Rating: 
Summary: Foundation of Foundation
Review: Although I am an Asimov fan, this book was disappointing. As he explained, the sole purpose for this volume was to connect the dots in his previous Foundation series, but I am not sure why that was necessary and why it had to be so dry.Much of the dialogues are contrived and contain Asimov's musings about food, society and state of the Galaxy thousands of years from now. It is interesting that he projects the kind of social injustices and class struggles that dominated our political discourse during the cold war decades that far into the future. This theme of challenge of maintaining social order is common in most of his works. It would be so depressing if that were really the case for future civilizations that have supposedly solved so many of the fundamental problems of humanity. The plot does have a few pleasant surprises, especially at the end and one also detects the innocent romanticism of Asimov throughout. I do not think it is a must to read this book to enjoy the other books in the series; they were all very well done and memorable on their own.
Rating: 
Summary: An Exceptional Prelude
Review: Although it may be helpful to read the Foundation Trilogy and perhaps Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth before this prelude-and Forward the Foundation-this is an excellent read in whatever order you read it. The series is fantastic, and this prelude-which chornicles how Hari Seldon was introduced to psychohistory and the principal, early developments he made during the period of The Flight. It also introduces many of the important characters that later play a greater part in Forward the Foundation. The novel is very suspenseful indeed, and is notably fast-paced, which is a pleasant surprise from Asimov. There is a lot to look forward to, including several glimpses at the Galactic Empire while it still had the appearence of grandness, robots and the search for information about Earth, and two interesting surprises in the end, which involve a reunion with an old friend, if you have read another series by Asimov. This book is definitely as good as, if not better than, the three novels of the Foundation Triolgy. Read it!
Rating:
Summary: Best of the foundation
Review: Can't say enough about Isaac Asimov, reading 'Prelude' was a great experience and seeing the peak of life on Trantor. What was most fascinating was Daneel Olivaw's appearance. Many of you remember him from the Robot series. Harry Seldon's adventures start here; he is a very human and fallible subject (unlike the phrophesizing old man in Foundation.) I think you will find that this is the best of the foundation series and it'll be hard to put down
Rating: 
Summary: Philosophical Sci-Fi
Review: I liked this book, a genuine like. Most hard-core Sci-Fi-ers would probably be disappointed though. Most of the storyline takes place via the three main characters' dialogue, which means there is not a lot of descriptive rambling, nor is there detailed technical workings. This is the first Asimov book I have read; from it it is clear that Aismov's a philosopher/scientist.
The entire book deals with the main character's theory of "Psychohistory," which is something akin to a probability/prediction via historical generalizations. As the main character (Hari Seldon - a mathematician) wrestles with developing his theory, the book explores societal issues. The questions that are presented are relevant to learning and education, historical analysis, social & political manipulation, and the aims and purpose of scientific inquiry. However, please do not think that this is a dense book overwrought with esoteric philosophical musing. It is still a quick read. Along with "Sophie's World," this would make a great text for Philosophy in Literature courses. The text is really quite tame, PG-rated, if even that, so it would be fine for anyone high-school age and up!
Some problems: the characters adapt too quickly and comfortably with new things they are confronted with (particularly words and languages). Hari Seldon, while present constantly, is still a vague and undeveloped character who says some pretty "duh" things. I think this is because Asimov creates Hari via dialogue and not description. When you finish the book, you don't feel any sort of connection whatsoever with Hari or the other characters.
Nevertheless, the last 50 pages have a couple interesting "twists," which surprised me. But then, I like being surprised in books - and am open to the possibility. In general, I don't like figuring out the mystery before the main characters do.
Rating:
Summary: Stands on its own
Review: I want to give a Four star (for lack of character development) but the ideas Asimov works with and the way the story shifts and turns force me to give the exalted "five". The one thing I particularly liked about this book was that it was necessary to read the Foundation Trilogy to enjoy it. So many times, writers make the assumption that you have read all the other books of a series and present the reader with strange and unexplained ideas and people. One advantage Asimov had in writing this story was time. He had over 30 years to think about the original series and how it fit in with the other works. He also could update the science which made it much more believable. We are on Trantor and this is the story of Seldon, his fights, his studies, his love life (very high-level as in all Asimov novels) and his triumphs. Robots play a part in this prequel that they do not in the series itself for the obvious reason that Asimov had not yet come up with the idea of tying them together. After 30+ years he has most of the pieces in place and can manipulate them at will. The revelation of his "wife" was only too good.
