Hawaii: A Novel

Hawaii: A Novel by James A. Michener

Michener novels go very long. Each chapter could easily be a standalone novel. Hawaii explores the history of Hawaii as a work of historical fiction. It starts with the early formation of the South Pacific islands and the plants and animals that arrive there. Then it goes onto the life on Bora Bora. This first part is perhaps the most "fiction" part of it. A difficult life is described on the island, with a group wanting to escape the difficulties and human sacrifice to find a new location. They set off blindly and eventually establish life in Hawaii.

The next section describes early missionaries. They came from New England and had to make a months-long trip around South America to arrive. They worked hard on civilizing and converting the natives. They did have success in eliminating some of the more negative parts of the culture and getting converts to Christianity. However, the converts were somewhat loose. While some did integrate with the Hawaiians, the primary preacher kept his family apart. They would go to church with the people, but would not generally associate with them.

The book then focusses more on the business and politics. At first it was often white mariners or missionaries that would settle and work on business ventures. Eventually, an irrigation system was set up (bringing rain from wet to dry side of islands.) This opened up the need for plantation labor. There was a wave of Chinese immigrants. This group worked hard and set up their own commerce. They also freely intermarried with Hawaiians, while still maintaining Chinese ties. Next came the Japanese. They tended to be more tightly intertwined with their group. They were more likely to become involved in government offices. There were also European (especially Portuguese) and other immigrants. These get mentioned in passing, but not with the detail of the Chinese or Japanese.

Hawaii became a true multi-ethnic area, with many groups intermingling, while still maintaining their identity. The people had various foibles. In the narrative, the narrative tends to follow the more flawed characters, while there is often another character that will try to convince them of the "better" way to do things. There are various bits of subterfuge needed to accomplish goals (such as making Hawaii part of the US). Though eventually, there is a reckoning. The book finally ends with Hawaii becoming a US state.

This is the second Michener book I've read, and it feels a lot like the previous one. The people seem to be quite similar to those in the other book, even though they occupy a very different time and place. Is this a statement on the universality of humanity or is it an unintentional flaw?

The Source: A Novel

The Source: A Novel by James A. Michener

The Source is a very long novel that attempts to tell the history of Israel and Judaism by focussing on one small city. It is framed by the story of an archeological dig. As they uncover more, the story goes into the stories of the lives of those living in the region. It begins with prehistoric times, goes to the birth of Judaism, the many conflicts, the rise of Christianity and finally to the modern Arab-Israeli conflict. It portrays Judaism as not being a static religion, but instead once that has changed to help maintain internal cohesion rather than widespread social acceptance. Christianity and Islam can be seen as branches that have changed instead to be "universal".

Forward the Foundation

Forward the Foundation is the final book that Asimov published. It deals with Hari Seldon as he ages and develops his psychohistory. Along the way, he sees almost everyone close to him leave this world before him. His wife is shown to be a robot and destroyed by somebody that didn't like her. (This book hints at her super-human strength and lack of aging, but he appear to not know that she is one until her destruction.) The "robot" minister leaves (leaving Hari as the minister.) The emperor is assassinated. His closest psychohistory coworker dies from overwork. His adopted son dies in a rebellion, while his daughter-in-law and one daughter are "lost in space." Hari himself eventually dies at the end.

The galactic empire gradually starts to fall apart. Asimov appears to be espousing some of his politics in the view of how it happens. The beauracracy (and especially taxation mechanism) grows too big. Dissafection and corruption within lead to major events without. Police and security become too independent. Democratic institutions slow real progress.

Eventually, Hari discovers that his granddaughter is a mind reader. She locates some other "mentalics" and these people are used to set up the second foundation. They also use their power of persuasion to help get access to the library and get the funds needed to set up the first foundation to create the galactic encyclopedia at the end of Galaxy.

The "science fiction" in this story is rather weak. Computers are seen as something through the "mainframe age", seeming to be less advanced than they are today. Asimov's obsession with robots grants them strange significance. Psychohistory does seem somewhat plausible. However, it is more an issue with getting all the needed datapoints than crafting intricate equations. (and why would people care so much about it?) Mind reading and pushing? Yeah I guess that could be interesting.

The story is, however, more about growing old. Hari is concerned with his age. We have sections as he reaches each decade of life. The "big picture" events in the plot all seem a little too contrived to be believable. A few people always seem to know exactly what needs to be done at a certain point in time, whether for good or for bad. The dumb luck and predictive power play too important of a role to be believable. In the end, Seldon manages to survive to create the foundation that can save the world from millenia of fighting. But, he still dies. It makes for an ok story. (At least he wasn't hunting for earth!) However, missing it is no great loss.

Foundation and Earth

This is one of the "later" foundations books that Asimov wrote because people wanted to write them. We start with Travize on Gaia. Gaia is a collective mind where everybody shares the thoughts of everyone else, whether they be thoughts or emotions. Travize is going on a mission to try to find the legendary planet Earth.

Most of the novel consists of the group traveling around ancient, "uncharted" planets trying to find earth. Asimov uses this as a route to explore how isolated societies can fall. We have one planet that is now devoid of people, but now ruled by dogs and other carnivores. Another planet has people that have become hermaphrodites in order to not require the interaction with other humans and obtain maximal "personal freedom". (They also produce power on their own through 'tranducer lobes'.) Another society has a primitive culture that has advances in biotechnology and weather manipulation. They seem very peaceful. However, in order to maintain their their isolation, they inflict visitors with a deadly virus.

And so the novel goes, exploring these and a few other planets in order to find out more about the legendary earth (and hopefully find earth itself.) The exploration suffers from being very tied into the time Asimov's writings. These societies are separated by vast distances of space and time, yet they are very late-20th century in their outlook and behaviors. A "primitive" society looks a lot like 18th century Polynesia, despite being settled from earth many years in our future. (They also manage to maintain the same language despite thousands of year of time passing.) There are occasional "big differences" in technology, but somehow these don't cause any alterations to the society beyond their direct impacts.

Eventually the protagonists find earth. However, as in the legends, it appears to be too radioactive to support life. However, through something that looks like happenstance they end up on the moon, where a 20,000 year old robot has been manipulating human activity for some time.

The robot is on its last legs an has been quietly manipulating them so they can arrive there. This is an Asimovian robot with strong human characteristics. (The society at large is devoid of robots, viewing them as something that leads to degeneration.) The robot can manipulate people. However, it must adhere to the laws of robotics which require it to help humans and humankind. Thus it relies on Travize to make the decision to implement "Galaxia" instead of the Seldon plan for the betterment of humanity. Travize agrees and everything is happy.