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The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
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The Foundation Trilogy (original 1951; edition 2011)

by Isaac Asimov

Series: Foundation Expanded Universe (11-13), Foundation (Omnibus 3-5)

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6,542841,447 (4.26)1 / 106
The Foundation, established after the Old Empire gives way to barbarism, fights against a mutant strain called the Mule and tries to get rid of the Second Foundation after learning it will inherit a future Empire.
Member:collinmaessen
Title:The Foundation Trilogy
Authors:Isaac Asimov
Info:Barnes & Noble Inc (2011), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 752 pages
Collections:Your library, To read
Rating:
Tags:fiction, science fiction

Work Information

The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov (1951)

Recently added byAjayS145, friend_, private library, Uncawes, oneiros314, MLOverdrive, sprtwlf, korridosor
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» See also 106 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 74 (next | show all)
Peculiar stuff. It's striking to see Asimov steadily become a better writer over the course of the series, but the overall trilogy just isn't that good. Better off reading one of the trilogy's descendents, like Parker's Engineer trilogy or Dickinson's Traitor Baru Cormorant. ( )
  mmparker | Oct 24, 2023 |
This series solidified my love of classic sci-fi and Asimov's work, especially his robot stories. I read all these books over 25 years ago and they are still awesome. ( )
  schoenbc70 | Sep 2, 2023 |
3½ stars. Sadly this BBC audiobook adaptation of Asimov's classic trilogy suffered from some sound quality issues (variable volume ranging from almost inaudible to too loud; annoying sound effects). It is also much abridged.

An acceptable way to recall the books but I wouldn't recommend it as a replacement for reading them (or listening to an unabridged audiobook). ( )
  leslie.98 | Jun 27, 2023 |
Coming into this series, the bit of Asimov I had read was not terribly impressive, so my expectations were not very high. As a result, I was pleasantly surprised. It is easy to see how and why the strength of the ideas presented in this series have so powerfully informed all science fiction to follow. The quality of the prose is much higher than I expected, it is not overly flowery or descriptive, but still conveys a clear sense of place and is filled with sparkling dialog. The focus is not on character, but on ideas and concepts, as is common with fix-up SF which was originally written for magazine publication.

SYNOPSIS
Foundation (book 1) The Galactic Empire of the human race is in the early stages of collapse. Using a field of science called Psycho-history, which predicts group behaviors, Hari Seldon forsees the coming collapse, and the 30,000 years of chaos and anarchy that will follow, and establishes The Foundation at the outer rim of the galaxy to guide mankind through these dark times, thereby reducing the duration of the dark times to 1,000 years. In order to avoid influencing the actions of the humans who live during that time, the predicted Crisis events (known as Seldon Crises) are not revealed to the public until after they have occurred.

Foundation and Empire (book 2) introduces a character called The Mule, a mutant human who throws a wrench in the works. Because psycho-history cannot predict individual behavior, the actions of an individual have the potential to derail the Foundation's mission. This book has two main parts, so the character and story could be developed a bit more deeply than in the first book. This was my favorite book of the trilogy, particularly because of the ending, which powerfully reframes the story we just finished.

Second Foundation (book 3)focuses on the existence of the Second Foundation, which Seldon formed on the other end of the galaxy from the first foundation. Where everyone knew where the first Foundation was located, though, the location of Second Foundation remains secret. The first half of this book follows closely after the second half of book two, and once again this installment is basically two stories, in terms of cast and timeframe. The galactic war started by The Mule threatens the success of the First Foundation, leading various characters to seek out the Second Foundation, either to ensure Seldon's defeat or to strengthen his odds of success. One of the main characters is a teenage girl, which was unexpected in a classic 1950's SF title. While this book does not entirely wrap up the story begin in Foundation (which is why Asimov later expanded the series), I did find that it provided a satisfactory conclusion to the trilogy, and did not leave me hanging.

THOUGHTS
Asimov effectively creates a sense of scale for the Galactic Empire, using a relatively small cast of characters. Rather than using a sprawling tale of numerous characters and interweaving story threads, which almost invariable causes confusion and disconnect for the reader, he carefully selects the characters and locations used, to make things easier to follow without it feeling small like a TV movie. The story does jump a bit through time and place, especially in the first book, since the story spans centuries.

I was struck by the number of references to this series which pop up in Star Wars. The concept of a Galactic Empire, which is central to SW, originated in Foundation, of course, but also Coruscant is lifted directly from Trantor, the city-planet which is the seat of Galactic government. A number of character names are also pulled directly, including Han, Bail, Avakim (Anakin), and Korellians.

Overall, the scientific concepts on display here were excellent and intriguing, the quality of prose was above average, thanks to the second and third books the characters were stronger than I expected, and it was properly fun and enjoyable. I can understand why it won the Hugo for Best Series of All Time. ( )
  AxelWilkinson | Jan 26, 2023 |
Great sci-fi trilogy. I've heard the Star Wars empire was sort of based on this. Shows ups and downs of power struggles, etc. ( )
  kslade | Dec 8, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 74 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (26 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Asimov, Isaacprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Gunn, JamesForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Heidkamp, BarbaraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hundertmarck, RosemarieTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Krugman, PaulIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lehr, PaulCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Leonian, PhillipCover photographersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Punchatz, DonCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Thiemeyer, ThomasCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Whelan, MichaelIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Dedication
Foundation:
To My Mother
Of whose authentic gray hairs
not a few were caused by myself

Foundation and empire:
To Mary and Henry
For patience and endurance
First words
FOUNDATION: Headnote: Hari Seldon -- . . . born in the 11,988th year of the Galactic Era; died 12,069.
FOUNDATION: Text: His name was Gaal Dornick and he was just a country boy who had never seen Trantor before.
FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE: The Galactic Empire Was Falling.
SECOND FOUNDATION: The First Galactic Empire had endured for tens of thousands of years.
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Disambiguation notice
This omnibus edition includes: Foundation; Foundation and Empire; and Second Foundation. Please do not combine it with any individual work, or with any other combination of titles. Thank you.
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The Foundation, established after the Old Empire gives way to barbarism, fights against a mutant strain called the Mule and tries to get rid of the Second Foundation after learning it will inherit a future Empire.

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