Trilogía de la Fundación

Escrito por Isaac Asimov

Narrado por Raúl Lloréns

La «Trilogía de la Fundación» está considerada la mejor serie de la ciencia ficción universal. Como tal, fue galardonada en 1966 con un premio Hugo, y ahora reunida en un único volumen: una lectura imprescindible para los amantes del género.

El hombre se ha dispersado por toda la galaxia. La capital del Imperio es Trántor, nido de intrigas y corrupción. Gracias a su ciencia, fundada en el estudio matemático de los hechos históricos y el comportamiento de las masas, el psicohistoriador Hari Seldon prevé la caída del Imperio y el retorno a la barbarie durante varios milenios. A fin de reducir este período de barbarie a mil años, Seldon decide crear una Fundación en un extremo de la galaxia.

El poderío de la Fundación alcanza límites insospechados, su dominio se sostiene en la energía, la religión y el comercio. Sin embargo, la aparición del Mulo, un individuo dotado de poderes paranormales, desafía todas las previsiones. Conquistando planeta tras planeta, le gana terreno a la Fundación de manera vertiginosa. La salvación de la galaxia queda en manos de una Segunda Fundación totalmente secreta y cuyo emplazamiento es desconocido incluso para los dirigentes de la Primera.

Reseña:
«Cualquier aportación a la interminable controversia sobre el futuro debería mostrarse agradecida, en primer lugar, a Isaac Asimov.»
The New Yorker

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Penguin Random House Audio
• Traductor: Pilar Giralt Gorina
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 11 mar 2021
• ISBN: 9788466355186

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov es uno de los grandes maestros de la ciencia ficción del siglo XX. Autor de trayectoria legendaria, publicó más de quinientas obras, entre ellas la Trilogía Fundación -galardonada con los premios Hugo y Nebula-, Los propios dioses y El hombre bicentenario. Nacido en 1920 en Petróvichi, Rusia, siendo muy pequeño se trasladó con su familia a Estados Unidos y creció en la ciudad de Nueva York. Estudió en la Universidad de Columbia, donde se doctoró en Bioquímica. Mientras completaba sus estudios, sirvió como investigador en la Marina estadounidense durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Más tarde fue profesor de Bioquímica y publicó trabajos académicos, como El cerebro humano. En 1987 fue galardonado con el Premio Gran Maestro Nebula, y en 1997 fue incluido en el Salón de la Fama de la Ciencia Ficción. Asimov murió en 1992 en Nueva York a los setenta y dos años.

Comentarios para Trilogía de la Fundación

[mmparker-213929 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

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.

[leslie398 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

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).

[kslade-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

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.

[jshillingford_2 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I fell in love with Asimov's brilliant mysteries. This is trilogy is the first SciFi of his (which he is most famous for) that I have read. And it was so tough for me to rate. I finally settled on three stars for one reason: it took me several months to finish because I kept putting it down. I didn't care about a single character; the structure of the novel precludes that. I kept reading because the ideas were so grand and ahead of our times, even 75 years after Asimov came up with them, that I wanted to see them unravel.

Hari Seldon developed psycho-history: a mathematical analysis that has refined probability to the point of predicting the behavior of masses of people. The science of mobs. He predicted the First Galactic Empire would fall. (The current Emperor was none too pleased). To mitigate the ensuing barbarism, he creates a Foundation that would evolve over one thousand years into a Second Empire. Then he dies and our story jumps forward fifty years. The first of many such jumps.

Each jump has a new protagonist/hero that will lead Foundation through a crisis and expand its influence. Salvor Hardin dominated using Foundation's advanced atomic science as religion to control their hostile neighbors. In the next jump, Hober Mallow has established Foundation power in trade when religion no longer holds sway. The first two heroes are so clever and charismatic, I found myself rooting for them. But then they were gone. You don't stay with any character long enough to get to know them or form a connection. The first book abruptly ends with Mallow and the First Foundation after 200 years.

