Rating: 
Summary: Read or be visionless.
Review: The original Foundation trilogy won the Hugo for the best series of all time. It deserved it. For those who like "hard" (science-driven) sci-fi as opposed to emotion-driven sci-fi, this is a must. Actually, the premise is not as outrageous as it first appears... We can all vaguely predict the general reaction of the human race to a certain idea, which means it does follow some rules. It would be difficult, but not impossible, to find some generalised maths to describe it, but the rewards would certainly justify it.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic
Review: If you haven't read this or the other two books in the original trilogy, you're in for a treat. This series is almost 50 years old but still among the best SF stories ever
Rating:
Summary: An intriguing suspense filled novel...
Review: This book is a masterpiece of science fiction. I read this a long time ago when I was 13 or 14, but still recall it vividly. It is a real page-turner. I also recommend Prelude to Foundation, which is sometimes skipped by readers jumping into the series.
Rating:
Summary: "Classic" is an understatement
Review: I liked Star Wars. But for those of us who knew and loved the Foundation trilogy as one of the greatest masterpieces in all of science fictiondom, it was galling to hear the misplaced accolades heaped on the movie lauding its originality.Asimov's seminal universe was created decades before Lucas's derivative one, and Lucas shamelessly lifted whole passages of ideas, themes and settings from Asimov. The idea of a galactic empire; the conflict between an established empire and a fledgling but vital upstart; a world-girdling city at the heart of galactic government; a noble elite with incredible mental powers; a mysterious antagonist possessing the same mental powers but directed towards dark conquest; even the robots are there (albeit from a different Asimov source). I mention these things not to disparage Star Wars but to elevate Asimov. Today, it is too easy to forget just how original and inspiring the Foundation trilogy was when it first appeared in print. In the intervening decades, lesser imitators have copied, twisted and diluted the original story so often that its brilliance has been buried under mountains of mediocre muck. This trilogy has so much going for it that it is hard to know where to begin. For one thing, it is tautly written. Asimov would tend towards bombast later in life, but not here. For another, it sustains bold visions and landscapes of truly cosmic proportions. It also strikes the right note in setting the lives of a group of protagonists against a backdrop of immense historical forces. In so doing, it attains the weight of epic. Mostly, it astounds us with the sheer power of its imagination. I have already alluded to its many firsts, but it is what Asimov does with these firsts - the subtle way he folds them into the very substance of his story - that distinguishes this work. Take the theme of psychohistory. Asimov coined this term for his premise that all of human behaviour is reducible to a complex set of mathematical equations. He translates this abstraction into a storyline that is so compelling that we never think to question the outlandishness of his premise. This is science fiction at its finest: the marriage of science with fiction, all done with such consummate skill - the one merging so seamlessly into the other - that we are never aware of where the one ends and the other begins. Do not pass up the opportunity to read this trilogy. In the science fiction universe, it is the work of a grand master at the height of his calling.
Rating:
Summary: If you love Sci-fi, this is a must read!
Review: I had read Foundation when I was in High School and I decided to revisit the book later. Last summer I revisited the book and by the end of the summer I had read all of the books in the series. Asimov had combined 3 series into one leading to 15(?) books. I can't remember how many I read. I even checked out the Foundation books written by "the Killer B's." Read this book. It is a pillar of Sci-fi as is his "I, Robot." There is a reason that these books were in contention with Tolkien for the Sci-fi series of the century. Foundation is a wonderful starting point for an engaging series. If you decide to read the "series." Understand that he took 3 different series, his robot series, foundation series, and the empire series and combined them to create a vision of future history. Few authors have tried to create a series in such a grand scale and Asimov is the master of grand scale. Only the empire series (which is currently out of print) feels outdated. Yet, all parts must be read to truly enjoy the second foundation trilogy. If you want to get your feet wet with Asimov, start here or with his "I, Robot."
Rating:
Summary: Science Fiction Masterpiece
Review: Besides his Robot stories and novels, Foundation stands as one
of the greatest science fiction novel written by the late Isaac
Asimov. By mixing properly the future, humanity and the sociopolitical
development of our race on a galactic span using the decline of
the Roman Empire as a base, Asimov tells us a story of one man's
struggle and the product of its stubborness in following stories. This book is a must for anyone, genre fan or not, I guarantee
you will read it more than once in your lifetime.
