Foundation (Foundation, #1)

by Isaac Asimov

The first novel in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series

THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
 
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future—to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire—both scientists and scholars—and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation. 
 
The Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are among the most influential in the history of science fiction, celebrated for their unique blend of breathtaking action, daring ideas, and extensive worldbuilding. In Foundation, Asimov has written a timely and timeless novel of the best—and worst—that lies in humanity, and the power of even a few courageous souls to shine a light in a universe of darkness.

• ISBN10: 0553293354
• ISBN13: 9780553293357
• Publish Date: 1 October 1991 (first published 1 January 1963)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Random House USA Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553293357

Reviews

[Tobin Brown]

I picked this up because it was recommended as a must read classic sci-fi, but I ended up a bit disappointed. It's written as a series of short stories with significant time jumps, and as a result, I could never really invest myself or care about any of the characters much.

The stories are clever, but the age shows, and I struggled to view it as a single story. Might work for you, but didn't really work for me.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Based on FOUNDATION, I think that Asimov is grotesquely overrated. Not only did he have a history of sexual harassment at conventions and general sexism in his books (they women have no autonomy, and that's the nicest way I can put it), but the book is just... boring. Really, really, really boring. If FOUNDATION were published today, it wouldn't get any attention.

The writing style is dry and condescending. The characters are flat, the plot goes nowhere. While some of the intellectual concepts early on were interesting, the ideas were so played out by the start of the next section that I no longer cared. The way Asimov wrote this in 85% dialogue serves better for a short story format, but even then, FOUNDATION just felt like a few loosely tied together essays which followed the same format of explaining why the reader and the audience within the novel was wrong and the speaker is the smartest person in the room.

It was exhausting. It was just exhausting.

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[celinenyx]

The Galactic Empire, which spans the entire galaxy, is going to crumble. It's inevitable. The only factor that humanity can influence is how long the period of chaos and destruction, which will follow the collapse of the Empire, will last.

Foundation is the second book I read by Isaac Asimov, I, Robot being the first. Again, this book seems to consist more of a series of connected short stories rather than one complete novel. Each story features a different set of characters in a different time, and often, a different place.

Asimov brings some pretty awesome ideas to the table - one of Foundation's main themes is that of psychohistory, which basically allows people to predict the future of large masses of people through mathematics. What I like about this "science" is that it's something plausible. This is basically what both psychology and economics attempt to do - to predict behaviour. In reality psychohistory is impossible because of the insane number of variables, but as a part of science-fiction I can definitely appreciate this invention.

Where I, Robot was more concerned with humanity, Foundation seems to point out how human history in many ways is cyclical. The collapse of the Galactic Empire brings the Roman Empire to mind, and the parallels between the role of Foundation in reducing the length of the "dark ages" after the collapse are clearly inspired by European history. On an intellectually historic, sociologic, and scientific level, Foundation offers a lot of food for thought, once one digs behind the surface of the story.

I have one problem with Asimov though.

Dude.

Why is there only one named female character in the entire book?

I have a certain level of understanding concerning books that have been written in earlier times. I don't expect them to espouse feminist ideals. I don't even expect the ladies in them to be equal to the male characters, because I know that in certain times, men and women were designated to other "spheres". But truly, I find it inexcusable the way Asimov's world is a fully masculine world, without a single woman that is actually part of the plot. The aforementioned named female is only used as comic relief, and rather poorly chosen comic relief as well.

Apart from the irrational lack of females, Asimov just does not write well-rounded characters. They do all sound exactly the same. I simply have a hard time truly liking a book that features more than eight undistinguishable male characters. They're mouth pieces for his ideas, and nothing more.

Asimov's ideas are great, but his storytelling is lacking in many ways.

[adamfortuna]

When looking into Sci-Fi books that I should have already read, this trilogy kept coming up. It won the Hugo award for "Best Trilogy" - an award created just to give it to this series. It was short, but lived up to the hype. The premise relies on “psychohistory”, a way of mathematically predicting the future. The first book was actually based on a number of short stories and parallels the fall of Rome. I enjoyed the series, but not enough to read the other 11 books in the series.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Seems like every Science Fiction novel I read that was written in the 1960’s or 1970’s they seem to substitute story for social and philosophical issues. Foundation is no different, while this book has a very interesting take on a shifting society; I found the story and the characters very flat. While I didn’t like this aspect of the book there fast paced; rise of the foundation was really great. Don’t read this for the story; read this book for an interesting social aspects and the effects change has on mankind.