Foundation

Rating:
Summary: You'll probably either hate it, or love it.
Review: Many consider Foundation a Sci-Fi classic, while others concider it a poorly written, boring piece of something I really shouldn't mention by name.
I personally fall within the first category, I liked this book a lot. But although I myself loved this novel and its sequels, I do can imagine why other people simply hated it.

Those who don't like it usally refer to the fact that there is virtually no character development, no action of any kind whatsoever, and that the technology used seems outright "retro" (nuclear trashcans and the like).
All of this critism is undoutably true. Since this book is actually a collection of a series of short stories, and all of those are about different eras in the history of the Foundation, Asimov has to replace most of his characters every 50 to 100 pages which leaves room nor reason for descent characters.
And since the story focusses promary on events in the future "history" of mankind and the reasons they take place, most of what happens is people talking to other people, with only small references to battles, wars, and sofort.
Finally, lest not forget that these stories were written when the last century was only halfway over. Nuclear trashcans, atomic guns, and typwriter-isch computers were perfectly plausable back then.

The point I am trying to make with this review is that this book is about a subject that simply isn't everybody's cup of tea. Foundation is nowhere near as accessible as Sci-Fi series such as Star Wars, Star Trek, or Babylon 5 (all good series in their own right). Or even like the more famous classic Sci-Fi novels such as "2001: a Space Oddessy", "1984", or "Dune".
If you like juggling with logic and stories of people trying to make sense of their situations, then you're probably going to liove it.
However, if you're more into character development, scientific discovery, or action, I wouldn'd recommend reading this novel. You'll probaly just get bored to tears.

Rating:
Summary: Nice book - that's it
Review: The Foundation saga is one of the most widely-known sci-fi series ever published. Started in the 1940's with this book, Foundation, Asimov continued the series up through the 1980's, at which point he was being basically threatened by fans to continue writing to satiate their reading interest.

Foundation's setting is in the far-future, when planets have not only been discovered and colonized, but millions of planets have been organized into a Galactic Empire that spans thousands os star systems. Hyper-industry and nuclear power form the core to this civilization, which seems to have an endless grasp on the future of civilization.

That is, until Hari Seldon, a scientist, discovers the science of psychohistory, by which future events can be predicted based on calculations of human behavior. He foresess the collapse of the Empire based on inevitable social, political, and economic forces. He devises a plan to save humankind from an imminent dark age by instituting a scientific Foundation at the edge of the galaxy.

This premise is what drew me to the read the book. What exciting prospects! The opportunity to plumb the mind of the genous Hari Seldon. To get a closer look at this Galactic Empire, whose proportions were mindboggling. To understand, at a more nuts and bolts level, this "psychohistory." To see what Hari Seldon has up his sleeve.

Unfortunately, though the book provides an historical fiction that encompasses 300 years of life after Hari Seldon, and introduces leaders of his Foundation that are memorable for their nerve and intellect, some of the imaginative possibilities, such as most of those mentioned above, are not fully realized. I am not sure if they are realized in other books of the series, but I guess that's for someone else to comment on.

Foundation came to me highly recommended. I am not new to science fiction, but I have not read that much of this genre. I was looking forward to something that would really blow my mind away. Though I admired several things about the book and thought it was a nice read, I am not going to read the other books in this series. Coming away from this book, I felt it was good, but not much more. There were several ways in which I clearly found the book to be lacking in addition to the brevity of focus on Hari, a good discussion of psychohistory, or much emphasis on the Galactic Empire.

Though Asimov's style is surely concise and highly readable, he views plot as the central element to his writing, at the expense of other aspects of great fiction that really should have been incorporated. I will outline these at length because it appears that the book's praises are already sung widely.

First, there is not much character development. Characters are presented merely to accomplish a historical event in the flow of the story. We get a feel for the characters not as real people, but as actors on the stage of world history. Though the reader admires the nerve and intellect behind each of these heroes (there are 5 heroes that are portrayed in the generation following Hari), there is little else that makes them interesting. While this kind of presentation of characters may work in movie adaptations or history textbooks, I like to view my characters as a little more than men-at-work. Everybody is always scheming, there's not much downtime or description of what day-to-day life is like with these guys so far in the future, such far-off planets. The dialogue is great, though, and that's part of the reason the book is a quick read.