Rating:
Summary: a creative take on the future
Review: Throughout the past 12,000 years, the Galactic Empire has been expanding from Trantor, its capital planet, throughout the galaxy. How humans found Trantor, or where Earth is (and other questions about Earth), are currently unanswerable. All that is known is that this empire, which controls billions of worlds, is in a permanent social and political recession -- in other words, it is dying. Hari Seldon, reknowned psychohistorian (AKA scientist who predicts future trends) has predicted that 30,000 years will pass before a second Galactic Empire will rise. To shorten the dark age to 1,000 years, he has created a Foundation - a group of people dedicated to preserving knowledge - on the edge of the galaxy in the hope that they will share their knowledge after the fall of the Galactic Empire and create a new, and greater, Galactic Empire. Foundation is divided into four stories, which go through history from Seldon's project through the ascent of the Foundation. Taking concepts from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Foundation is an extraordinary book and is strongly recommended to all readers of science fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Mind-blowing!
Review: The Foundation series is Sci-Fi's grandest and most accessible epic. Asimov's writing style focuses on the story, not the jargon, so you never get bogged down. The hero is Hari Seldon, who is able to scientifically predict the future (don't ask how), and he knows that the vast Galactic Empire is soon headed for the dustbin of history...Hari, the prophet that he is, endeavors to shorten the time before another Galactic Empire can restore civilization to 1,000 years instead of 10,000 or 20,000...surely a worthy goal. This book will amaze you, will excite you and have you wanting more. It's fun and thoughtful at the same time...And, IMHO, these books get even better later on in the series. This book, which is later linked to the Robots series, may also be one of the most influential sci-fi books ever. (The galactic empire of Dune shares a lot of similarities)... Great stuff from the Grandmaster!
Rating: 
Summary: Big on ideas, lacking in style
Review: "Foundation" is considered by many SF devotees to be one of the greatest creations of the genre. It won the Hugo award to prove it, spawned many sequels, and even a couple of prequels. I was excited to read this book, expecting it to live up to its many accolades. Boy, was I disappointed! The basic idea of this novel is fascinating: Hari Seldon foresees the demise of the galactic empire using the science of psychohistory. He puts a plan into motion to lessen the catastrophic effect of this collapse. Will it work? This is a good concept to work from, and I liked the plot. It's classic SF. What I did not like was the writing. Asimov relies too heavily on dialogue. It reads like a play. The only narration present serves as "stage direction" to indicate that someone moves, or smokes, or exits, or whatever. I was not able to imagine most of what was going on, as Asimov never adequately sets the scene for us. People simply talk back and forth. Everyone talks excatly alike, and none of the dialogue sounds natural. With little attributions (he said, she said, etc.), it's often hard to tell just who is talking, anyway. It's an extremely frustrating experience as a reader. The other problem with "Foundation" (perhaps, its central problem) is that it tries to cover too much in too short a period of time. This is unfortunate, because, again, the premise is so good. A story like this must cover a great period of time to achieve its goals, of course. We have to find out if Hari Seldon was on the right track. Asimov introduces a host of charcters, but none of them stick around. Consequently, there's no one in the entire book that you know or care about. This is a major failing. A great SF novel cannot be just a clever idea. The great books of the genre have great characters who help us to understand and appreciate the clever idea. Look at "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ender's Game", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Dune", or "Brave New World". Each of these features great ideas and great characters. If this book were fleshed out a bit more with better descriptions and deeper characters who were actually given time to develop, I would like it much more. As it stands, it feels too thin -- it's the kernel of something really great. I recommend this only to die-hard SF fans who are getting back to the genre's roots, or those who value ideas over writing quality. I believe you must have both to be a true classic.
Rating:
Summary: A book for all seasons
Review: In a word, story. That's what this is book is meant, story. As a best-class story-teller, Asimov, leads the reader into an intrincated, labyrhynthical STORY, where mathematics play a role as important as human emotions, meanwhile, both are interlaced so closely and deeply, that psicohistory raises up to capitalize human knowledge in "favour" of the final survival of the galactic culture. Despite the general opinion of classical criticism , that Asimov was not quite a good SF writer, but a fantasy one with no base to be considered in the universe of "hard" sci-fi, I should say that it's a long way walk between writing and simply reading a book, and this may not be the most-spectacular guide to science and techno-details, but it's in a way (a very particular one) the best ever writen
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