Foundation and Empire, or rather the fall of both. Seldon's predictions are based upon mob mentality: what happens when one person influences everything? The secretive Mule that no one has seen and everyone fears, brings down the Foundation with one blow because he is a "mutant".  But again, there's no real development. The Mule is a boogeyman filtered through our protagonists. He's a card board stand in to present ideas through. That psychohistory can be thwarted by individuals.  This book is mostly a big chase disguising info dumps as our heroes flee from one location to another. And it literally ends with the villain telling us how he did it! The main purpose is to introduce the concept of a Second Foundation that everyone wants to find.

Second Foyndation is a clever and satisfying ending to the trilogy that arises from the very nature of the two Foundations. First Foundation thrives upon mastery of physical sciences; Second Foundation via mental sciences (mastery of self). Which is the true Foundation that will birth a new Empire? Of the trilogy, this is the strongest because it stays with the same people and time throughout with no time jumps. The grand ideas come to fruition, but not a new Empire. There are still six hundred years out of a thousand left to go.

These were written in the fifties, when the spectre of atomic annihilation was fresh and social mores somewhat antiquated. But, the greater ideas easily survive that (instead of "atomics" why not fusion, or even arc reactors). I found this worth reading, just not as entertaining as hype led me to expect. It does make me eager to see the tv show and how they tackle the story structure.

[ennuiprayer · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I only read Foundation. I plan on reading the others at a later date. This is the first book by Asimov that I've ever read. It was a bit touch and go there. Interesting political dialogue. The time jumps are obviously annoying to a first time reader, but necessary. Three stars to Foundation.

[antao-3 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

SF has to involve some kind of imagining of a different world (even if the difference is so small, that it it is superficially indistinguishable from our world at first glance), and this difference has to be rooted in, or have implications for, science or technology. The last part is essential: it's why Frankenstein is SF, but Dracula isn't, for example. It's not just down to the environment it's set in. I think that it's more that SF is often an "active" narrative, "Action" in film parlance while "classic literature" is much more passive. It doesn't have to be this way, but a big part of the SF audience historically has been the teenage male - and they are attracted to the action style of narrative.

“Foundation” is modelled on the fall of the Roman Empire. But it's narrated by what men (and it's almost always all men) are doing. You can imagine the English teacher with their red pen "but describe what the antagonists are feeling". One (at least I) intuits their feelings from their actions.

“1984” is much more closely related to the classic novel. Obviously the cast "does things" but that is a vehicle to narrate their feelings. Right down to the last chapter where the message is the welcoming of the bullet, not the shooting of the bullet.


(the 1st volume of the pack)

Imagine “Foundation” rewritten in the classic style, the broken trustees admitting to Hardin that they were wrong and he was right. It could have emotion and pathos but, to paraphrase, it gets "I won, you lost, get over it" treatment (I can’t wait to see the TV Show when it premieres). Or Hardin's trip to Anacreon. As I this I've already forgetten the name of his assistant left behind on the Foundation to hold the fort (I'm an old geezer like Hari Seldon himself...). He is tortured, he doesn't understand why Hardin is doing what he's doing, he possibly even thinks Hardin is doing the wrong thing. All Hardin needs from him is for him to keep things ticking over, delay, delay, delay, but he barely gets a mention. In a "classic novel" he would be the focus and Hardin's trip to Anacreon would be a side note - possibly even the solution would be described before Hardin left and the suspense would be whether the assistant can hold strong and stick to the guidance that Hardin gave him or whether he will set his own path and, inevitably, ruin everything.

The opposite view however might be that SF appeals to some contemporary SF authors who can’t be bothered to do the research into the "real stuff". They’d sooner just make shit up than have to do the hard yards (Yoon Ha Lee's “Ninefox Gambit” comes to mind).

Asimov’s “Foundation trilogy” still a solid 4 stars in 2021.



SF = Speculative Fiction.

[kinwolf · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

A classic series. Period.

[lilyroseshadowlyn · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

A brilliant classic sci-fi trilogy, set in a future that is at times terrifying. Yet reading this, one cannot help but wonder if some of the stories aren't a thinly veiled commentary on the government and state of affairs in today's world.

