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Foundation Isaac Asimov Books

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Foundation Isaac Asimov Books

Isaac Asimov was a brilliant thinker and writer. His 'Foundation' series has been on my to-read list for a long time. I can see why this book invariably winds up on so many all time great lists. His themes incorporate religion, war, psychology, politics, and so on.
The book jacket summarizes this 66-year-old book well. It stands up well to the passage of time. The twists and surprises take the story in unexpected and interesting directions. Asimov does not waste much space developing characters. In fact, it seems to me the characters in 'Foundation' take a distinct back seat to the story direction and underlying themes. If you like action-packed Sci-Fi, this book may not be your cup of tea. But if you like big human ideas,themes, or morals; you might want to read this one.


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Foundation Isaac Asimov Books Reviews

Foundation by Isaac Asimov is the first book in the Foundation trilogy, set about 50,000 years in the future. The second and third volumes in the trilogy are Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation. With many, many reviews describing the books, there is little need for a description of the plot here. Instead, I'll give a few incidental notes on the SciFi ideas embedded in Foundation trilogy and my recommendations for potential readers.

"Foundation" is from the 1940's, when some of the ubiquitous ideas of modern science fiction were born. In the 1940's, it was already clear that the universe was a very large and complex place (though it is even larger and more complex now than was known then!). So, writers, including Asimov, invented the devices of transport and communication faster than the speed of light. This brought the stars within "reach" and opened wide horizons for imagining how the future might develop if such technologies existed. "Foundation" and its original trilogy brought forth one of Asimov's unique contributions to the imagined future of science "psychohistory." The concept of psychohistory is that large-scale social and political events can be mathematically forecast in the form of event probabilities. Asimov's various writings use these assumptions to write stories dealing with social, political, and individual challenges of an imagined future. Asimov adroitly mixes the large- and small-scale human events into richly entertaining stories. "Foundation" and other novels of the trilogy are composed of related vignettes, reflecting their original publication in serialized form. I find this style works well for these and other Asimov books, with small-scale stories adding together to convey a sweep of events. The whole adds up to more than the sum of the parts.

For readers who have little experience with SciFi novels, I think "Foundation" would be an excellent place to start. The writing is direct, crisp, and clear, and is fine for YA or adult readers. The original Foundation trilogy is almost completely free of profanity and sexual themes. Violence is limited to the occasional murder and wars at a distance.

If you are already a SciFi fan, and have not read some of Isaac Asimov's work, this is an excellent place to start, although it is not the "beginning". A semi-rational path for readers new to Asimov would be "Foundation", followed, if you like it by the two other members of the original trilogy, "Foundation and Empire," and "Second Foundation". From here, if you want a little more, try either the Robot series or the expanded 7-book Foundation series. If you are game for a lot more, and want to see Asimov's "future history" in a roughly (future) chronological order, I'd suggest looking at Asimov's main set of future history works that comprise the Empire series, the Robot series, and the expanded Foundation series.

I'd rate "Foundation" as Must Read for all except those who are severely SciFi-phobic!!
First and foremost, although Foundation had it's flaws, I have to give it five stars. The amount of influence this book and the series have had on science fiction is far-reaching and undeniable. As I was reading it for the first time, it at once felt familiar. This is probably because it has been ripped off so many times! That said, it wasn't the easiest book to read for a few reasons.

1. It was originally short stories which were later collected into novel form. This means that the scenes feel like they jump around a bit. Sometimes necessarily so (the series spans over millennia, so Asimov can't dwell too long on any particular area).
2. Because of the points mentioned above, it's hard to identify with some of the characters. In general, characters aren't given long to be developed because Asimov needs to move on to the next time period in the history of the Foundation. Just as you're starting to understand a character, their motivations and quirks, they are seldom mentioned again.

Despite this, when stepping back and taking a 10,000 foot view of the series, it's still quite an accomplishment and undeniably transformative for the genre. I have heard that the kindle version is a bit watered down compared to the original, but without a frame of reference it's hard to tell. I'm not a fan on censorship in any form, so it makes me want to seek out the originals as I continue the series.
This review is specifically of the edition, published by Ballantine/Bantam.

The Foundation Trilogy is a wonderful piece of work, but the edition butchers it! Someone has decided to water down Asimov's prose, eliminating some of the more enjoyable passages of the book. Here are some examples, found by comparison with an old Bantam Doubleday hardcover edition.

Several pages into chapter 3, Salvor Hardin is arguing with the Encyclopedists about the decline of the Empire.

Original "If you ask me,", he cried, "THE GALAXY IS GOING TO POT!"

"If you ask me,", he cried, "THE GALACTIC EMPIRE IS DYING!"

In chapter 5, Hardin is again meeting with the Encyclopedists and discussing the threat received from Anacreon.

Original The message from Anacreon ... boils down easily and straightforwardly to the unqualified statement ... "You give us what we want in a week, or we beat the hell out of you and take it anyway."

The message from Anacreon ... boils down easily and straightforwardly to the unqualified statement ... "You give us what we want in a week, or we take it by force."

I'm going to be asking for a refund.
Isaac Asimov was a brilliant thinker and writer. His 'Foundation' series has been on my to-read list for a long time. I can see why this book invariably winds up on so many all time great lists. His themes incorporate religion, war, psychology, politics, and so on.
The book jacket summarizes this 66-year-old book well. It stands up well to the passage of time. The twists and surprises take the story in unexpected and interesting directions. Asimov does not waste much space developing characters. In fact, it seems to me the characters in 'Foundation' take a distinct back seat to the story direction and underlying themes. If you like action-packed Sci-Fi, this book may not be your cup of tea. But if you like big human ideas,themes, or morals; you might want to read this one.