terminus are not equipped nor trained to hold off their attackers, and those not in charge are too busy working on the encyclopedia, and it would seem that the only person who's actually concerned about this is the mayor of Terminus City, Salvor Hardin. To put it briefly, Hardin brings up an image of Hari Seldon, who tells him that the encyclopedia is nothing more than a distraction to some larger plan, which gives Hardin the knowledge to turn the 4 planets off of each other, which is just about to be put into place...

There are a number of times where the idea of human nature acting in some way in regards to faith, beliefs, and material desires have come into play here, these are ways that Asimov could make some kind of critique on mankind as a whole, by placing them in a theoretical situation and having things play out. Thesis? Probably...

Blog 2 - Quote from Reading

American Author Proposal - Blog 1

Russian-Born Isaac Asimov has proven himself to be one of the top writers in the science-fiction genre, as well as a skilled writer of popular science books. His published works show up in nine out of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System, meaning his works include everything except the stuff in the 100s, which is Philosophy. Asimov is considered one of the 'Big Three' masters of science-fiction writing (Along with Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke), and his works are still popular today, as sequels to his well known Foundation series can be found along with the original, as well as the filming of the movie "I, Robot" based off of Asimov's set of short stories.

            Isaac Asimov began his writing career when he was 17, writing short stories to be published in science fiction magazines. Almost all of his works were of the science-fiction genre until about the 50s, when he began writing non-fiction science books. Throughout all of his works, Asimov believed that his most well known contribution would be his "Three Laws of Robotics" which are made prominent in "I, Robot." However,  Asimov is also credited with coining the words 'positronic', which is still used in science-fiction entertainment, like Star Trek: The Next Generation, which featured androids (Data) with "positronic brains" , 'psychohistory', which was focused on in Asimov's Foundation series , and the more commonly used 'robotics' which is becoming a growing field in science today.  His contributions to the English language, however, are well overshadowed by his contributions to science fiction.

            Isaac Asimov became a large part of a trend in science fiction. Most science-fiction writing at the time was mostly about flashy spaceships and technology, but in the 1940s, science fiction began to tread off of that path, lead by authors, like Asimov. Science-fiction writers at this time spent less time focusing on future technology, and more about the human condition and making philosophical arguments about human nature. Asimov took this, and called it 'social science fiction'. And to this day, there are many sci-fi authors who spend more time making philosophical points with their stories. One example of this is also Asimov's most famous work, <u>Foundation</u>, which was published in the 1950s. The book, as well as many of his other ones, had themes of paternalism, but the story of the collapse and rebirth of a large interstellar empire from the future, has inspired many science fiction writers to write a few derivative works, including Greg Bear and David Brin.

            Asimov was a rationalist, and a humanist, his stances on social issues don't make themselves apparent in his science-fiction works, but in his many other publications, he's shown himself to be a concerned liberal, worried about the world around him, as he showed in his last non-fiction book <u>Our Angry Earth</u>, where he discusses the environmental crisis involving global warming and the deterioration of the ozone layer.

            Isaac Asimov's name became large over the course of the 20^th century. He was a well-known science fiction writer who still has some influence today, his works are rather well known to sci-fi fans everywhere. He is known for his ungodly muttonchops, and he serves as a prime example that any author whose work is turned into a Hollywood movie starring Will Smith is obviously a skilled author.

American Author Blog

Since I'm too lazy to set up a blog elsewhere, I will be keeping tabs on my American Author Project (on Isaac Asimov) here, following prompts and such...