-library book

[john257hopper · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Great to have this audio version, though it comes across as very stilted now, and so many of the voices are indistinguishable.

[jamski-1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

First, I think it should be noted that this review is for a QUARTET of books: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, and Foundation's Edge. I just couldn't bear writing four separate reviews, so please, forgive me for this all-too-brief synopsis of a truly epic experience.

Now, I first read the Foundation series when I was 12 or 13, and while I didn't "get" the gist of the book, I still found it hugely entertaining, enough so that I plowed through all three of them and when I happened upon a boxed set at a local used book store at a reasonable price, I had to have them, and they had to go to the top of my reading list. Of course now it's 40 years later and Isaac is long since passed on to the next plane of existence, but before he left, he wrote four additional books to go along with the original three.

I'll leave Asimov's own intros to explain the genesis of the novels (it's fascinating and makes great reading all by itself!) but suffice to say, this is not Star Wars or Star Trek. It's not space opera. It's very talky, a lot of dialog between a lot of characters who seem to appear out of nowhere and disappear without warning, especially in the first book. Take Hari Seldon, probably THE central character...he's mentioned throughout the series... and he's actually only alive for the first thirty or forty pages of the first book!

Weirdly, it all works if you stick with it. It's fascinating, and you can't keep from pushing on and on to see what's going to happen next. That's the mark of a truly great story, and when it lasts well into the thousands of pages...hey, few could've pulled this off but the great Asimov. There's a reason it has long been noted as the "Best Science Fiction Series of All Time". If you haven't read it, and you're a sci-fi devotee, you're depriving yourself of a treat. And if you have read the first trilogy but not the later additions to the series, I bet you'll enjoy at least the fourth book, which is a very worthy successor. I am now in the process of hunting down the "prequels", which I hope to read before I finally get the last book of Asimov's own Foundation books.

And then there's the additional books written by other luminaries that expand the series...but, that's another story, for another day...

[greeniezona · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

(review originally written for Bookslut)

I have always been a fan of science fiction. Let's face it, when you have a father who reads Dune and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to you as bedtime stories, what other choice do you have? Given that, I really don't read that much of it anymore. Let's face it, there is a lot of crappy science fiction out there, and unless I really devote myself to the genre, it's hard to just go into the book store and pick up something that isn't going to be terribly lame. You can weed out all the books with large-chested women who are falling out of their uniforms on the cover (unless it's written by Heinlein), but that can still leave you with entire rooms full of books to wade through. The science fiction section at my favorite used book store is bigger than the entire fiction and literature section. The fact that most of it is not classified as fiction or literature should tell you something. Let's just say that I have been burned by quite a few terrible science fiction purchases. And this was back in high school, when I was still devouring Harlequin serial romance novels without blinking.

Despite all that, the well-respected name of Isaac Asimov should immediately put all fears to rest. If that isn't enough for you, there is always that the Foundation series is the winner of the Hugo Award for best all time science fiction series. Of course what really sold it for me was the fact that my sister is the one who nominated the series for the 100 books list, and she's even more skeptical of science fiction than I am.

Although there are now several Foundation novels, the original trilogy, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation, was written thirty years before pressure from fans and his publisher forced Asimov to return to the series. When the Hugo Award was given, only these first three books existed. By the time I learned all this, I was eager to find out what all the fuss was about.

The first book, Foundation, is more a collection of short stories than a novel. Despite the fact that women are virtually non-existent in this book (except for one wife whose only purpose in the plot is to be fascinated by some new-fangled jewelry), it is by far my favorite. The fact that many science fiction authors, who can conceive of wholly alien cultures and technologies no one has even dreamed of before often cannot conceive of a purpose besides boobs, is a source of constant irritation for me. But that's a rant for another place and time, as Asimov redeems himself with the fabulous female characters in the other two books. Foundation is a collection of near misses. It tells the story of a civilization on the fringes of the universe, strong in science but weak in resources in ships. What sets it apart from the bulk of science fiction stories, and what makes it so refreshing, is the way the Foundation men use their wits to outsmart each warlord and government that threatens them, often without a single shot being fired. At the beginning of the book they are possibly the most vulnerable planet in the galaxy. By the end, they are the ruling planet of a flourishing empire.

