A THOUSAND-YEAR EPIC, A GALACTIC STRUGGLE, A MONUMENTAL WORK IN THE ANNALS OF SCIENCE FICTION FOUNDATION begins a new chapter in the story of man's future. As the Old Empire crumbles into barbarism throughout the million worlds of the galaxy, Hari Seldon and his band of psychologists must create a new entity, the Foundation-dedicated to art, science, and technology-as the beginning of a new empire. FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE describes the mighty struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars in which man stands at the threshold of a new enlightened life which could easily be destroyed by the old forces of barbarism. SECOND FOUNDATION follows the Seldon Plan after the First Empire's defeat and describes its greatest threat-a dangerous mutant strain gone wild, which produces a mind capable of bending men's wills, directing their thoughts, reshaping their desires, and destroying the universe.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The evolution of both a new galactic empire and a great author,
By The Gripester (Wellington, NZ) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Foundation Trilogy (Paperback)
August 1, 1941, Isaac Asimov sat down with his editor and mentor John W. Campbell, who gave him a life-changing commission: draft a future history of the fall of a galactic empire and the rise of a new one. This history would be told in a series of short stories, novellas, and serialized novels. Head spinning, the 21-year-old author went home and wrote the first installment, "Foundation," which soon became the title of the whole series. Over the following decade, despite stints as a wartime civilian naval chemist, a postwar draftee, a job-hunting academic, and finally a full-time biochemistry professor at Boston University, Asimov managed to churn out about a quarter of a million words about the remarkable Foundation - four longish short stories, two novellas, and two short novels, all serialized by the faithful Campbell in the pages of Astounding Science Fiction Magazine.
Serendipitously, these several works fit nicely within the framework of a three-volume set, not just in length, but in continuity. A reader picking up the second or third volume for their first taste of the Foundation will not miss out for excitement and satisfaction, and will lose little suspense by reading back to previous volumes they missed. And yet, there is a unique perspective one gains by reading the story from start to finish, afforded by the excellent notion of releasing the Foundation Trilogy in one volume. It is not just that we see a complex and ingenious future history come to life in a steady progression of mounting suspense and ever more amazing resolutions. It is moreover that we witness the evolution of an author from promise to mastery. In the opening chapters of the first volume, Asimov writes with optimistic energy - there are few examples this fine of flying by the seat of one's pants as an author. True, there are pulpish touches in the earliest pages, with characters "snarling" and "muttering," or having their dialog overfinessed by adverbs. But these serve more as roadsigns as to where Asimov is starting on his 250,000-word journey. Readers will discover over the course of the first volume a rapidly progressing sense of subtlety that uses dramatics as distraction rather than fulfillment, slyly playing a guessing game where the unstoppable logic of each resolution is far from obvious. For unstoppable logic is what this series is all about, ultimately. Asimov proposes fictionally that a science, called "psychohistory," will eventually evolve in which statistics can be applied to populations in order to accurately predict the future. In a framing prelude which starts the trilogy, a master psychohistorian named Hari Seldon projects that the thriving Galactic Empire will fall in 500 years, and be followed by thirty millennia of barbarism before the rise of a Second Empire. But by taking action, he hopes to limit that interim period of barbarism to a mere 1,000 years. He manipulates the Empire's bureaucrats into establishing two Foundations at opposite ends of the Galaxy for the purposes of scientific research. From that point on, each following story is set 30 to 50 years apart as the Empire slowly loses its grip and decays, and the fledgling First Foundation slowly establishes economic and cultural ties with its neighbors, eventually enveloping them into a growing alliance. Perversely, the Foundation has no idea how it is succeeding - it was created by Seldon, who has worked out that through natural growth and a series of predicted crises, the Foundation would follow a plan that could not be beaten. The Foundation doesn't need to know how and why - indeed, it cannot know, for to know would be to interfere with the carefully planned sets of outcomes. In the first volume, "Foundation," it is the slowly tattering remnants of the Empire that are the enemy of the Seldon Plan. As the periphery of the galaxy breaks away from the Empire to form petty kingdoms, the inherent feudalism threatens the very survival of the tiny Foundation. Somehow Asimov breaks each deadlock, usually in the most unexpected way. The stories which illustrate this are all relatively short and fast-paced thought-puzzles, something that Asimov as a scientist and mystery buff excelled at creating. Regardless, a picture develops in the reader's mind of a culture of self-reliant