One of the great masterworks of science fiction, the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are unsurpassed for their unique blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building.
The story of our future begins with the history of Foundation and its greatest psychohistorian: Hari Seldon. For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. Only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.
But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of …
One of the great masterworks of science fiction, the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are unsurpassed for their unique blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building.
The story of our future begins with the history of Foundation and its greatest psychohistorian: Hari Seldon. For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. Only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.
But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. And mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and live as slaves--or take a stand for freedom and risk total destruction.
Asimov is great at pulling you in with ideas. His prose is great and his plots combine action and idea to great effect.
Foundation is a great book set over something like two centuries covering the descent into chaos of a great Empire and the work of scholars to try and preserve what they can of civilization. The book is organized into vignettes of the various crises that befall the Foundation, and how the people work past them. Highly recommended.
A book I'd heard about many time but never made the time to read. Foundation is rightly a classic of Sci-Fi, although perhaps slightly dated by todays standards. The big ideas are certainly here - psychohistory, fall and decline of empire and a new hope for the future, religion as a tool of power, economics as a tool of power etc. Its a fun read - essentially 5 novellas linked together in a single iver arching narrative.
My only reservations are that it is a book of its time - the technology forseen is firmly routed in the 1950s world as is the narrative and characters similarly shaped by the period (for example there is only a single female character and she is merely a template of a harridan wife, everyone smokes cigars, everything is nuclear etc). This is understandable and the scope of ideas and central plot are not …
A book I'd heard about many time but never made the time to read. Foundation is rightly a classic of Sci-Fi, although perhaps slightly dated by todays standards. The big ideas are certainly here - psychohistory, fall and decline of empire and a new hope for the future, religion as a tool of power, economics as a tool of power etc. Its a fun read - essentially 5 novellas linked together in a single iver arching narrative.
My only reservations are that it is a book of its time - the technology forseen is firmly routed in the 1950s world as is the narrative and characters similarly shaped by the period (for example there is only a single female character and she is merely a template of a harridan wife, everyone smokes cigars, everything is nuclear etc). This is understandable and the scope of ideas and central plot are not affected by this but it is perhaps jarring to a modern reader.
Nonetheless this is a great book - big on ideas more than action but ideas that are engrossing and interesting, and I throughly recommned it.
A chilling vision of the future in which humans are made of plywood. The effort to achieve gender parity in STEM education will be remembered as a failure; there will be only two career paths open to women: to be a sort of walking Christmas tree bearing nuclear-powered baubles, or an emasculating Xanthippe to a tinhorn dictator.
Meh. This book seems to not have aged well, if it ever did. There are a couple of interesting ideas, like the trick of hiding science in religion to have it survive the fall of the Empire. But with this book I have the same problem as with Ringworld: It's this gigantic world of possibilities, but all the stories are rather unconnected and play on a tiny scale. All of the four stories basically play out the same way: Bullish smart man tricks out some king by having science and technology. Apparently, in the far future, there's still kings and there's also no women. Maybe the rest of the books are better, but I won't find out. This one certainly doesn't deserve to be called a classic.
Leí la fundación de Asimov cuando era bastante joven en los libros en papel que andan por casa de mis padres y ahora me ha dado por volver a releerla (ya que la tengo en digital). Mi idea es leer la saga completa entre libro y libro de los que no he leído nunca. Este primer libro tal, y como ocurrió la primera vez que me enfrenté con él, me ha encantado y lo he leído en menos de 1 semana (lo cual es todo un record dado mi escaso tiempo de leer últimamente).
It is quite obvious from the beginning that Foundation was conceived as several short stories and later turned into a book. However there is a common theme in all of those stories: Averting impeding catastrophe for a newly formed colony of Galactic Empire - Foundation. A colony whose creator, Hari Seldon is a psychohistorian - a statistician that can predict changes in societies of large scale. Hari created Foundation to carry the torch of civilization through destruction of Empire itself. Can they keep the knowledge and peace at the same time?
Five parts of Foundation deal with approximately first 150 years of Foundation history. Each part separated by "Seldon Crisis" and each building on resolution of the previous one. All of this gives the Foundation appeal, because there are multiple plots to enjoy, while not being confusing and yet...connected in a way.
All in all a very enjoyable read with …
It is quite obvious from the beginning that Foundation was conceived as several short stories and later turned into a book. However there is a common theme in all of those stories: Averting impeding catastrophe for a newly formed colony of Galactic Empire - Foundation. A colony whose creator, Hari Seldon is a psychohistorian - a statistician that can predict changes in societies of large scale. Hari created Foundation to carry the torch of civilization through destruction of Empire itself. Can they keep the knowledge and peace at the same time?