The second book, Foundation and Empire, is really two novellas. In the first novella, the empire of the Foundation collides with what is left of The Empire, which once ruled the entire galaxy, but is now crumbling. This may be the least satisfying out of all the Foundation stories, as its resolution depends not at all on the genius or cunning of any one person. In the second story, the Foundation is menaced by a mutant, the Mule, something unforeseeable by the Seldon plan, which predicts that the Foundation will eventually rule over the entire galaxy. Although I was a trifle disappointed by how easy it was to guess the secret identity of the Mule, the way in which one woman discovers his identity and single handedly thwarts his effort to destroy all that the Foundation has worked for makes the story well worth it.

The final book, Second Foundation is also really two novellas. This book holds its mysteries closer to its chest. The only frustrating thing about it is that the end does not bring us to the promised age of the Foundation's rule over the entire galaxy. It is for this reason that so much pressure was put on Asimov to add to the Foundation series.

So if you're going to read science fiction, read the Foundation series. Or at least the trilogy. Or at least Foundation. Because this is good stuff, folks. This is what science fiction should be. Not just cool gadgetry and neat-looking aliens, but an inquiry into human behavior and civilization, the forces that hold it together and eventually tear it apart. And this series is a lot more entertaining than The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, trust me.

[jbwlibre · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Quite simply this is the finest work of science fiction that I have ever read. Asimov had a way of really bringing the characters to life and making you empathize with them.

For me the story was so captivating that I hardly put the book down. And the best part of all is that it was so well written that I did not have a clue how it would end until the last two sentences of the book. Predictable it was not.

I have read this trilogy twice already and it is on my list for another re-read.

[darthdeverell · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

In his seminal Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov channels Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire as he envisions mankind's future. Psycho-historian Hari Seldon, mathematically predicting "the developing decline and fall of the Galactic Empire" (Foundation, pg. 28), creates the Foundation as "the means by which the science and culture of the dying Empire was to be preserved through the centuries of barbarism...to be rekindled in the end into a second Empire" (Foundation, pg. 85) as well as to lessen the interregnum between the fall of the first empire and the rise of the second from a period of 30,000 years to 1,000. The three novels cover the first 400 years of this period. Asimov's portrayal of the future galaxy draws upon popular portrayals of a Middle Ages perspective of Ancient Rome. At one point, a character thinks of the superstitions regarding the relics of the Empire, musing, "There was this superstitious fear on the part of the pygmies of the present for the relics of the giants of the past" (Second Foundation, pg. 156), showing a clear sense of something having been lost to the world. Finally, without giving away spoilers, the riddle of the Second Foundation borrows from a popular saying about the Roman Empire.
While Asimov's writing inspired numerous other authors, this particular series left its mark all over the Star Wars franchise. From the "Korellian Republic" (Foundation, pg. 139) to the planet Trantor, which Asimov described, writing, "the lustrous, indestructible, incorruptible metal that was the unbroken surface of the planet was the foundation of the huge, metal structures that mazed the planet" (Foundation and Empire, pg. 72), and which clearly influenced Coruscant. Further, the Visi-Sonor described in Foundation and Empire is the obvious precursor to the Holophonor in Futurama. Those with any background in European history or a prior knowledge of science fiction will recognize what influenced Asimov and what he, in turn, influenced through Foundation. It's no wonder the Hugo Awards declared this the best science fiction series of all time. Even those who have not yet read it have surely read science fiction that felt its influence.

[bayardus-1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Before reading this collection I'd read Foundation by itself at least a decade previously, and though I forgot most of it in the intervening years, the main premise of a genius scientifically predicting the next thousand years- and not just predicting, but shaping that future- is something that stuck with me. Having now revisited Foundation, as well as the next two books in the series, I expect that in another decade the premise will have stuck with me, but likely not much else, as the premise and the first part of the first book are by far the best parts of this collection.

