Foundation [Mass Market Paperback]

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 discussion 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 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

Foundation is not a novel, but a series of stories which had been published separately. The entire trilogy was written in nine stories which were completed in the period between 1941 and 1951. Asimov notes himself in the foreword that part of what he intended with the fourth book _Foundation's Edge_ was to have a chance to write an actual Foundation novel.

I actually like the effect that the story-based approach gives, particularly considering that Foundation is meant to be covering the fall of galactic empire and the rise of a new power. Having chapters based on discrete periods, I think the reader gets a better sense of the sheer time involved in politics than any 9000 -page space opera could ever achieve.

One of the things I like about Foundation and its subsequent other parts is that it isn't an action-packed adventure. There isn't high romance. It isn't really about individual heartache and success, although the role of the individual is important. It's a meditative look at both politics and the future, and a darned sharp one at that.

An excellent read, even worth the time for people who don't think that they like science fiction.

This book is amazing science fiction novel. Asimov's straightforward and simple way of writing presents the reader with a concise and well formed novel. The plot is amazing with its many twists and turns, although the character development isn't very strong. However, the lack in character development comes from Asimov's style of writing in which he presents the reader with several major characters. The entire book revolves around foreshadowing of a point in history where knowledge will be lost and barbarians will rule over an ingorant civilization. In order to shroten the period of ignorance and barbarianism, Hari Seldon forms the Foundation, a group of scholars on a planet at the edge of the galaxy. Asimov uses foreshadwing to great effect throughout the entire novel to form the plot. Another device well used by asimov is symbolism. One example is the Foundation, which is used as a symbol for hope for the future. The symbols placed throughout the novel bring about a sense of profound revelation to the reader. Irony is also used very effectively in one instance. When the encyclopedists realize that all their work was all in vain, Asimov reveals the fragility of the human intellect. He explains how the composition of human knowledge is not in one single person, but is spread out throughout all of humanity, and cannot be contained within one book or one set of books.