merchants, inventors, and cowboy diplomats who "never let morals prevent them from doing what is right." Underlying it all is the Seldon Plan - though you can't believe each segment of history will be resolved, Asimov not only surprises you but also makes it seem inevitable in retrospect. In the second volume, "Foundation And Empire," the focus of conflict shifts. The first half relates what happens when the burgeoning Foundation finally confronts the surviving core of the Empire, which is still militarily very strong. The casual confidence of the Foundationers that the Seldon Plan will eventually rescue them, even if they don't understand it, is eventually validated by their victory, this time easily foreseen by the reader. Asimov's enemy is now the Plan itself, a predictive fault that will ensure that every story will end successfully no matter what the challenge. The way out of this creative bind is something Campbell suggested: destroy the Seldon Plan by introducing a rogue element. Enter the Mule, who dominates the second half of the book, a mutant who has the power to reach into men's minds and permanently alter their allegiances. The Mule tricks his way into the Foundation and brings the whole self-assured house of cards tumbling to the ground. How does Asimov get the Foundation back on track? The answers are in the third and final volume, "Second Foundation," the story of the search for the other Foundation which Seldon established. The newly crowned Mule sees this Second Foundation as the only remaining threat to his overlordship of the entire Galaxy. Yet no one seems to know exactly where it is and what it was established to accomplish. As the search commences, it is slowly revealed that the mysterious Second Foundation may not only be the only force that can stop the Mule, but also the only thing that can restore the Seldon Plan. The plot has all of the trademark twists and turns of Asimov, but what is of even greater interest is the quality of the writing. Asimov sets scenes, draws characters, and explains the plot with a minimum of wasted words and a maximum of effect. He gets you on the side of his characters, even when they are on the wrong track. And the seat-of-the-pants technique has been thoroughly superseded by a masterful sense of craft and structure. It is like hearing a Mozart Symphony or visiting the Louvre. You always know where you are, and are yet surprised and gratified by what is to come. The final resolution makes these books stand on their own and brings the story of the Seldon Plan to a triumphant close, regardless of the many fine sequels, prequels, and inter-related novels Asimov wrote to tie all of his fiction together into one grand history. The Foundation Trilogy won a Hugo Award for best science fiction/fantasy series of all time, beating out many worthy competitors including Lord Of The Rings. It is the germ of many great works of fiction and film - just about every Galactic Empire story to follow owes something to TFT, especially Star Wars in its oddly sibilant names, roguish intergalactic traders, and completely built-over capital city planet. Though imitators often inform a germinal work and can even be annoyingly distracting, Asimov's personality, quick wit, and abundance of ideas blot out the flattering creative tributes. This is simply one of the best works of popular fiction of all time, and stands with the greats like Verne, Wells, Stoker, and Conan Doyle, not to mention being a touchstone for the entire genre of Science Fiction.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must Read,
By Steve Conn "Danger" (Longview. TX) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Foundation Trilogy (Paperback)
This is an amazing trilogy and everyone should read it. Mainly for this reason, everyone has taken Lord of the Rings and DUNE and told those stories over and over again a thousand different ways. For some reason, even though these books are 40 years old, they are still fresh. They are different, and they are great.
Don't read books 4-6 though. They are not original. The author himself admitted he tried to write three books, but his publisher pushed him to write more. Let it stop where Asimov himself tried to stop. You'll thank yourself for it later.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great, a Classic,
By Just Another Reader (Terre Haute, Indiana United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Foundation Trilogy (Paperback)
I read this trilogy for the first time when I was 10-11 years old. It held my attention quite well (so good even a kid can't put it down). My favorite part is about the Mule. He's not your ordinary, everyday villian...a man to be feared and pittied at the same time. I thought of this trilogy when I first saw Star Wars, especially with regard to the size of the Empirical warships. The idea of psyco-history is pretty much a straightforward application of quantum mechanics theory to human psychology: the individual's actions are impossible to fully predict, but large populations follow trends that are predictable via probabilistic models. He also depicts advancements in technology as being represented by miniaturization: truly prophetic (look at microprocessors). He also showed a realistic grasp of politics in a scene where an empirical official visits the foundation at the edge of the galaxy (1st book). Asimov was a true man of genius.
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