Both the premise and the first part of Foundation are excellent. Asimov gives us a universe ruled by the Empire, perhaps once a mighty force for order, but now a bloated bureaucratic mess in decline. The scientist Hari Seldon, having perfected the science of psychohistory, uses this hybrid of psychology and statistics to predict the inevitable fall of the Empire, and the resulting descent into barbarism that will follow. He does more than that, though, since while the fall is inevitable, the resurrection of civilization doesn't yet have a predetermined timeline. Seldon gives the last years of his life to fighting a bureaucratic world in denial so that people his grandchildren will never meet, and their grandchildren will never meet, and their grandchildren will never meet, might have a better life. He succeeds in establishing the Foundation, ostensibly a repository of knowledge, but in reality a bud at the edge of the galaxy which Seldon's psychohistory assures will one day bloom into a new, better civilization.

That's great stuff. It also creates huge problems for how to continue with the stories that are set after this (as these first three Foundation books are essentially collections of short stories and novellas set chronologically in the same universe). Seldon's science, at least as it's first presented to us, is almost a guarantee of success (I believe Seldon gives the chances of his plan coming off as intended for the first two or three hundred years as 94% or greater). Thus it's hard to stick to the premise and still create dramatic tension, and so naturally an author would have to explore other options. Showing the reader how psychohistory works and makes the Foundation's victories inevitable might be entertaining the first time, but you can hardly stretch that out for multiple books. More problematically, psychohistory by its very nature would seem to negate the importance of individuals, as Seldon's science is based off of predicting the actions of large groups, with the actions of individuals explicitly outside of the science's predictive scope. The very existence of psychohistory would seem to negate the Great Man theory of history, so without the individual being of much importance how is the story of Foundation going to have characters whose actions feel important going forward? Asimov could have done what Stapledon did in Last and First Men and wrote the story of Foundation's thousand-year history as a historical account without prominent characters, I suppose, but I can understand why he wouldn't want to. Thus, after Part I of Foundation, Asimov had to deal with hurdles in both story construction and character development created by his novel's premise.

Asimov jumps these hurdles in a not-particularly-impressive way, by undercutting the premise of psychohistory almost immediately. Within the first few stories the reader sees that individuals do matter, no matter what eleventh-hour speech Asimov throws in about how success was inevitable. Lip service is always paid to Seldon's plan, but it's often just background material for what is otherwise a standard science fiction story. Foundation and Empire, as well as Second Foundation, introduce complications to Seldon's plan, with the introduction of The Mule and the Second Foundation, but instead of solving the problems of psychohistory these introductions just add more wrinkles to it. I don't fault Asimov for stepping back from his premise, in fact I think he probably had to, but in taking that step back the rest of the stories are also a step down from an excellent start.

That's my main analysis of the first three books, but there are various other things that the books did well and not so well. I enjoyed how science became a spiritual force in the early years of the Foundation, from the perspective of the Foundation characters they were turning science into a religion to fool the gullible barbaric masses of the universe, but simultaneously a different branch of science was becoming a religion to the Foundation as well: Seldon's plan quickly attained the status of quasi-divine prophesy, with Seldon himself being ascribed omniscience of a sort. Even Seldon's name became an oath to the people of the Foundation, with "by God" replaced with "by Seldon." With this early plot line, Foundation isn't so much criticizing religion as it is everyone who think they know something with certainty. On the other hand, I intensely disliked the way that the supposedly sprawling universe of the Foundation series constantly felt small. In a universe of tens of thousands of inhabited worlds and trillions of people, all the stories in the first few books take place on the same handful of planets, and every character is a descendant of a character in another story, or runs into the same handful of people. In a universe that should feel epic in scale, the cast of characters instead feels claustrophobic.

Read in isolation, The Psychohistorians stands as a great Asimov short story, up there with Nightfall and The Last Question. As a series, however, I found that the later parts of the Foundation universe never matched Asimov's first foray into the setting.

