Foundation

Rating:
Summary: Foundation - Are kids reviewing this?
Review: So many people like this book and have called it a "classic" - I felt I had to read it. I am not a hard-core sci-fi reader, but I did enjoy reading books by Herbert, Heinlein, Bradbury, and the like. So I though I'd give Asimov a chance. To my surprise, I didn't like this book at all.
I have read some bad books in my life, but this is the first bad book I bothered to read all the way through. I kept waiting for it to get better. I kept waiting for the "eureka" moment when I finally understood why everyone likes this book so much. It never happened, and when I finally came to the end of the book, I realized that Mr. Azimov stole a good two hours of my life and gave me NOTHING in return.
The story sounds interesting, and in the hands of another writer it may have bore fruit. Unfortunately, in Mr Asimoz's hands, the story falls flat in the implementation. Had the writing not been funny, I would have been completely bored. Of course, Mr. Azimov did not intentionally make me laugh - sadly, his understanding of the human condition appears to be based largely on old, cheap pulp fiction novels. The characters are completely one dimensional and unconvincing. I truly cannot understand why anyone would like this book - but calling it a classic is simply unbearable. I can only assume that most of the people reviewing this book favorably are children. In any case, they are certainly not familiar with truly good writing. My advice: avoid this book.

Rating:
Summary: excellent book, highly recommended`
Review: This was the first book I have read by Isaac asimov and I can say it was worth the wait. While this book is very old it is still an excellent read. Asimov presents a very convincing future for humanity. The book is broken into several sections that were originally short stories in a sci-fi magazine. They gel togethor perfectly and the overall story is wonderful. This book details Hari Seldon and his prediction of the fall the galactic empire and the rise of barbarism for 30000 years. He however thinks he can avert the disaster and only have 3000 years of barbarism in the galaxy. Based on this he sets up two seperate foundations that are supposed so achieve this goal. This book is focused on the first foundation and it's trials as the fall of the galactic empire begins.

THe characters in this book are good. While each section is short you really empathize with the characters and their lives. The plot is excellent some of the suprises he throws at you are quite extrodinary. My only complaint is some the terminology in this book is quite old and often times is quite funny to read. However the ideas, characters, and plot make up for the archaic wording in the book.

I would recommend this book to any science fiction fan!

Rating:
Summary: The First Part of One of the Finest Series of All Sci-Sci
Review: The Foundation Trilogy is my favorite sci-fi book series, and also my favorite work by asimov. The first book in the series, Foundation, is concerned primarily with two concepts. The first is the concept that history repeats itself over and over again, and that just as great empires fell in the past, the same problems will in the future aflict empires once they become too big. And naturally after the fall of a great empire, chaos ensues. The other concept this book describes is the theory that science and mathematics are capable of predicting the trends in complex systems such as large groups of people.

I am going to be honest. This book was revolutionary for its time, and a great many famous sci-fi writers were inspired after reading this book. I know that I personally could never look at world governments the same way after reading this book. It truly opens your eyes to tendancy of people to make the same mistakes over and over again, repeating the same patterns on a large scale. And not only is this book easy to read and greatly thought-provoking, it is also great fun. It uses Asimov's trademark style. Little violence, even less sex, but a great plot and lots of cool technology. If you take science fiction at all seriously, you owe it to your self to give this book a read.

Rating:
Summary: One of the worst things I've ever read
Review: This has to be one of the most over rated books (and series) of all time.

The dialog and character development is horrible. The characters have about as much depth as paper dolls. The language is about as colorful as a newspaper.

The ideas behind the novel may have been new and interesting 50 years ago, (although anyone familar with Wells, Huxley, or Verne would debate that), but now they are just tired and beaten like a dead horse.

Rating:
Summary: Still A Masterpiece After All These Years
Review: I am making my way through the original Foundation trilogy for the third time now, and I'm still gaining new appreciation for it. Fifty years after it first appeared, Asimov's Foundation series can still justifiably be called a classic. A clear influence on the Star Wars saga, and probably Star Trek as well, along with a large chunk of all science fiction that has come since. Sure there are a few things to quibble about with this series, and with this first book in particular. Asimov's vision of the distant future, with its nuclear reactors, microfilm communications, and picture phones, all seems ridiculously quaint today. As the story blasts through several decades, interchangeable characters come and go without making much of an impression, and this first book is so obviously part of a trilogy that it doesn't have a chance of standing on its own. But that's not the point, and by focusing on these quibbles you're missing the forest for the trees. Here Asimov has created a tremendous masterpiece of the imagination that is larger in scope than just about any other literary creation. The saga is built around the intriguing concept of psychohistory, in which the movements of huge masses of people can be accurately predicted over thousands of years (while it is still impossible to predict the actions of any one person). An ossifying empire, obviously based on the Roman Empire in its death throes, is on the verge of horrific collapse when the Foundation is created to subtly change the course of history behind the scenes, and gradually rises to prominence and tries to usher in a new golden age. The entire saga (not just this first book) takes place over a thousand years across a whole galaxy, while Asimov believably incorporates a full palate of psychology, politics, and sociology to lend the story credence. Still a masterpiece after all these years.

