Second Foundation (Foundation Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

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Key Phrases: galactic empire, hyper relay, sound receiver, Second Foundation, First Speaker, First Foundation (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels are one of the great masterworks of science fiction. As unsurpassed blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building, they chronicle the struggle of a courageous group of men and women dedicated to preserving humanity's light in a galaxy plunged into a nightmare of ignorance and violence thirty thousand years long.

After years of struggle, the Foundation lies in ruins—destroyed by the mutant mind power of the Mule. But it is rumored that there is a Second Foundation hidden somewhere at the end of the Galaxy, established to preserve the knowledge of mankind through the long centuries of barbarism. The Mule failed to find it the first time—but now he is certain he knows where it lies.

The fate of the Foundation rests on young Arcadia Darell, only fourteen years old and burdened with a terrible secret. As its scientists gird for a final showdown with the Mule, the survivors of the First Foundation begin their desperate search. They too want the Second Foundation destroyed…before it destroys them.

From the Inside Flap

Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels are one of the great masterworks of science fiction. As unsurpassed blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building, they chronicle the struggle of a courageous group of men and women dedicated to preserving humanity's light in a galaxy plunged into a nightmare of ignorance and violence thirty thousand years long.

After years of struggle, the Foundation lies in ruins?destroyed by the mutant mind power of the Mule. But it is rumored that there is a Second Foundation hidden somewhere at the end of the Galaxy, established to preserve the knowledge of mankind through the long centuries of barbarism. The Mule failed to find it the first time?but now he is certain he knows where it lies.

The fate of the Foundation rests on young Arcadia Darell, only fourteen years old and burdened with a terrible secret. As its scientists gird for a final showdown with the Mule, the survivors of the First Foundation begin their desperate search. They too want the Second Foundation destroyed?before it destroys them.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Spectra; 1st THUS edition (October 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553293362
• ISBN-13: 978-0553293364
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,437 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 5 in The Foundation Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exciting Web of Intrigue to Close the Trilogy, August 12, 2002

By	doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Asimov's classic original trilogy comes to a close in this ambitious finale. Here Asimov has really gone over the top with political and intellectual intrigue, which propels the two main plot elements. As with the two previous Foundation novels, there are actually two shorter stories here that take place decades apart. In this installment Hari Seldon's plan gets back on track after being disrupted by the mutant known as the Mule, with the mythical Second Foundation starting to peek out from behind the scenes. Who works for whom, who's a traitor or not, and whether or not the Second Foundation even really exists are all intricately played out by a series of intelligent and conspiratorial characters in relentlessly tangled webs of intrigue. In fact, this book has the most well-defined characters yet to appear in the Foundation series, especially the young Arcadia. The original Foundation saga is wrapped up nicely here as the original trilogy comes to a close. Of course, Asimov's creation is so expansive that there was plenty of room for more speculation and development of the story, leading to the prequels and sequels that Asimov continued to crank out for this classic series.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The search for the Second Foundation., June 25, 1999

By	R. D. Allison ([e-mail]) (Gainesville, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

In this third volume of the first Foundation series (originally consisting of two stories published in a magazine in 1948 and 1949), survivers of the First Foundation, as well as the Mule, hunt for the Second Foundation. Asimov later published a sequel, "Foundation's Edge" in 1982. I've now read this series twice (I first read them in the early 1960s). But, my father has read them ten times. It just shows how popular the series has been. In Part I, titled "Search by the Mule," five years have passed after the end of the events described in "Foundation and Empire." The Mule (now, in effect, ruler of the Galactic Empire) goes in search of the Second Foundation which he regards as a serious threat to his rule. The Second Foundation, which is quite vulnerable, has to find some way to dissuade him and return the galaxy to the path outline by psychohistory. In Part II, titled "Search by The Foundation," the history begins about 95 years after the end of Part I. A small group of individuals in the First Foundation, including an electroneurophysiologist, come to the conclusion that the Second Foundation's ability to control people's minds is repellant. They attempt to locate the secret center of the Second Foundation. At the same time, a warlord on another planet seeks to defeat the First Foundation in battle.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Thrilling Game of Chess, April 27, 2000

By	C. Fletcher (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This final installment of Asimov's classic Foundation trilogy contains all of the excitement and subterfuge of a well-played game of chess. Actually, in this book, you get two games for the price of one, since the book consists of two novellas detailing the search for the ellusive Second Foundation.

If you've read the first two books in the series, you know that there was a man named Seldon who had a plan to save our future society from a long cold winter of discontent. Then came along an unpredicted rogue element, the mysterious Mule, the perfect monkey wrench to foul up Seldon's works.

In the first novella of this book, the Mule uses his emotion-controlling abilities to search for the Second Foundation. This section is very tightly plotted and there are enough well placed zigs and zags along the way to keep you addictively turning the pages.

The second novella deals with the search by the First Foundation for its shadowy twin. Here Asimov introduces Arkadia Darell, a precocious 14-year old girl who has the ability to out-wit most of the adults around her. I only wish Asimov had spent more of the story with her, because I thought she was probably the most interesting character in the book, along with the Mule. The tightness of plotting in this second novella is probably twice that of the first. The suspense and tension just builds and builds until you don't think you can take it much more. If you're a slow reader, like I am, you'll find that the need to find out what happens will make you into a fast one.

I don't think "Second Foundation" is a perfect book, so I hesitate to give it five stars, but it definitely is a very good, very entertaining book. Having read the entire original trilogy now, I'd say most of the same strengths and weaknesses apply to all three books. Asimov is clearly a master of "the great idea". I love the whole concept of Psychohistory and the Seldon plan and the Seldon crises. He's an excellent story-teller in terms of knowing how to turn the tuning pegs of his plot until the strings are so tight that they sing every time a light breeze blows through.

I'd say Asimov's one weakness is in the writing of his characters. It's sort of ironic that in this trilogy all about the psychology of human motivation there would be relatively little psychological subtext to the characters. We never get to know many of the characters much more than from skin-level. I felt I never really identified with any of the characters in a truly human way.

I don't mean to be overly critical of this one aspect of the trilogy. I still think they're very very good books and in fact feel that Asimov's purpose was to draw attention away from the individual characters. As Seldon himself repeatedly says, there's no accounting for indiviudal behavior. I think Asimov knew that his strengths were in analyzing and commenting on humanity as a whole. He's brilliant at that, and his ideas and concepts are terrific. He paints on a wide enough canvas here that the dance of ideas he presents can be appreciated in much the same way that the fine dance of human emotion might be appreciated in the works of other great authors.

This trilogy is a must-read for any lover of science fiction, psychology, or great ideas. It's also good reading for any chess players out there.