[ailinel-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The first novel of the Foundation series (by publication date, not chronologically) is comprised of a series of short stories that Asimov wrote for magazines, later collected into a volume as a novel. The series chronicles the decline and fall of the Galactic Empire, predicated by genius mathematician and psycho-historian Hermi Seldon. In response to the trends and the results he found statistically inevitable, Seldon created two Foundations on either end of the galaxy-- places of learning and centers of technology set along specific paths that would change the dark ages following the fall of the empire to a mere 1,000 years instead of the nearly 30,000 originally foreseen. Through predicting ‘mob-behavior’ on a galactic scale, Hermi foresaw the political, social, religious and economic trends that would occur, and around the time of each ‘Seldon Crisis’, which determines the fate of the foundation, has set his hologram to appear to speak to and guide those who are central to the Foundation.

Foundation and Empire is the second novel of the Foundation Trilogy. Beginning years into the reign of the market princes, this novel focuses on the introduction of the mutant, the Mule, into Hari Seldon’s schemes. A mutant with a mysterious ability that eventually leads every group to surrender to him, he becomes a great threat to the Traders, the Foundation, and the galaxy… and a threat that Hari Seldon could not have foreseen. As remaining members of the resistance set off in search of the mysterious Second Foundation, the Foundation and the entire far reaches of the galaxy fall into the grasp of the Mule.
The novel is intriguing and fun, with the mystery of the Mule’s ability kept secret until the end of the tale. Despite this, I was able to correctly guess who the Mule was and something of his powers quickly after he was first introduced. More of the universe is travelled to and understood, and the remnants of the old empire play a greater role as their fate becomes more closely tied to that of the Foundation.

Second Foundation follows the search for the mysterious Second Foundation by a group of Foundationers concerned that people's actions are being determined by a group of psychically gifted Second Foundationers. As they work to develop ways of identifying mental manipulation using electrical analysis of the brain, the Second Foundation is concerned with the divergence of the Seldon Plan that has occurred due to the galaxy’s belief in the Second Foundation. The novel is intriguing, and reads as a more fluid, connected tale than the early Foundation novels where the various stories were separated by decades. The female child Arkadia is highly irritating, but intentionally so, and she does not detract from the rest of the tale.

[kcshankd · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Perhaps reading this series first as an adult colors my view, but I came away less than impressed. The collected chapters working through the work seemed more disjointed than coherent. I had trouble keeping up with the overall story, and by the end was ready for it to be over.

[lyndatrue · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Dear Isaac, how I miss you.

I first encountered Foundation when I tried to check Foundation and Empire out of the library, and the librarian (bless you, librarians, everywhere) asked me if I'd read the first one. When I said I had not, she walked back with me, found it, and I believe I exhausted the entire collection of science fiction in the library, that summer.

Those three novels were heady stuff for a ten year old, in those long ago years. This trilogy is comprised of all three novels: Foundation; Foundation and Empire; and Second Foundation.

I wish I could give current readers the gift of reading these three works with a fresh eye, when the world was more innocent, and the future was filled with possibilities.

[geniemagik · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I read this a while ago and I think it is time to reinvest some time in it. While i remember the creation of the first and second foundation, and the whole mule story, I forget many of the details. It is a fantastic story and very well thought out.

[nazgullie · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I have written the reviews for the other two books as updates under this book. This one is for Second Foundation. I enjoyed it as much as Foundation and Empire, although I do think that Foundation and Empire was a little better when it came to pacing. I don't know if it's because I jumped headfirst and read the trilogy all at once, but I found that Second Foundation really lagged in certain parts. The surprise twists started getting tiresome after the third "I Know where the Second Foundation is!", which I feel dulled my excitement about finally finding out where the Second Foundation was. My guess was Terminus, I was wrong.

However, it's hard to find anything bad to say about this, since the ending really did have me yelling at my bedroom walls like a lunatic. I really wish that Asimov would have written more female characters into his stories, because he writes them really well. Callia, Arkady, and Momma were like a cool drink of water as I moved through the story.