Secondly, there is a lack of real meaning or symbolism that defines great books. There's not much refelction on the part of the narrator, or poignancy. The closest we get to intrinsic meaning is the interesting description of the false religion that a protagonist, Salvor Hardin, invents in order to undermine the economy of a neighboring state. Religion is also used to manipulate other planets. Hard to swallow, this helps us understand what the author probably thinks about organized religion. The book is also full of cute phrases that portray the all-importance of technology in Asimov's future: characters say things like, "What in the name of space?" or "Thank space!" The all-importance of nuclear energy also seems like propaganda to get ther reader to "understand" how important it will be in our era, with no attention paid to other kinds of fascinating technology that may exist in the future, such as super-intellect, robotics, biotechnology, etc. Not only are technology and politics the deepest material this book touches, but even the technology the book introduces is not very interesting. With the exception of his brilliant description of the mother planet Trantor, the only thing different between this far off future and nowadays is the ability to jump through space.

Thirdly, romance does not play a role in the book. There are no women in the book, which means there can be no romantic intrigue, or world events influenced by a woman. Also in the true spirit of what the word "romance" conveys, there is no sense of wonder and excitement that a reader surely hopes to get when they enter an author's imagination. The landscape of these far-off worlds is sparesly and hardly described. We spend much of our time in staterooms. Though, admittedly, Asimov's grasp of political personalities is astounding.

On the other hand, if you like books that are centered on brilliant leaders of nation-states and how their decisions affect the course of history, you will like this book. If you are fascinated by the economic, political, and sociological macroforces that shape history, you will like this book. If you're more about the game and the moves than the players, you will like this book.

Rating:
Summary: I almost read the whole thing!!!
Review: 50,000 years in the future and they are still smoking cigarettes, reading newspapers, the main power source is nuclear energy..and they carry nuclear guns??? A kid in the 2nd grade has more imagination!

I almost made it to the end. It had gotten so absurd that it finally just drifted off to a shelf....

What I didn't like:

1) Lack of imagination (see above).

2) Cardboard characters. Nobody to really cheer for..either the character is a pencil necked geek or some babbling fool.

3) False religion mumbo jumbo: never would of worked IF most/all
the priests new it was a farce.

Avoid unless you need something to stoke the fire with next winter.

Rating:
Summary: Foundation is the best
Review: Let's get started with one of the most celebrated science fiction sagas of all time: Foundation. originally Asimov wrote it in form of a trilogy: Foundation, foundation and empire and the second foundation, to be read in that order. Then Asimov expanded his "foundation universe" to tie it with his "robot universe" by adding 2 more novels to the series: Foundation's edge and foundation and earth. All these 5 books are a must read if you consider yourself a sci-fi fan. Besides there are 2 more books: prelude to foundation and forward to the foundation, which must be read before actual 5 novels. It's quite a complex maze. It will also help if you are familier with Asimov's robot series. But you can nevertheless read only the 5 foundation books as a standalone and still enjoy them greatly.

So what is foundation (as in neo asks in matrix)? Well foundation is the fictional name of a futuristic society, which is founded by a great scientist called hari seldon. In Asimov's foundation, humanity has expanded over the galaxy, hyperspace travels have advanced and an "empire" rules over millions of planets in the galaxy. The "empire' has seen its best days and is living in the relic of its past glory, a.k.a. it is crumbling. However all phegmatic rulers, the rulers of the empire refuse to accept their weakness. However Hari seldon, through his scientific and mathematical eyes, predicts that empire will soon crumble and humanity will be reduced to abject barbarism for a long time.

On the preset of this plot, hari seldon establishes "foundation" to save the humanity.

Ok, let us not delve too much into the plot as I am not playing spoiler. Why should you read Asimov? Apart from foundation being one of the greatest sci-fi saga, you can find several refreshing ideas, which have been adopted ubiqutously by most sci-fi series later. Take star trek, star wars, dune, even the most recent matrix, everyone borrows heavily from Asimov. Asimov not only introduced scientific concepts of hyperspace travel, he also introduced the concept of "control", which is used heavily especially in matrix. throughout his foundation saga, one is left wondering "who is the ultimate master?" the answers come as you keep reading through the novel.

Asimov also explains a futuristic society in its sociology, politics, power struggle and human nature. No other sci-fi writer has cared too much to explore how a society will behave in future. Asimov stands unique in that respect.

I would highly recommend all 5 foundation books.

Rating:
Summary: A classic tale of civilizations
Review: This is the first book in the famous Foundation trilogy. The story is simple. It's over 50,000 years in the future and humans have spread throughout the whole galaxy, with millionsof worlds and quintillions of people united by an Empire. However, the empire is crumbling.

Enter Hari Seldon, the pioneer of psycho-history - a kind of complete, mathematical social science that uses statistical averages and modelling to predict social trends in large populations for thousands of years to come. Hari's studies show that the collapse of the empire is invevitable. However, if he takes action now, the period of suffering before the next empire might be decreased from 30,000 years to 1000. So, he establishes two foundations on opposite sides of the galaxy to follow his master plan. This book is the story of the first foundation.

As a work of literature, expect no marvels of prose or metaphor. Most of the chapters are dialogue between people. There is also little characterisation and a blatant disregard for the "show, don't tell" rule of writing. All of these things are there because the trilogy covers hundreds of years. As such, this novel is divided into 5 books with a gap of decades or centuries between each. The whole text is very episodic as we watch an entire civilisation emerge from a modest group of scientists to a powerful force in the outskirts of the galaxy.

So, the concepts of the book were what I found interesting. Of course, the whole premise that human history can be mathematically be mapped out as a kind of law of averages seems ridiculous to me. I don't think that Asimov believed that either - he just saw it as an interesting idea for a story. The great Hari Seldon maps out the future history of the Foundation, ensuring that it basically has one cosmic path to follow - one which will end in laying the seeds for the new Galactic Empire.

The first book details with around the first 200 years of the foundation, as several crises are encountered by individuals as forces of history. With few military resources, the leaders are forced to rely on their wit. I'm onto the second book now so should find out if that wit was enough.

A great read in that you'll find in interesting even if you aren't a great science fiction fan - it has very unique perspectives social "science" and what makes a civilization.

Rating:
Summary: Very good anthology
Review: The first book in Asimov's Foundation Series is actually an anthology of stories tracing the formation of the Foundation to its growth into a competitor of the Galactic Empire. The premise is simple, its execution complex: the Galactic Empire has started to decay even though the Empire itself denies the truth. Hari Seldon is a psychohistorian whose mathematical theories of historical psychology have allowed him to determine when the Empire will crumble and the probabilities of the aftermath. To avoid a Dark Age, he sets up the Foundation at the outer edge of the galaxy to preserve the knowledge of humanity. The stories in Foundation deal with the formative years of the Foundation and its growth from an (outwardly) academic's and historian's interest into a power on (and behind) the galactic stage guiding humanity's redevelopment.

Cleverly written and plotted with quick-moving events and the interesting theory that humanity's future for hundreds and thousands of years can be predicted based on probable outcomes. This is the foremost intellectual, yet generally accessible, science fiction series ever written. The lone drawback is that Asimov did not finish it before he died.

Rating:
Summary: Future history
Review: I first read this book maybe 20 years ago, when I was more accustomed to 'action' sci-fi replete with ray guns and space ships and trying to guess how such technology shaped society (a la Larry Niven, to name one). This book is more like an historical novel, or a future history, like reading Gibbons or Kennedy. What is particularly astounding about this work, which he first published in 1951 at age 31, is Asimov's ability to scale- from the drama of a handful of individuals to the seminal events of the last decades of the ancient, galaxy-wide empire (which does not even remember its Earthly origin!). Unlike Heinlein's _Citizen of the Galaxy_ or _Friday_ (or many others) we do not follow the story of a single person or family in the backdrop of a civilization, but rather, the original Foundation trilogy makes both the individuals as well as the whole history of the galactic empire come alive in an extremely concise work. Here, the context is just as important as the characters, a scaling rarely seen elsewhere. This is the book's greatest strength- which becomes one of its weaknesses: To be sure, and Asimov himself admitted as much about sci-fi in general, the characterizations are not terribly deep. Much time, he has written elsewhere, is required to build the context of the worlds that sci-fi writers create, with little time left to build characters to any depth. But we are watching the fall of worlds, so the relatively shallow characters may be overlooked.

A must read among the classics of sci-fi.

Rating:
Summary: A psychohistorical futureworld inspired by Edward Gibbon
Review: In a preface written in 1982 for a volume collecting the original "Foundation" trilogy, Asimov recalled the sources of inspiration for the series and boasted, "Why shouldn't I write of the Galactic Empire and of the return of feudalism. . . ? After all, I had read Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' not once, but twice."

Edward Gibbon's influence is certainly obvious in "Foundation." A galactic empire, centered in Trantor (a celestial Rome), is on the verge of collapse. During the Dark Ages that follow, the surviving remnants at the extreme borders of the galaxy initially maintain control by creating a religion that hides scientific knowledge behind theological mysteries and by training a caste of priests to monopolize this learning. Asimov, however, goes beyond the period covered by Gibbon (who ended his masterwork with the age of the Crusades): when new and powerful rulers challenge the priestly authority, an upstart mercantile class--the Medicis and Borgias of the galactic future--gain the upper hand.

Yet "Foundation" is hardly a history lesson; Asimov simply channeled his understanding of medieval and Renaissance Europe into a series of intriguing stories, what might instead be described as "psychohistorical" and sociopolitical thrillers. In the opening chapter, during the dying days of the Empire, Hari Seldon studies "psychohistory"--a kind of societal (but not individual) determinism based loosely on the idea that broad historical trends are cyclical and predictable. Aware that he cannot prevent the fall of the Empire, Seldon uses his learning to chart a course for the preservation of knowledge and an accelerated re-creation of a Second Empire. (Asimov had no way of knowing, of course, that psychohistory would later become a legitimate field of academic research by such scholars as Peter Gay.)

Each of the five episodes in the book reads like a tautly played game of political chess in which the winner is inevitably the visionary who is not wedded to traditional moves and who is patient enough to wait for his opponent to make the first mistake. The suspense is developed almost exclusively from the "cold war" tension between rival forces: there's not much action in "Foundation," and (as other readers have noted), the lengthy dialogue is spotty and the "character development" is pretty much nonexistent (although the same could surely be said about such sci-fi classics as "2001" and "The Time Machine"). But if you like your science fiction a tad cerebral, you'll find much to admire in Asimov's first major work.

Rating:
Summary: I know why this is a classic...
Review: This is the first book I read by the author Asimov. I know there are many more famous books from him like the Robots collections and Foundation. I picked this one for the first book simply because this is the first entry to the Foundation series, on a chronological sense. I must say surprisingly, this is a very easy-to-read (compare to Dune, Lord of the Ring, etc), but exciting, and full-of-surprises book. At times, it also gives us thoughful issues (e.g. can we 'predict' the future?), which is what we are anticipating from a sci-fi. I know from many many readers that Foundation is the best among all the volumes, but I can imagine that this is already an enjoyable read, I cannot imagine how exciting the Foundation book will be. It also thrills me to read all other series (Robot, Empire, etc) so as to get a full understanding of the history under Asimov's reign. I recommend this one to everyone who has never touch Asimov's work before.

Rating:
Summary: A Sci Fi Classic, and Rightly So
Review: Asimov was one of the incredible path-breakers for science fiction, and the Foundation books are thought by many to make up one of the best and most far-reaching series of the entire genre. While Asimov was a biochemist by trade, he certainly understood the circular pattern of human history, regardless of the amount of technology available to mankind.

Foundation is about the fall of the Galactic Empire that has ruled for times immemorial (so long, in fact, that the memory of the legendary "Earth" is but a myth). The Empire's fall will obviously result in much chaos as the wheels of law struggle to beat back the inevitable barbarians who rise to loot and pillage (rather than rebuild) the riches of the old Empire. All of this seems a rather bleak future for humanity, yet Asimov is a hopeless optimist (at least in my eyes) in that he sees the resilience of people as ever reaching. The Foundation series is therefore a group of novels about the ways in which humanity restores itself even after all seems lost.

"Foundation", the first novel in the series, focuses on a colony formed by one who foresees the destruction of the Empire, a man named Hari Seldon. Seldon therefore attempts to minimize the effects of the collapse by building a community made up of intellectuals called the "Foundation". The book is divided into three separate stories at completely different times in the history of Seldon's paradise, one at the formation of the Foundation, another at its troublesome infancy, and the last at the time that the Foundation becomes economically independent (it becomes internally capitalistic and externally somewhat imperialistic). Each story rather stands alone and, while the last is somewhat disappointing, each is worthy in its own right.

Highly recommended; if you don't read this book, you can't understand science fiction as a genre.