Forward the Foundation

The Foundation Novels, #7

by Isaac Asimov

Mass Market Paperback, 434 pages

English language

Published Sept. 17, 1994 by Bantam Spectra.

ISBN:: 978-0-553-56507-2
OCLC Number:: 29849055
Goodreads:: 76679

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(103 reviews)

During the whole Foundation series, one man has always had his hand in the development of a galaxy. Merely hinted at in previous books, visited off and on for historical background - finally here delved into as deep as one can go - the demystified Hari Seldon. This follows about 40 years of his life, and traces his progress in the development of Psychohistory - the pseudo-mathematical science that would one day save the galaxy.

If you have read the Foundation series, either in it's entirety or just pieces, this is a must read. It also (if memory serves) is the last book Asimov wrote before his death - the final pages describing Hari Seldon's final moments of life mirroring his own. A truly beautiful read.

44 editions

AP Schaefer reviewed Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov (The Foundation Novels, #7)

Helicon Twisters Unite

4 stars

Content warning Spoiler alert.

Wonderful to backfill and personalize the story of Hari Seldon. Humanizing the father of psychohistory was a nice touch. It was hard to not see a parallel of the aging author, and the aging Seldon as the story progressed. I was particualy saddened to read of the passing of Dors. The death of Raych, Wanda's younger sister, and mother was particularly troubling. I also appreciated the story concluding with the the paths of both first and second foundations appearing on firm footing. I was hoping we would see more than the brief nod towards the recordings Hari recorded for the future Foundationers.

Danie reviewed Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Foundation, #7)

Review of 'Forward the Foundation' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Again I thought I may not enjoy this book as much as the others but as the story unfolded it really travelled the full circle and explained everything leading up to the first Foundation book.

Jacob Campbell reviewed Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Foundation, #7)

Review of 'Forward the Foundation' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I listed this one. I liked the first prequel a little bit better, but this one was also really good. I'm excited to start diving into the originally published part of the series.

wzhkevin reviewed Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Foundation, #7)

Review of 'Forward the foundation' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Having read the first six books in this series, I found myself unexpectedly moved by this one. I’ve found Hari Seldon’s story as narrated in this and Prelude to Foundation to be far more compelling than those in the preceding books, save possibly the first, Foundation, if only because it sets the scene for everything. Those were stories about ideas only disguised as stories about people.

I think it is worth reading the books in the order they were written, starting with the original Foundation books, working through the sequels, before circling back round to the prequels. Things will make a lot more sense then, and certain themes will resonate a lot more strongly. Even if some of those earlier books are a bit dry (I found the sequels in particular to be somewhat tedious), they are worth working through for the prequels.

wzhkevin reviewed Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Foundation, #7)

Review of 'Forward the Foundation' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

TaxideaDaisy reviewed Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Foundation, #7)

Review of 'Forward the Foundation' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Best of the lot so far, in terms of characters, storyline, etc. Still processing.

Really must get hold of some Robot books soon too.

Kevin B. O'Brien reviewed Forward the Foundation (Foundation Novels (Audio)) by Isaac Asimov (Foundation (2))

Review of 'Forward the Foundation (Foundation Novels (Audio))' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is the last of Asimov's Foundation series, and was published posthumously. One suspects Asimov was feeling the effects of his age, since this novel (more a group of novellas, really) show Seldon growing older and gradually losing everyone in his life he cares about His "wife", Dors Venabili, is destroyed, his adopted son Raych is killed, his collaborator Yugo Amaryl dies in middle age from overwork...all in all pretty bleak. But it brings everything around again. In the first book, Foundation, we see Seldon as a very old and feeble man confined to a wheelchair, and in this volume we see how he got to that point. But this novel does show how they set up the Foundation, and the Second Foundation, with the idea that the Foundation would focus on the physical sciences, and the Second Foundation would focus on the mental sciences.

I now have this …

Libbum reviewed Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Foundation, #7)

Review of 'Forward the foundation' on 'GoodReads'

4 stars

I'm excited for Foundation now. Forward was perhaps not as intriguing as Prelude, but it was quite a story. There were some points at the start that irked me a little - coming directly from the end of Prelude when Dors quite explicitly agreed she was a robot to the start of Forward where Hari is confused about her nature. Thankfully that's only a few paragraphs.

Asimov has managed to capture the complexities of following a person's life long ambition exceptionally well. There are no overly complex day to day explorations of specifics like say, Stevenson does in Seven Eves. However you do get the joy, dispare, hopelessness, pride, depression and confidence that Hari goes through.

Quite a nice read.

David reviewed Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov (The Foundation Novels, #7)

Review of 'Forward the foundation' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Holy cow.

I loved all of these books. I realize that they aren't perfect. It was still an amazing read. Thank you, Isaac.

Joao Trindade reviewed Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Foundation, #7)

Review of 'Forward the foundation' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Interesting but not great.

Bean reviewed Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Foundation, #7)

Review of 'Forward the Foundation' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

While 2nd in the Foundation series, it was written last of the Foundation novels, and it shows. It felt very much like an "in between" book.

I think I didn't like the frequent time jumps throughout the novel. There are 5 "sections" to the book, each one separated by about a decade. It reminded me of sitcom episodes - little events happen in each one of them, but everything is "reset" to a known good between them.

Certainly don't regret reading it, but from what others have said I'm looking forward to more from the remaining Foundation novels.