Foundation (original 1951; edition 2004)

Asimov is obviously quite brilliant. His books took a "quantum leap" forward in the integration of science and literature in the 1950s. His success can be seen in the fact that his books do not seem all that impressive today. Indeed, stories about nuclear power, holograms, and power through knowledge are normal today - thanks in no small part to books like the Foundation.

Like many science-fiction books, this book runs on plot and short on psychology. The fundamental concept of the book is that "psychohistory" predicts phases of history. The universe, at least in this book, is heading to a dark age. Only the scientific knowledge of a small group of people can counteract the "priestly" knowledge based on "religious" control. Clearly, Asimov wants us to embrace science as the foundation for all of existence, in typical 1950s scientific optimism.

And who can blame him? Especially in the 1950s, science has solved so many problems that it seemed continually progression was inevitable. In our post-World-War-Two world, hope sprung forth through the knowledge of a small group of scientists who would reinvent the world.

In life seventy years after Asimov, our postmodern world might demur a bit. Science, though powerful, has not quenched humanity's thirst. Indeed, sometimes the "priests" of science can seem just as fallible as the priests of religion. Nonetheless, it is fun to peer into Asimov's ripe mind, where humanity's thirst for problems is young and the thirst of weakness is fading. ( )

Classic.
Stitched together out of separate stories in a "fall of the Empire" arc, Asimov created an SF analog to the fall of the Roman Empire - which has echoes even in our time. While there are amusing anachronisms within the story (eg. smoking, paper newspapers) this remains an enduring classic. ( )

The fall of the Roman Empire, but in space - what's not to love? Asimov is ambitious in his scope, and is somewhat scathing in his political commentary. The characters suffer a bit (they can be shallow in places) and it's not the most action packed book I've ever read, but it was fantastic all the same. ( )

I found Isaac Asimov's book "Foundation" to be a bit hard to rate. This science fiction classic is filled to the brim with interesting ideas and concepts, but Asimov tells the story in such a dry and mechanical way (which is perhaps fitting for the world he's created) that it's tough to stay engaged.

So, points for a good, solid story, but points off for style, I guess. ( )

Foundation is a science fiction classic. It is about a civilization's evolution and one man's attempt to manipulate the future to avoid hundreds of thousands of years of turmoil (reducing it to only one-thousand). I really enjoyed the book since I am interested in politics and evolutions of societies. The book skips from time period to time period, from crisis to crisis, often skipping decades. The characters change with the times, thus there is no character that you can identify with or root for throughout the book. This does not bother me, but it may not be for everyone. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series to see where Asimov goes with the concept. ( )