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Loading... Foundation's Fear (The Second Foundation Trilogy) (edition 2000)by Gregory Benford
Work InformationFoundation's Fear by Gregory Benford (Author)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. The main aspect of this book are AI realisations of Joan of Arc and Voltaire and the ongoing thoughts and descriptions of what is intelligence and humanity. These concepts are interesting and possibly may be seen as a continuation of Asimov's treatment of robots. However, I couldn't see the theme as presented by Benford tying in with my view of the Asimov Foundation Universe. The explanation on how aliens had made themselves into some form of AI beings and infected the human "internet" was again an interesting idea but I felt it undermined the Foundations created by Asimov - being possibly "trumped" by these secret alien beings created by Benford. I found it a hard read and only recommended for the keen Foundation reader. It has put ne off reading the other 2 books of the trilogy authorised by the Asimov estate. ( ) Well, guess this trilogy too deep/profound for me or something -- not a good story. Too much philosophy and not enough story (or even a good job carrying the what-if theme of everything in Asimov's original vision). Take away name of title, places and characters and I would never have suspected this had anything to do with Foundation novels. This book is the first in a trilogy of books written in the late 90s to extend the Foundation novels originally started by Isaac Asimov in the 40s and continued by Asimov himself in the eighties and early 90s. In his introduction, Benford warns us that these books, while set in the Foundation Universe, are not intended to be written in the same style as Asimov's work, and indeed, this would have been hard to do but Benford's story manages to twist the background near to breaking point with the introduction of a couple of 'characters' and a lot of babble stuff about human development This is the most dreadful book. Allegedly continuing the Foundation stories of Isaac Asimov, it does nothing of the sort, introducing a lot of intrusive elements inimical to the Foundation universe, and is basically a Benford book using some of Asimov's names. The Voltaire/Joan sequences are unbelievably tedious, being nothing but cod-philosophical noodling, and the chimpanzee plot was just ridiculous. It left the other authors charged with the second Foundation series brief an almost impossible mess to try and clear up. Avoid. no reviews | add a review
Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy is one of the high-water marks of science fiction. It is the monumental story of a Galactic Empire in decline, and the secret society of scientists who seek to shorten the inevitable Dark Age with the science of psychohistory. Now, with the permission -- and blessing -- of the Asimov estate, the epic saga continues. Fate -- and a cruel Emperor's arbitrary power -- have thrust Hari Seldon into the First Ministership of the Empire against his will. As the story opens, Hari is about to leave his quiet professorship and take on the all but impossible task of administering 25 million inhabited worlds from the all-steel planet of Trantor. With the help of his beautiful bio-engineered "wife" Dors and his alien companion Yugo, Seldon is still developing the science that will transform history, never dreaming that it will ultimately pit him against future history's most awesome threat. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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