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Comment by bdunks | Hacker News Reader

I read Isaac Asimov’s foundation series a few years ago (side note for anyone who hasn’t read it: it still holds up incredibly well with a small suspension of disbelief and some grace for when it was written).

In the preface to the 4th or 5th book (which were written 30+ years after the “original” trilogy) he discussed how the originals parts of the trilogy were published as a set of short stories in a SciFi publication over 8 years, and later compiled into the books.

I was astonished.

Perhaps everyone else already knew this. But such a clear narrative through line to be written in discrete short stories. Very impressive.

It sounds like this may have been common prior to this era as well.

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Weird. I bounced off Foundation immediately because it felt like a series of short stories instead of a novel (and also I couldn't take psychohistory the least bit seriously). I'm kind of kicking myself for not predicting that it actually did start that way.

New information that challenges one's context can often appear weird at first. Its a common reaction.

Regarding psychohistory: It's worth considering the era in which the books where written. The 1st half of the 20th century saw massive innovations in economic theory, physics, and information theory. It was not a big leap to predict that in 500 years time, humans would further advance macro economics. Personally I felt the books did a great job setting limits in the capabilities of the theory, and using its inherit flaws to drive interesting plot lines.

Yes. Asimov’s three laws of robotics also look credible but still allow a mass of loopholes and footguns from which he got dozens of stories.

Didn’t Verne also serialize his stories? This has been going on for a long long time but for sure Clark and Asimov have books that were serials in periodicals.

Edit: looked it up. Dickens and Dumas preceded Jules Verne in serials being turned into novels.

But Asimov’s short stories weren’t a serialized novel from the start. They were individual short stories that he later combined with small changes to form novels. It’s different from what Dickens, Dumas, and Verne did.

Another even more modern example is The Martian. Weir published it chapter by chapter on his website, even updating previous chapters based on (mostly technical) feedback from his readers. Once completed, his readers encouraged him to publish an eBook, it took off on Amazon, and the rest is history.

> some grace for when it was written

I reread it last year and I needed to give it a lot of grace, mostly from it's treatment of women. To Asimov's credit, there's no overt sexism - he manages to bypass that by having almost no female characters at all. There's a single female character who has no agency, every other character is white and male. I understand it's a product of it's time, and avoid judgment. However, the lack of women feels weird and makes it hard to enjoy.

To be fair, the later books in the series which were written in the 70s are much better in this regard.

  > there's no overt sexism - he manages to bypass that by having almost no female characters at all.

That is true for much of classical literature, going all the way back to the Greeks.

Female characters are not exactly exceptional in classical literature. And that statement includes fairly sexist works. Even Odyssey has multiple female characters - you do not get older then that. Shakespeare has them and that is as English language classic as it gets. Women are literally all around classics.

Yes, that's why I stated much classical literature. Not all classical literature or most classical literature. Much classical literature.

I dont buy it. You have to cherry pick among classics hard to come with the "much of it does not have female characters" conclusion.

Much of it do have women in it. As I go through them in my head, almost everything has some women in it, at least existing in larger world. Except "Old Man and the Sea" one character against the world kind of things. Hemingway has women in other books tho.

You invented a quote that does not quote anything I said, so I won't defend it.

I suggest that you notice the word "almost" in the text I quoted in my original comment.

Frankly, you are just wrong about content of classical literature.

> That is true for much of classical literature, going all the way back to the Greeks.

It is not, in fact.

Asimov has a reputation in that sense:

https://blog.chrislansdown.com/2022/02/07/isaac-asimov-creep...

"it still holds up incredibly well"

Can't confirm. I couldn't get through the first 100 pages.

The ideas in it are fascinating (if also dated). The characters, though, are insanely 1 dimensional. It's very obviously a 1 micron thin story layered over the scaffold of ideas. After looking at it that way, I could get through the series without groaning or laughing a lot.

Reminds me of Perry Rhodan.

The wiki was awesome. Some of the best world building I've ever seen.

The novels, however, were atrocious.

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