Rating:
Summary: The beginning book of the famous Foundation series.
Review: In 1988, Asimov published a prequel to his famous Foundation series. He also uses this book to continue to tie in other novels that he had already written, most notably all of the robot stories, particularly involving R. Daneel Olivaw and Lije Baley, as well as "Pebble in the Sky" (1950) (in fact, in such a larger scheme, "Prelude to Foundation" follows "Pebble in the Sky" and precedes "Forward the Foundation" (1993)). In this novel, he finally uses Hari Seldon as a main character. A young assistant professor of mathematics, Hari Seldon, travels to the planet Trantor (the governing planet of the galactic empire) to present a paper at a convention on a new field he has begun referred to as psychohistory. In his paper, Seldon suggests that it might be theoretically possible to develop mathematical equations and techniques of analyses to predict, with strong statistical analysis, future events of human history on a broad scale (in which the discipline only is applicable to extremely large numbers of people). Asimov provides some hints that this field might use chaos theory as well, although he never uses that term. Seldon also believes that, while theoretically possible, it isn't practical. There are those, however, who believe that the galactic empire is collapsing and hope to use a developed psychohistory theory to help direct human society. Seldon finds himself running from the Emperor's agents and hiding in various different enclaves throughout the planet Trantor, and thus learning more and more about Trantor (those reviewers who criticize this trek are obviously missing its importance in the greater scheme of the series). He is attempting to find a smaller model of galactic populations that would allow him the ability to develop his theory. There are legends that tens of thousands of years ago, man had lived on only one planet: Earth. He is hoping to find some historical evidence for Earth and, in so doing, he discovers some surprising facts and events. I am probably unusual in that I enjoyed this book the most in the series. Perhaps its because I also live in an academic environment and see many similarities to Hari's problems. Asimov was obviously drawing on his own experiences.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing prequel to the classic trilogy
Review: Isaac Asimov was an author whose work exerted a seminal influence on modern SF. I read much of his work, including the original Foundation trilogy, when I was in high school and have recently begun to reread it. "Prelude to Foundation" was one that I had missed. Since it dealt with the events leading up to those of the original trilogy-namely Hari Seldon's development of psychohistory, I decided to read it first. I wish I hadn't.
"Prelude to Foundation " begins as a very naïve Hari Seldon, fresh from presenting a paper on the theoretical possiblity of psychohistory, is summoned to a meeting with the Emperor. The Emperor, and his top henchman would like to use psychohistory as a means to hold onto power. Soon afterwards, Hari is set upon by thugs and rescued, almost in deus-ex-machina fashion, by Chetter Hummin, a journalist with contacts. Hummin warns Hari of his Danger and arranges his flight from the Emperor's surveillance. The rest of the book follows Hari's progress through the various cultural enclaves of Trantor, as he tries to gather information to make psychohistory a reality and flees the Emperor's clutches. Through all of this, Hari is protected by Dors Venabili, a historian to whom Hummin has given the job of guarding the young mathematician.
"Prelude to Foundation" is one of Asimov's later works, written several decades after the publication of the original Foundation trilogy. The original trilogy was conceptually daring, with its exploration of the idea of scientifically predicting future events. Characterization, never Asimov's strong suit, didn't matter as much as the plot, since the novels were really shorter pieces linked together by a frame story. The novels were carried by the intellectual and philosophical premises underlying them. Unfortunately, "Prelude to Foundation" has most of the weaknesses and few of the strengths of Asimov's best work. The characters are wooden and, at times, stilted. Some of the different districts of Trantor through which Hari and Dors travel are potentially interesting, but there is little depth to them. Asimov's narration is too sketchy to permit adequate development of their intricacies. Although the book is supposed to depict the beginnings of pyschohistory, there's a shallowness to this as well. Hari makes some major discoveries about galactic history, but at times he makes them as a result of logical leaps that stretch believability.