Five parts of Foundation deal with approximately first 150 years of Foundation history. Each part separated by "Seldon Crisis" and each building on resolution of the previous one. All of this gives the Foundation appeal, because there are multiple plots to enjoy, while not being confusing and yet...connected in a way.
All in all a very enjoyable read with no hard surprises but a lot of small memorable moments and quotes. I particularly enjoyed all the political twists and various machinations
I have a problem with Foundation. I do consider myself an Asimov fan, and I've never been able to finish Foundation. Hell, up until this time, I hadn't even finished the first volume of Foundation. Not by lack of trying; I think I may have started to read it 4 or 5 times in the last 12 years or so.
To me, this is annoying, because Foundation is widely acknowledged as a great achievement in Asimov's (prolific) career and more generally in Sci-Fi. So I felt I was missing out.
Foundation is the story of the fall of the Galactic empire and of the ways to alleviate the consequences of it. I think what disturbed be most for my first attempts was that the five parts of the book are very loosely tied, a huge chunk of time goes by inbetween, without it being spelt out immediately, and with little …
I have a problem with Foundation. I do consider myself an Asimov fan, and I've never been able to finish Foundation. Hell, up until this time, I hadn't even finished the first volume of Foundation. Not by lack of trying; I think I may have started to read it 4 or 5 times in the last 12 years or so.
To me, this is annoying, because Foundation is widely acknowledged as a great achievement in Asimov's (prolific) career and more generally in Sci-Fi. So I felt I was missing out.
Foundation is the story of the fall of the Galactic empire and of the ways to alleviate the consequences of it. I think what disturbed be most for my first attempts was that the five parts of the book are very loosely tied, a huge chunk of time goes by inbetween, without it being spelt out immediately, and with little to none common characters between the parts (a character who's present in one part may well have become almost a myth in the following parts). So, to me, it's confusing and annoying - that feeling of just having a glimpse of a character and poof it disappears into oblivion bothers me. Granted, once you "got" the underlying structure, it is less confusing.
I also learnt (because I did some meta-reading afterwards) that Foundation as we know it today was in fact published as "individual" stories (in Astounding). A note from the editor at the beginning of the book would have been welcome, though.
So I finished the first one... where do I go from here? I'm not convinced I'll continue. I mean, it's objectively good, and I can see the appeal, having the impression of reading how history writes itself in a pretty imposing setup. But... I just don't think it's my kind of good, and by that I mean "the kind of good I really enjoy". I still feel I'm somehow missing out, but now I'm at peace with it. I may still have some nagging feeling at some point in the future telling me that maybe the second volume (or the third, or...) is kind of different and that I am indeed missing out, but we'll see when/if the time comes :)
At the height of a Galactic Empire, a mathematician predicts not only its fall but a galaxy-wide dark age of 30,000 years. His plan, set into motion with butterfly wings, is not to prevent the empire’s fall but to trigger a new, more just, civilization to rise in just 1000 years. Azimov’s epic is amazing if you love high concept sci-fi (less so perhaps if you’re after deep characters or indeed the existence of women).
At the height of a Galactic Empire, a mathematician predicts not only its fall but a galaxy-wide dark age of 30,000 years. His plan, set into motion with butterfly wings, is not to prevent the empire’s fall but to trigger a new, more just, civilization to rise in just 1000 years. Azimov’s epic is amazing if you love high concept sci-fi (less so perhaps if you’re after deep characters or indeed the existence of women).
The story of how Hari Seldon's Psychohistory is used to try to cushion the fall of the galactic empire. Actually a collection of short stories, I enjoyed the intersection of politics and religion.
Some of the psychological aspects are interesting, particularly the Heisenburg-like repercussions of psychohistory (if people know you've made a certain predition about their behavior, that can AFFECT their behavior and change the outcome).
Review of 'The Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, #1-3)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I wanted to read the three books Asimov wrote in his early twenties first. The most amazing thing to me is how the writing, even as it stretches imagination and creativity with almost shocking vastness, still reflects early 50's American culture in every nuance. The galaxy is populated from end to end with humans who ply themselves with alcohol and tobacco, push the boundaries of microfilm and nuclear technology, and are nearly unaware of computers. Women remain primarily homemakers throughout. It's quite wonderful though, a grandiose future filled with insightful allegories and always-relevant queries into human nature that ultimately reveal as much about the writer and his environment as the futuristic subject matter. I'm really looking forward now to the remaining books, which Asimov wrote decades later.
