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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780553293357
ISBN number: 0553293354
Label: Spectra
Manufacturer: Spectra
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: October 01, 1991
Publishing house: Spectra
Release Date: October 01, 1991
Sale Popularity Level: 5842
Studio: Spectra
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Product Description:
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Sheldon, 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 mankind, 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 a fututre generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.
But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. Mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and be overrun--or fight them and be destroyed.
Amazon.com Review:
Foundation marks the very first of a series of tales set so far in the future that Earth is all but forgotten by humans who live throughout the galaxy. Yet all is not well with the Galactic Empire. Its vast size is crippling to it. In particular, the administrative planet, honeycombed and tunneled with offices and staff, is vulnerable to attack or breakdown. The only person willing to confront this imminent catastrophe is Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian and mathematician. Seldon can scientifically predict the future, and it doesn't look pretty: a new Dark Age is scheduled to send humanity into barbarism in 500 years. He concocts a scheme to save the knowledge of the race in an Encyclopedia Galactica. But this project will take generations to complete, and who will take up the torch after him? The very first Foundation trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation) won a Hugo Award in 1965 for 'Best All-Time Series.' It's science fiction on the grand scale; one of the classics of the field. --Brooks Peck
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Rated by buyers 
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This is the very first book of the original trilogy, but the third book overall. Here's a list of all the books in the Isaac Asimov series.
- Prequels -
1. Prelude to Foundation (Foundation Novels)
2. Forward the Foundation (Foundation Novels)
- The Original Trilogy -
3. Foundation
4. Foundation and Empire (Foundation Novels)
5. Second Foundation (Foundation Novels)
- Later Works -
6. Foundation's Edge (Foundation Novels)
7. Foundation and Earth
There are other books written by other authors called the Second Foundation Trilogy, but I haven't read those (and don't plan to).
The plot centers around a psychohistorian named Hari Seldon who can predict the future using his newly invented science. He realized that the empire is failing, and the galaxy will be propelled into a 30,000 year stretch of barbarism before a civilized government is established. To reduce the time to a mere 1,000 years, he establishes two Foundations at each end of the galaxy.
This book focuses on only the First Foundation, the Second Foundation makes its very first appearance in the sequel, Foundation and Empire. The First Foundation expands to take over the edges of the receding empire using its superior intelligence instead of force. They win conflicts through technology, religion, and trade.
The theme that reason can overcome brute force is cleverly illustrated in this science fiction classic. It's a relatively short book at 320 pages, and a very fast read. The very first book of the original Foundation trilogy is the beginning of a truly great series, a must read for any sci-fi fan.
Rated by buyers 
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This book is one of the original science fiction novel of all time. I read this book as an outside reading assignment for my English class. First of all, I chose this book out of all the other books because I didn't want to read something that sounds dull and unexciting. I wanted to read something more innovative, and I certainly made the right choice when I picked this book from the library shelf.
Hari Seldon, the protagonist, develops a area of study called psychohistory, which allows psychohistorians to predict future events in big pictures. According to psychohistory, the Empire will encounter decay in the future and an age of collapse will follow. This book portrays how our civilization tries to shorten the age of collapse by preserving all human knowledge.
The book is divided into five section, each with different settings. First section explains the psychohistory and sets up the stage. Second section takes place 50 years after the first, and the new Empire starts encountering conflicts with resources. Third section starts 30 years later, and it deals with religion. Fourth section takes place 55 years later and the new civilization gets involved in a trade conflict. Last section takes place 20 years later and involves merchandise matters. Each section has different characters. Each experiences different conflicts, but they all pile up to show us how a civilization grows and how history is made.
I liked how the writing is terse and straightforward. It is hard to follow the story because of the change of settings and many characters, but they do come together. I liked how I could observe the history being made. It is fun seeing a civilization encounter conflicts, digress from religion to economics, and so on. It feels like I'm experiencing a century of history. It's easy to read because there isn't really any complicating science that you need to understand or in-depth character conflicts into the story. Definitely a book to read if you want to know how it feels like to be a god looking down at human civilizations and how they behave. Read it if you want to know what Hari Seldon's true plan is!
