This is the third Asimov book I have read, after I, Robot and Foundation & Earth. It was enjoyable, but the focus on political scheme and scandal, though entertaining, diverts from interesting questions about the nature of interstellar life and technology.
As in the previous books, there is a sort of cyclic element to the whole book, herein it is that each story is a moment of time in early Foundation history that captures a significant historical moment that is usually of a political, relational nature. This perspective felt limited, when there was an opportunity to explore the reaction of the psyche to ones scale of civilization, or the technique of global civilization. The biggest missed opportunity was the concept of psychohistory itself. The application of statistics to historical phenomena sounds interesting, but it’s little elaborated on, serving only as a plot device. Hari Seldon has the utility of a writer of prophecy. It is a shame, because I think psychohistory itself poses interesting questions.
The prose is variable, sometimes it felt dry and confused, but at others it is enthusiastic and creative. Asimov is at his best when he’s packing detail into the scenes of one-on-one conversation, transmitting the peculiarities of a personality with off-hand remarks that are yet perfectly concise.
Overall it was enjoyable, though I think it could have been much more ambitious. But the stories are at least amusing, especially in the climactic ‘reaveal’ present in all of them.