"Prelude to Foundation" connects the dots between several of Asimov's earlier series and fills in details about Hari Seldon's background, but it's pedestrian SF by an author who was capable of better.
Rating:
Summary: 4 stars? Not even!
Review: Maybe its because I'm not much of a fan of Asimov, but I was disappointed in this book. Asimov's "Foundation" was OK 3.5/5 stars, but Prelude to Foundation was a very disappointing 2/5. Why? The plot is "super extra simple", Hari Seldon has no dimension to him (he functions like a thinking robot more than a human), and not much happens in the book. There are pages where Asimov's characters comment endlessly about how good the food is, but the commentary, while long, isn't even very descriptive so it turns out plain old boring. You never get much of a sense of the danger Hari is in. The only really fun part is when Hari gets stuck on the roof of Trantor and has to stay the night. But that's short lived, and in the end, you wish he'd been left up there to die. The only real interesting parts to the book are Asimov's commentary on science. His social commentaries, told through Hari Seldon are a total snorefest. I'm really suprised so many people liked this book. But I guess its because they are Asimov fans. If you're new to Sci Fi, or an Asimov fan, you might like it. If you're a sci fi veteran, you'll probably be disappointed like me. I would recommend instead, if you prefer a richer more complex and compelling Sci Fi tale, to pick up a copy of "Nova" by Samuel R. Delany, "Dune" by Frank Herbert, or "Revelation Space" by Alistair Reynolds - all three are excellent. Now I'm off to the bookstore to give "Hyperion" by Dan Simmons a try.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but not important
Review: The Foundation trilogy, written more than 50 years ago, was an amazing accomplishment in science fiction -- a construction of a galactic society of near-infinite complexity that also (as it happens) correctly anticipated the mathematization of the social sciences.
This 1988 novel is chronologically (although not in publication date) the first of the Foundation series, one of two prequels that fill in the back story of the Foundation trilogy. Its main goal is to bridge the Robot and Empire novels, while Forward the Foundation explains how the Foundation came to be in the dying days of the Empire.
The plot (such as it is) covers "The Flight" (as the Encyclopedia Galatica explains it), how Hari Seldon begins his psychohistory research and also makes a series of friends that will last the rest of his life. The Flight itself has as much plausibility as a typical 80s chase movie, with our heroes careening into yet another crisis, only to be saved (Deus ex Machina) to continue on to the next.
Both prequels deal with the flesh-and-blood exploits of Seldon, the mythological figure that overshadows the trilogy. As such, they offer insights into Seldon's character not available in the later books. But since the trilogy was written more than three decades earlier, such insights are superfluous to an understanding of the basic premise of the two foundations and psychohistory.
The book is somewhat more interesting as a travelogue across the various city-states of Trantor, and (like its sequel) in demonstrating the latent decline in the final days of the empire.
But along with the plot, the book also suffers by projecting (needlessly) details from today into the year 12,000 G.E. This includes allegorical commentaries on late 20th century U.S. social issues that demonstrate both a political correctness and contrived intrasocietal controversy that would be implausible to continue into an advanced civilization 20 millenia hence. Equally implausible are the mention of three distinct races within the human species continuing without impact from 600 generations of intermarriage, and age milestones of birth, puberty, marriage and death that (despite presumed advances in medicine) changed less in 200 centuries than they have in the past five.
The book fails badly to live up to the impact of the classic trilogy. Although it fills in some of the gaps, even for a hard-core Asimov fan (as I once was) there's nothing in it essential to understand the three core books (as 35 years of readers would attest). So it is more a curiosity, one of the final works of an incredibly prolific and influential author.
Rating:
Summary: only for devotees - otherwise, boring
Review: There is absolutely no development of the Trilogy concept here, and as such it is only character filler and not that coherent as a novel. Asimov knew what would sell, and he wrote some great stuff, but to be honest I thing he wrote WAY too much. THis is too much.
Not recommended.
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