Rating:
Summary: Wow, I sure am WITTY
Review: The time frame in which the book takes place can best be described as "A Long time ahead, in a galaxy far far away". Yes, that is a cheesy Star Wars cliche. However, readers expecting anything star warsey about this should expect to be sorely disappointed. This book focuses primarily on politics. There is not one ounce of violence in the book, which is a good thing, it is a nice break from almost everyother contemporary scifi novel, which all seem to impress people with their space ships 'n' aliens. The book is very good, but sometimes does get a little boring. I suppose this may be my fault, as I do have a short attention span. Anyhow, this book does a few twists in it, as everything may not be what it seems with Hari Seldons dream!
So if you've been on the fringe of being a sci fi fan, but detest the embarassment of carrying around a book with giant robots on it, this book is for you.

Rating:
Summary: I used to love this book.
Review: When I was in junior high school, Asimov's Foundation Trilogy was my favorite science fiction. Recently, I picked it back up, and have had to revise my opinion somewhat.
First, in terms of character and plot development, Asimov certainly hadn't hit his stride when he wrote these books. The characters are cardboard cutouts--especially the female characters.
More importantly, Asimov uses the basic idea behind the series...that Hari Seldon created his "psychohistory plan" and launched it, invisibly determining the future of his Foundations for centuries...as a kind of magic box from which he pulls plot developments. This drains the story of dramatic tension. One knows from the get-go that it'll all work out in the wash. (In the second half of "Foundation and Empire" and "Second Foundation", Asimov had found a way out of this problem, by introducing a wild card in the deck.)
Finally, the book hasn't aged well. The technology forseen for his far-future galactic civilization seems positively "retro". Normally, this wouldn't be a problem...Orwell's 1984 is still an effective piece of fiction, even though it's 2002, and the world is far different from the world Orwell envisioned...but the Foundation books' other flaws just seem to make this worse.

Rating:
Summary: An incredible psycho-sociological science fiction novel...
Review: One of the BEST science fiction books I've ever read, as written by one of the best science fiction authors to live, Foundation is a wonderful look into a completely different universe than our own.
Foundation is based on a community of planets who have formed and Empire- A large collective society... One mathematician claims that it will collapse into the dark ages, and take 10,000 years to recover and rebuild... The foundation is formed in an attempt to reduce that time to 1,000 years by maintaining the knowledge of the present. While acting as a terrific science fiction setting and story, Foundation also serves as a very deep look into society as a whole, and how predictable a society is. The social implications of each major crisis as it occurs is aptly predicted and accounted for, which proves largely entertaining and intriguing...
This is a must read for any science fiction fan, historian, or sociologist... It's well written and imaginative with engaging ideas and concepts true only to Asimov.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding series opener, A MUST READ
Review: Ah Foundation, this is perhaps one of the best and highly original works of Dr. Asimov. I was impressed that a man of only 20 could come up with such a creative vision of the future, it was not only the very distant future but one aside from most of the common stereotypes. This books plot line was excellent, he sounded like he really knew what he wanted from the get go, and not make it up as he went along. If i had to change a thing, it would be; i would like to see some of these characters come to a complete close, I'm not saying that i would like to put a stop to the big gaps through time, but make the characters have a little more closure.
I think that you will get a lot out of this book as far as understanding plain human nature, it shows that no matter how far you go into the future there are some human characteristics that will never go away such as faith and greed. Foundation really opens a door for science fiction, especially in the two books remaing in the trilogy, you should definatly read those, as for the other four, that is your choice, i would read the reviews before reading them.
As for Foundation, it is an excellent book, the characters are as defined as well as can be for the time alotted for them to portray the story. This is a must read epic that spans almost a thousand years (if you read the whole series) ENJOY!

Rating:
Summary: The essence of Asimov
Review: Foundation is a landmark in science fiction, and epitomizes the best of what Isaac Asimov stood for. This book proves that you don't have to have a lot of sex and mindless violence ("-the last refuge of the incompetent") to make a book suspenseful and a page-turner. The book is entirely without action and romance in the normal sense, and consists almost entirely of dialogue. What makes it so interesting is the ideas (and reversals of ideas) that it presents, in all their aspects, subsequently debates, and solves. It has an aura of almost detective story fascination with regards to political ideas. What is interesting is that the book takes a pacifistic approach to politics, and thereby forces itself to present a plausible solution to occurring problems (say, rebellion, anarchy, and war) without degrading into violence. Each self-contained story (the book is not a novel, but a collection of stories that were originally published stand-alone) is therefore a sort of logic puzzle (much the same, in principle, as Isaac's Robot stories) that you must delve into and accede all its ramifications, and come out with an answer that will work, without using violence. It's a credit to Asimov that he could not only achieve this, but make it interesting, and, indeed, arresting. This is an essential science fiction read, and perhaps Asimov's apex.