When I started the first book, Foundation; I was convinced that Asimov was a sexist who couldn't imagine women in positions of power, since nowhere in the story were there women of any real consequence. He created a galaxy with complex governments and technologies but there were no women. This was very telling for me, and as such, it remains my least favorite book of the three. I don't usually feel that books get better with their sequels, but Asimov's Foundation series, does improve with each book. I know there are more than these three, and I'm looking forward to reading them, but where it pertains to these three; the stories get better as they go.

Another thing that I want to address, is Asimov's writing tone. Despite there being a great deal of science in his stories, and details about math and patterns, he writes beautifully. There are some lines in his stories which feel almost poetic, they're so heartfelt. I don't recall this being present in the first book. Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation are also my favorites because there is a grown in Asimov as writer that allows him to show more vulnerability in his work, making it more alive, warm. His sense of humor also comes through in those two books, and that was a joy for me to discover. I wanted to see him as a human being through his work. Not an arrogant but very intelligent math, and science geek. I wanted some heart and soul, and he delivered that in Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation.

I would highly recommend this to others. So if you haven't read it, do so.

[dougcornelius_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

A phenomenal sci-fi trilogy that wraps layers upon layers on the evolution of human civilization strewn across the galaxy.

[lisamaria_c · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

The trilogy of books Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation are among the best Asimov ever wrote among his science-fiction novels and among his most influential. I've read it was based on Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. Only this empire spans the galaxy. Hari Seldon predicts through "psychohistory" the empire will fall within 300 years and establishes a foundation to manipulate history to shorten the dark ages that will follow.

The fascination is seeing how all that plays out, especially in the first book. Foundation and Empire is less episodic than the first and features one of Asimov's most complex and compelling characters, "the Mule," as well as a strong female character, Bayta, and a clever twist. Second Foundation also features a strong female character--Arkady Darell.

The first three books in the series were written in the early 1950s, and at times it shows. Asimov considered himself a feminist and created strong female characters (especially Susan Calvin in his Robot stories) but even so there are blindspots and occasional gender fail, because class? This was the fifties! The trilogy is dated in other ways--technological and social advances Asimov didn't foresee, but for all that I think this is still a fantastic read rich in ideas.

Asimov returned to the Foundation Series in the 80s with Foundation's Edge and other sequels and prequels, merging aspects of the Robot series with it. But though I find those stories entertaining, I don't find them quite as thought-provoking as the first three Foundation novels. However, I do think Asimov's most amazing works can be found in his short stories, not his novels. I'd particularly recommend the anthology Room is Earth Enough if you can find it. His "The Ugly Little Boy" and ""The Dead Past" are in my opinion two of the best science fiction shorts out there.

[jwhenderson_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I was disappointed with this trilogy of novels having just reread this Science Fiction classic after more than forty years. The three novels demonstrate exceptional plotting but little else to warrant praise. Asimov has a galaxy populated with humans and it is a grayish world dominated by a fading empire. Set at least 13,000 years in the future, after humanity has colonized space so thoroughly that most people have forgotten about the Earth itself. Foundation opens as the Galactic Empire is in its final years, having reigned over the galaxy for over ten millennia. One man on the capital planet of Trantor dares to stand up and tell the moribund Empire that its decline and fall is inevitable. Hari Seldon has developed the science of psychohistory, which aims to predict the behavior of large populations over vast periods of time. Seldon has predicted not only the fall of the Empire, but the fact that a whopping 30,000 years of barbarism will follow, unless his organization, the Encyclopedia Foundation, is able to finish its immense task of cataloging and preserving millennia of accumulated human knowledge and history. Then, perhaps, the 30,000 years can be shaved to a mere millennium.
The key concept is psychohistory and Hari Selden's projections based on mathematical formulas suggest with high probability the potential for minimizing a coming 'dark age' for humanity. Most of the novel hinges on a few leaders brandishing political power rather than light sabers. The suggestion of determinism diminished the possibility of suspense for this reader. The resulting loss of interest in the story, with repetitious descriptions of the overriding Selden plan made the final novel a bit of a slog in spite of an interstellar war. Planets were destroyed with the loss of hundreds of millions of lives but that did not seem to matter. Asimov was a prolific author, but in this case his attempt to expand several stories into a series of novels was flawed.

