MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Paul Krugman's introduction to the Foundation Trilogy

hbtaylor · 10-19-2012, 05:07 PM

He is also off on the population density of Trantor. He refers to 40 billion people covering 75 million square miles, and complains that it is less than the population density of New Jersey. He would be correct if people lived in buildings like in New Jersey. But Asimov goes to pains throughout the various novels to describe the people live vertically below the surface, so the population density needs to take into account the volume, not just area.

10-19-2012, 05:07 PM	#3
hbtaylor Enthusiast Posts: 32 Karma: 80378 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: iPad 3, Nexus 7 (2013)	He is also off on the population density of Trantor. He refers to 40 billion people covering 75 million square miles, and complains that it is less than the population density of New Jersey. He would be correct if people lived in buildings like in New Jersey. But Asimov goes to pains throughout the various novels to describe the people live vertically below the surface, so the population density needs to take into account the volume, not just area. Last edited by hbtaylor; 10-19-2012 at 05:07 PM. Reason: correcting a typo