The Philippine Online Chronicles

Where I grew up there was no National Bookstore, only the oddly-placed Christian Living store, the library, and the bargain bin. I used to be able to scrounge for yellowed and watermarked Young Adult Newberry winning books from anywhere between P15 to P45 up until high school. By college, even when I spotted the odd bargain bookstore and National Bookstore sales, the crisp white pages and new book smell made me nostalgic for the smell and look of old books and the triumph I felt after finding that one good copy in a pile of hundreds.

Most of my friends are book fiends like me and it was on one of our regular jaunts to the fourth floor of National Bookstore Cubao that I found my P20 copy of Isaac Asimov's Prelude to Foundation, the last of his Foundation series.

"Prelude" signifies the beginning of things, and we are caught up in the intrigue and play of forces of power on the planet Trantor as they attempt to take control of Hari Seldon, a mathematician who is close to unlocking the secret of foretelling the future.

Prelude to Foundation is the prequel for the series and contains the beginnings of Psychohistory. As defined by Wikipedia, Psychohistory combines history, sociology and mathematical statistics to “make (nearly) exact predictions of the collective actions of very large groups of people.”

Seldon's feelings on his discovery, psychohistory, in the beginning are decidedly negative: “Seldon smiled weakly. 'A great many things are possible.' And to himself he added: But not practical.”

Asimov's own view on psychohistory is more optimistic. In an interview on National Public Radio he says that he thinks that if we can “somehow get across some of the problems that face us now, humanity has a glorious future, and that if we could use the tenets of psychohistory to guide ourselves we might avoid a great many troubles. But on the other hand, it might create troubles. It's impossible to tell in advance.”

In the novel each chapter is preceded by an entry from the Encyclopaedia Galactica, a clever play on the difference between what is written in history and what happens in the present. It also speaks a lot about the frailty of human emotions especially the stubbornness of human pride.

“Status won't sit still under you; you have to continually fight to keep from sinking,” opines journalist Chetter Hummin.

I've never mustered enough courage to read Asimov before, limiting myself to science fiction collections and the work of Ursula Le Guin. What no one ever told me was that I would find Asimov funny. Academics and fans go on and on about his brilliance that pioneered the new era of science fiction and the age of robots, but they neglect to mention his deft handling of human spirit, snappy dialogue and narrative (“How harmful overspecialization is. It cuts knowledge at a million points and leaves it bleeding.”) and the sheer joy and amusement one can get from his characters and story.

Photo: “ISAAC ASIMOV” by telly gacitua, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved