Foundation

Rating:
Summary: Still A Classic
Review: This is the first of the three novels in the original "Foundation Trilogy". The trilogy is similar to "I, Robot", in that the novels are created out of shorter fiction that was first published in "Astounding Science Fiction" in the 1940's. It was first published by Gnome Press in 1951. A trimmed down version was published under the title "The 1,000 Year Plan" by Ace books in the 1950s.

While certainly a classic and important to setup the series, "Foundation" is easily the weakest of the three novels. Consisting of five parts, four of which are taken from the shorter fiction from years before, it covers a large period of time in a relatively short amount of space. In addition, the stories are fairly short, and it is rare for a character to appear in more than one. As a result, there is little in the way of character development in this book. The subsequent novels ("Foundation And Empire" and "Second Foundation") are each comprised of just two works of shorter fiction, and thus do not suffer as much in this area.

The sections of "Foundation" are:

"The Psychohistorians" - This is the story of Gaal Dornick who has come to the capital of the Empire, Trantor to work with Hari Seldon. This story introduces the key concepts of the series; introducing the reader to Psychohistory, the Empire, and the purpose of the Foundation. It is unique among the sections of this book, in that it was written specifically for the novel and was not published previously.

"The Encyclopedists" - In this story, the Foundation becomes separated from the Empire, and is threatened by its neighbors, the Anacreonians. It is in this story that the citizens of the Foundation find out their real purpose, having believed before that they were sent there to create a Galactic Encyclopedia to preserve man's knowledge. This was first published in part as the novelette "Foundation" in "Astounding Science Fiction" in May of 1942.

"The Mayors" - This story is closely tied to "The Encyclopedists", and there are some of the same characters. Once again the Foundation is threatened by the Anacreonians; however, this time the Foundation uses its technological expertise to avert the crisis. This story also introduces the use of `Priests' to spread the influence of the Foundation. This was first published as the novelette "Bride and Saddle" in the June 1942 edition of "Astounding Science Fiction".

"The Traders" - This story is about the use of trade to expand the influence of the Foundation. More specifically, it is about an agent of the Foundation who has been imprisoned on Askone, a planet that prohibits the use of the Foundation's devices. This was first published in the October 1944 edition of "Astounding Science Fiction" as the short story "The Wedge".

"The Merchant Princes" - This is a more complicated and involved story than the others included in this book. A merchant trader, Hober Mallow, goes in search of several missing Foundation ships, discovering evidence of the old Empire. More important though, is the struggle for power within the Foundation which results in the abandonment of religion in favor of economics as the source of expanding the influence of the Foundation. This was first published as the novelette "The Big And The Little" in the August 1944 edition of "Astounding Science Fiction".

The trilogy has been recognized by readers and critics alike over the years. In 1952, it was rated as the 15th best book overall by the Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll. It moved up to 12th on the same poll in 1956, and then to 1st in 1966. In 1975 it was ranked 6th on the Locus poll for All-Time Novels. In 1987 it was 6th on the same poll for SF Novels. In 1998 it was ranked 4th on the same poll for novels before 1990. It also received the 1966 Hugo for All-Time Series, beating out Tolkien's "The Lord Of The Rings", Smith's "Lensman", Heinlein's "Future History", and Burroughs' "Barsoom" series for the award.

Rating:
Summary: Foundation By Isaac Asimov
Review: I always enjoy reading Isaac Asimov's writing, and foundation was no exception. The plot is imaginative and original, like much of Asimov's writing. Foundation is set in the future, a time when our galaxy is ruled by a failing empire. Hari seldon, a psychologist, must prevent the galaxy from falling into anarchy and barbarism by creating a foundation of scientists. Foundation is fun to read, and provides ample entertainment. I recommend reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Must read science fiction
Review: Originally written in the 1950's for serial publication, the Foundation Trilogy (and the additional books written in the series) is often hailed as Asimov's greatest achievement. Certainly, the original trilogy is high on my list of "must read" science fiction.

The Foundation Trilogy presents us with a universe controlled by the Galactic Empire. The Empire has governed the known universe for tens of thousands of years and appears to be at the zenith of its power. But the Empire is burdened by the weight of the bureaucracy needed to govern millions of worlds. Trantor, the administrative seat of the Empire is a planet completely covered by buildings. A vast, planet-wide city, it houses the millions of functionaries necessary to administer the Empire. As wealthy and as powerful as the Empire seems, disaster is just around the corner. However, only one man, Hari Seldon, is able to recognize the Empire's impending doom.

Hari is a mathematician who has developed the breakthrough field of Psychohistory. Psychohistory is the mathematical process by which the actions of people can be predicted in advance. This science does not work for predicting individual behavior, but instead predicts the behavior of a mass of humanity (billions of people). By analyzing the Empire with Psychohistorical methods, Hari has determined that the Empire will crumble within 500 years, plunging the known universe into barbarism that will prevent a new Empire from arising for 30,000 years!

Fortunately, Hari has developed a plan that, if executed, will curtail the period of galactic decay to a mere 1,000 years. However, it is unclear whether Hari can persuade the Emperor to allow him to move forward with his plan. Can Hari and his fellow scientists save the universe? Or will the shortsighted aims of a greedy, grasping Emperor derail their plans?

Although these works are science fiction, they would probably not be classed as "hard" science fiction. There is some necessary discussion of scientific principles, but not enough to bore any "technophobes" who may be reading the novels. The trilogy focuses mainly on the people involved in the Seldon plan, as opposed to the technology being used by them. Asimov always enjoyed speculating on how people would evolve and react to advanced technology and he lets his imagination run wild here.

Two significant milestones were achieved with this work. First, Asimov became one of the first writers to theorize that atomic power would revolutionize society. Second, I believe Asimov was the first to present a planet that was entirely covered by buildings. The universe he creates is engaging and filled with fascinating, believable characters. Since the books were serialized, many chapters (especially in the first volume) contain complete plot lines and make the book easy to read if you need to break up your reading time into small increments. Lots of political intrigue and maneuvering keeps the action flowing through all three books.

Foundation sets the stage for the rest of the series. Hari Seldon is introduced and his theories of Psychohistory are explained. Then Seldon's Foundation is established on Terminus, a remote planet at the edge of the Empire, with the goal of shortening the period of barbarism the universe will experience. However, there are no Psychohistorians located in the Foundation... only scientists. The planet has very few native metals and virtually no defenses. The scientists must figure out how to rule their world and fend off avaricious neighbors as the Empire begins to crumble. The majority of this first volume contains vignettes chronicling the Foundation leaders responding to various crises that Hari Seldon predicted centuries before. The crises are varied and plausible. The solutions to the problems that arise are not solved by any miraculous means, but by tough, clever political maneuvering. Watching the crises and their solutions unfold is very enthralling and keeps you turning the pages at a rapid pace.

There is something here for everyone to enjoy. If you have never read this fine trilogy, buy a copy today. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Few deserve 5 stars...
Review: People like to throw five star reviews at just about anything. I suppose they feel that almost everything written is as good as it gets. Foundation is one that deserves all five stars.

It's a classic. The premise is intriguing. The story unwinds brilliantly over three books. Don't expect to read The Foundation alone. It does leave you hanging. The next two books in the trilogy are a must.

This is one of a handful of solid, enduring works that will be enjoyed long after other works fade off the lists...


Rating:
Summary: This is both the best science fiction story and series ever
Review: The writing is hard and cynical. Characters are intelligent and clear. There is scant attention paid to emotional content or the softer virtues. The writing is clear and precise. The premise of the story is simple: civilization is decaying in the future. A colony is set up on the periphery of the known universe.
This colony emerges as a society and faces challenges to both it's growth and survival. There's a clever premise to raise the stakes a bit; this society is the Foundation of a new Galactic Empire, created to close the gap of a fifty-millenia barbarity.


Rating:
Summary: Great Trip Around the Stars
Review: I have not readf the Foundation series in years. However, the other day I was thinking about how much fun the trilogy had been. One has to remember that most of the scifi you read today has at least some of its roots based in Asimov's work, Asimov was not the best writer, nor was he the most creative. What he did accomplish was selling you another time and world that you could believe in. So, taking it for what it is, not a great piece of literature but a really enjoyable trip, i need to give the trilogy 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Superman sydrome and weak characterization
Review: I can understand why this book is considered one of the best science fiction books ever written, especially considering the time period it was written in. It has a very interesting concept of destination and cause and effect (although it is weak in execution and very weak in explanation). For these reasons and other I should only give this book a one star, but instead I gave it two and I will explain why later.

There is almost zero character development in this book. The extremely short chapters jump thirty years to eighty years and more between chapters. Almost every "book" within this book has a new set of characters with only a few references of the "heroes" from the previous "books." At times, this makes for very confusing reading because I had no idea who the new people were in the successive chapters.

As mentioned in the title, this book suffers greatly from the Superman sydrome. By this I mean that you know the outcome before the events have unfolded. Superman can't be beat (except for by Doomsday in the comics but he comes back anyway) and therefor when watching the movies you know he wins. So there just has to be more elaborate plans and more complex ways of defeating him but he still will win. The same is true with the foundation. Harry Seldon, the prophet who esentially created the foundation, knew what was going to happen because he could see the future. Every "book" in "Foundation" will ultimately see the Foundation as the victor, so there just must be more complex problems arising, but of course the Foundation will ultimately prevail. And in this book, the problems are not really that complex, just different social economies arising to counter the previously established social economy that prevailed in the previous "book." I can only imagine that in the later books the problems will get ridiculously complex - maybe even too complex for enjoyment.

Because this book has almost zero characterization and is very predictable I would give this book one star, but instead I gave it two. The reason for this is because I have read the backs of the other books in the Foundation series and other reviews of them and I am interested in the storyline. I want to read about the Mule in Foundation and Empire, and I want to read about Earth in Foundations Edge. If not for that this book would recieve a one star rating from me and I would also never recommend this book or ever pick it up again.

It may be a classic, but it's not that great. It's not great at all.

Rating:
Summary: The crown jewel of post WWII SF series
Review: Start here then go to The Gods Themselves
Then bring on Heinlein and all the others.

Rating:
Summary: Waste of time;Stick to Robot novels.
Review: This book is one of the most overrated books I have ever read. There is very little in the way of plot and character development. There is no climax in this book. The book reads like a historical record, similar to Tolkiens Silmarillion, rather than an actual story. If you like reading historical records, you may like this book. If you are looking for an exciting novel.... better luck elsewhere.