I like all of his robot series and I’ve tried to pick up this book 4-5 times, but that stoopid Hari Seldon turns me off every time within the first ten pages.
Gimme some spoilers, people! Is it worth reading this book? Is it all politics? Help!
if it makes you feel any better, Seldon
dies between the prologue and the first story.
Foundation wasn’t my favorite Asimov book, but the stories have their moments, and I think the original Foundation stories were better than the later Foundation books. They are kind of politics heavy, though.
I think they’re worth it (the original three, anyway). But if you’re that turned off by the opening I don’t know that it is worthy trying to slog through.
Bear in mind there are almost two Foundation series.
The original 3 books (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation) were written a long time ago (1950’s I think) and are amongst my favourite SF books. I think they are well-written, fast-paced and logical.
Because of the success of this series, Asimov wrote a number of extra books, which extend the original story, and link up to much of his other work. I found these harder going.
P.S. Nothing wrong with politics! Don’t confuse the childish bickering + propaganda of the current US campaign with sensible ideas about how countries should be run.
It’s worth it.
I really liked them, mainly because the psychohistory idea was very interesting. It was an excellent effort by Asimov to predict a possible future science that doesn’t exist today and chart how it might work.
I don’t know if you realized this, but its basically a bunch of short stories that take place at different times during the 1000 year history of the Foundation. Most of the short stories are far apart in time, so they rarely share main characters. Instead each new story lets you see the effects of the actions of the events in the last and how the effected Seldon’s plan for the future. As a result, it’s a bit uneven, as some stories have better characters and plots then the others.
The later Foundation novels get a bit more melodramatic in their epic scale, but perhaps also more popcorny fun because they “Big Twist” gimmicks, some of which tie this series together with Asimov’s other works…
I also thought Greg Bear’s “Foundation and Chaos” from the “Second Foundation Trilogy” commissioned by Asimov’s estate was pretty kickass.
Asimov did what I hate authors doing–tying unrelated works, often seperated by decades, together into one whole. As a result, while I enjoyed the original Foundation trilogy, the rest didn’t do all that much for me. I don’t regret the time I spent reading them, but I wouldn’t come back to them very often.
The first book, especially, is sort of a treatise on the various different forces that drive history. There’s one story that shows how trade is an important factor, one about religion, one about military forces, etc, etc. It’s all just set in the Galactic Empire instead of our own history.
Just my opinion, but I tried to reread the original trilogy and threw it against the wall after just a few pages. Asimov was never a great writer of fiction - he had some basic ideas that were interesting, but couldn’t do any of the normal things that make writing worth reading - but his 40s style in these books is particularly egregious.
Find some brand new science fiction by current writers to read, instead.
I plowed through the original trilogy back in the '70s, mainly because my brother kept telling me how great it was. It really didn’t hold my interest. I forced myslef to read it clear through just to be able to discuss it with him. Asimov was far better as an editor and non-fiction writer than he ever was as a science fiction author, IMO.
FWIW, I loved the first Foundation book and still reread it from time to time. I could never get through the second.
Okey-dokey. I will renew it, as I have it in compendium form from the library. I’ll update you guys if I make it through.
Unfortunately unless politics are very well told they tend to get very boring to me.
I have only read a couple at most of the later ones and don’t remember them, but remember the original three. Iagree with those who say that, really, the best reason to read them (at least the original three) is so you can talk about them – kind of like Jane Eyre or something.
There’s some mildly enjoyable space opera drama/action, but that’s about it. Most of the idea about history were all said better in the afterword to War and Peace, the characters are cardboard cut-outs, and there really isn’t much depiction of any interesting societies.
So read them if don’t have anything better, and enjoy them, but there’s little point in putting huge effort into it.