Rated by buyers -
A brilliant, original story that shows how ahead of his time Asimov truly was. The premise and scope of this novel are staggering and the plot develops at a blistering pace. You will not be able to put this book down once you start. The only minor critique I have of this book is that, as a series of novellas that continually advance into the future, characters you have grown to care about are quickly whisked away and replaced by new ones. Therefore, it is helpful to approach this book as a set of separate, though interconnected stories. When all is said and done, this book sets the stage for one of the greatest sci-fi series of all time. Complete with larger-than-life characters, unforgettable twists and suprises, this book is sure to satisfy any who have an interest in science fiction. Highly recommended.
Rated by buyers -
I can't say enough about this book, weather you like SF or not this book is a MUST READ!!! It's more about people/civilizations/political systems than SF but either way I highly recommend it.
As for SF it is simply the best SF book ever written!!!!
Rated by buyers -
By the end of the thirteenth millennium, mankind had populated millions of planets scattered throughout the galaxy. The centre of the imperial government was located on the planet Trantor, in effect a single planetary city some 75,000,000 square miles in extent. Every conceivable square foot of habitable space was occupied with a teeming population well in excess of 40 billion souls. Its internal problems were so vast that it was all but inevitable that its grip on the outer reaches of its dominion should weaken. The empire, like every other empire that had preceded it, was in the throes of decline.
Hari Seldon, a brilliant mathematician and psychologist developed the science of psychohistory - the use of mathematics and symbolic logic to evaluate and predict the future behaviour of statistically large segments of human population. When he applied his analysis to the Empire, the conclusions were bleak and inescapable. The stagnating Empire would imminently fall and collapse into a galactic dark age - a period of anarchy and chaos and a loss of art, culture, knowledge, technology and science that would last for thirty thousand years.
When he knew that imperial collapse was inevitable, he created the "Foundation" and implemented what was later to become known as the Seldon Plan. He couldn't stop the dark age but he could shorten its duration to a mere thousand years and give civilization the ability to start over again.
Asimov, known to his millions of fans merely as the "good doctor", certainly didn't stint when it came to the scope of his ideas and the size of the canvas on which he chose to paint. "Foundation" is a classic sci-fi novel that leans far towards the left side of the sci-fi spectrum. Hard sci-fi, technology and advanced science are touched upon only to the extent that they are necessary to make sense of an Empire that spans an entire galaxy. Quaintly, much of the science is seriously dated - data storage is on microfilm, atomic power is the norm even in spaceships that are expected to travel galactic distances - and could hardly be considered brilliantly prescient.
So it is clearly the ideas that Asimov deals with that have elevated "Foundation" to its status as one of the most loved and most read science fiction novels of all time - science as religion, the authoritarian nature of religious dogma, the insidious Machiavellian nature of political diplomacy, the inevitability of the decline and collapse of a major empire and a powerful discusion as to whether violence is a necessary tool to resolve differences or whether it is merely "the last refuge of the incompetent".
While I will happily acknowledge that "Foundation" was interesting and thoroughly enjoyable, I was somewhat disappointed to discover that it did not have the same thrill or excitement that I experienced when I very first read it thirty years ago. The level of science in the book seems almost lack-lustre and in my mind did not live up to the grandiose scope of the novel. Like so many of his peers in the 1950s, women were stoutly ignored and played no part in "Foundation" at all.
Dickens wrote at the turn of the century so one expects his prose to be different. Asimov wrote "Foundation" in 1951 so one certainly expects it to be a product of that time. But, unlike Dickens (and I'm not really quite able to put my finger on the reason why), the prose simply didn't age quite as well. So, in the full knowledge that many will disagree with me, I'm unwilling to accord "Foundation" the 5-star rating that many will expect. Four stars only from this reader and a high recommendation that this book must be read if you claim to be a fan of the classic sci-fi genre.
Paul Weiss
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