Forward the Foundation

So this is going to be more of a review of the series as a whole than a single book.

Issac Asimov's Foundation series is a epic scifi series based in the far future galactic empire more than 20,000 yrs in the future. A time when Earth has long faded into myth and legend

LIke most good scifi, its not so much about the scifi as it is about the story of the rise and fall of civilization. This series is written in a way that is generally easy to follow without alot of complication and each book is set up in parts from 4-5 parts each and each part launches you 10 + yrs into the future.

Not so much a character as narrative driven story it focuses on the ideas of large crowds behavior can be predicted via laws of mathematics based on the main character Hari Seldon ficitonal science pyshochistory.

In alot of ways the books are quite dated in references to both technology, and social norms and ideas such as gender roles can come across as biased or stereotypes so it may not be good for everyone but for me I love the big ideas of this scifi, the epic scope and ideas that what is fact can fade to legend and myth over time.

Overall Foundation is in this reviewers opinion an awesome read as a whole series, only loses some points due to the dated nature of some of the references.

I dragged myself to finish this book, having liked so much the previous ones. It is too long, too boring. At least it's divided into shorter stories. This made me hold back into reading Foundation for the near future :-( http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/links/cool_sci_fi.html#asimov-suggested-reading-order

J'ai préféré ce volume à Prélude à Fondation mais ils partagent tous les deux la même faiblesse dans l'écriture et le rythme. Cependant j'ai trouvé que celui ci était beaucoup plus intéressant dans ce qu'il développait sur les origines de la psycho histoire et sur un Hari Sheldon beaucoup plus mature bien qu'un peu constamment mou et abattu. La fin rattrape à nouveau beaucoup une première partie assez faible.

This final Foundation book brought the series full-circle in both chronology and style, for it was a series of four short stories chronicling the last decades of Hari Seldon’s life and the completion of his goal to develop psychohistory as a practical science. It concluded his story as set up in Prelude very nicely, and provided context to the original trilogy. This story, more than Prelude, shows the strength of Seldon’s character.

Enjoyability: 5/5
Readability: 5/5
Recommendability: 5/5

A very satisfying ‘ending' (beginning?) to the Foundation saga. I highly recommend reading these books in the publication order, there are some major spoilers otherwise.

As always, my appetite for Asimov's writing has increased after finishing another one of his books.

I don't have a single complaint about the series finale. For the first prequel, it was difficult for me to read about Seldon as a young man, but old Seldon was perfectly palatable. It was fascinating to read about how he developed into the character he was, how the signs of the Empire's decay became increasingly visible, and about the slow development of psychohistory. Such a good book.

Age range: 16+
The vocabulary and philosophy of this book may be too advanced for younger readers. Read with a dictionary on hand.