Civilizations are Crumbling

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It's been a depressing couple of weeks for me in a literary way. I've just finished reading Asimov's Foundation and HG Well's The Time Machine and I've just begun Jane Jacob's Dark Age Ahead. I started each book entirely without consciously choosing a common theme and I ended up reading three books about the bitter end of civilizations.

I highly recommend both books I've finished and, from what I've read so far, I'll likely be recommending Jane Jacob's latest soon too. If you're even slightly into science fiction, Asimov's Foundation is a classic and provides fascinating insight into what makes civilizations dominant, how knowledge can be maintained, and why empires rise and fall. Aside from them both having 'foundation' in their names, the book reminds me in a lot of ways of the Long Now Foundation which "seeks to promote 'slower/better' thinking and to foster creativity in the framework of the next 10,000 years."

In other Asimov related news, the writer is hardly buried in the ground and Hollywood is butchering I Robot. And, check out Design by Fire's apt comparison of Foundation with the current debate over web standards.

After completing Dark Age Ahead, I think I'll be up for something a little less, um, catastophic than crumbling civilizations. Any good recommendations?

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Andy Collier -

http://crimespree.ca

Hey Dan,

Here is a couple books I have enjoyed recently:

Into the Wild - by Jon Krakauer - a true account (this is more like a really long news article rather than a book) of a young man from a wealthy background who gives up everything he owns to become a nomad and how it ultimately killed him.

The Winter King - by Bernard Cornwell - a piece of Arturian fiction centered around a young warrior who was present during the rise and fall of Arthur. The book tells the story with some really nice historical touches, for example the recent occupation and departure of the Romans has left it's mark, while Druidism and the old ways fight to hang on. No full suits of plate mail centuries before they were invented in this tale.

patrick -

http://iampms.com

Maybe take a look at how civilizations really emerge (in a fictional way, of course, but interspersed with a good dose of history): Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle

swimp -

http://blog.swimp.net

The foundation series are a very good read, for sure!

jim -

http://graphikjunkie.com/

For something quirky and funny, that will also make you want to go out and do something spontaneous, try 'The Diceman' by Luke Rhinehart.

Something altogether more optimistic than the dystopian sci fi you've been reading of late:
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius, by Dave Eggars.

I completely agree with you on I-Robot: a bloody great book with a serious premise ruined by Wil 'wickywild' Smith. My pick would have been Tom Cruise, and directed by Ridley Scott, or even Spielberg

heather -

http://hmstanfield.com

Since you seem to be a scifi fan, I have to recommend two of my favorite authors, Alastair Reynolds and Ken MacLeod. Alastair Reynolds is an astrophysicist, and his "Revelation Space" series is awesome. Ken MacLeod also weaves fantastic tales, but look for his rather interesting political views beneath the words. Start with the "Star Fraction" series, but the "Cosmonaut Keep" series is my favorite.

Jim - after what Spielberg did to "AI", I'm not sure I'd trust him with "I, Robot".

Dave Moses -

http://www.mosesmedia.ca

"quicksilver" or "crytonomicon"

Ryan Hillier -

Have you tried If Chins Could Kill?

Jim -

http://graphikjunkie.com/

Heather: I actually think AI was a great movie, even with Spielberg's oversentimentality. Of course, it would have been interesting to see how Kubrick intended it.

Lisa -

If you're still looking for a good (and uplifting) read ... try "All My Friends are Superheroes" by Andrew Kaufman, published this year by Coach House Press. Kaufman has a written a few things for McSweeney's and is a radio producer for the CBC. This is his first novel -- and it's funny, deft AND charming. And tight ... only 100 or so pages, so one's lips do not become too tired while reading it. It centres around a protagonist (Tom) who has literally become invisible to his partner ("The Perfectionist"). Magical magical realism. My favourite superheroes were the Dancer, and Mistress Cleanasyougo.

Another that I've liked recently is Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex. Eugenides is the author who wrote the Virgin Suicides and is a native Detroiter to boot.
I'm in the middle of reading the Jane Jacobs book myself right now, and it's a bummer ... highways and automobiles ... oh how I loathe them ....

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Daniel Burka

My name is Daniel Burka. I'm a web designer living in San Francisco. Currently, I'm the director of design with a startup called Tiny Speck and for several years I was the creative director at Digg. I grew up in PEI, Canada, where I was one of the founders of silverorange. Aside from obsessing about interface design and css selectors, I'm a frequently-falling rock climber, a lazy cyclist, and an often out-of-bounds disc golfer.

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I'm a web designer living in San Francisco, California. I sometimes get the chance to present lectures and workshops at conferences around the world, where I speak about iterative design strategies, designing for large online communities, and more broadly about interface design for web applications. I've posted many of the slides from past presentations I've done on Slideshare.

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