[tungsten_peerts · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I am in the middle of Foundation and Empire and I must say, this old trilogy holds up much better than I thought it would.

I recall Asimov recounting how, as an adult, he went back and re-read Doc Smith's Galactic Patrol and that the sense of loss when he compared it to his childhood experience of the book was ... palpable. I expected much the same thing to happen to me here ... but it hasn't.

Oh, it's dated in places ("in the future everything will be NUCLEAR," and women still seem to be mostly for decoration), but the chief idea is a really really good one, and Asimov makes it utterly engaging. Some of the scenes have been stuck in my memory for decades. And I find that, much as Asimov comes under criticism for not having been a very good writer, the writing is surprisingly good most of the time.

If the trilogy has a major fault, I would say that that fault is talkiness. Asimov's big climactic scenes tend, by and large, to be conversations. You won't find an awful lot of narrated action. This can make for a static, slightly claustrophobic atmosphere.

Still, when he describes his characters stepping outside and seeing the "misty lens" of the Milky Way stretching over them, one really does get the sense of being in a galaxy, and one where momentous things are happening.

Oh, and in the future? Everyone really likes cigars. ;^)

[bacillicide · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

T his is my first foray into Isaac Asimov and it's been a successful one, this trilogy has made a fan out of me! I love Asimov's writing--his characters are fleshed out and brilliant despite their frequent disappearance over a matter of chapters, sometimes pages, as time passes by fast, the character cast always changing as well as the environment around them.

I really enjoyed Arkady's story, in The Second Foundation. A young teenager, threatened by the idea of an elusive and mysterious "Second Foundation" that can control minds. A position understandable despite my own knowledge (and preference) for the Second Foundation, given the same situation, I would be fairly threatened to believe that my own actions weren't actually my own and being controlled by a force that existed yet I could not find.

Highly recommended to anyone into science fiction, or someone looking for a great epic spanning hundreds of years.

[currerbell-1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I remember reading the trilogy decades ago, probably in the mid-60s, and remember the plot pretty well. I got hold of the new Everyman edition because I like Everyman bindings and I intended to do a reread in preparation for a reread of Asimov's own sequels like Foundation's Edge, none of which I remember at all well.

The basic trilogy definitely holds up well over the years, and my one criticism is of the Introduction, which has some inaccuracies (or at least I think they're inaccuracies, such as the assertion that the trilogy may be slightly dated because "computers don't appear to exist" when in fact there are at least some references to them in the trilogy). More seriously, though, I have a problem with Dirda's note to the Introduction, which indicates that it does not contain any SPOILERS. Personally, I'd suggest that a reader new to the trilogy NOT read the Introduction until after reading the trilogy itself, because the Introduction includes a reference to a character who first appears in the second book (Foundation and Empire), and this reference may not be a horrendous SPOILER but it's still enough of a SPOILER that I wish Dirda hadn't brought it up.

[stefany_6 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I can understand why Asimov's Foundation Trilogy is one of the building blocks of the genre of Science Fiction as we know it today and I can respect the quality of the material itself. This trilogy is well-written, grand in scope, and has a very interesting concept, however I found it to be very dull for long periods of time and took me much longer than usual to plod through.

Asimov has crafted his tale around a scientist who foresees the end the current structure of civilization and devises a plan to accelerate the growth of a new empire and drastically shorten the predicted span of time in which the universe will be thrown into a time of barbarism. In order to accomplish this, a Foundation is created on a remote and otherwise unused planet and the trilogy involves the trials and travails of this Foundation as it establishes itself as a power in the universe.

Overall, not a bad series. I enjoyed the second book (Foundation and Empire) the most out of the three. As I mentioned, the story does get a bit tedious at times and it was an effort for me to pick it up and keep going from time to time. But from a historical aspect it is very interesting to read one of the building blocks of a genre.

[temsmail · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I have not read this book since high school lo these many years ago. Encyclopedia Galactica sounds a lot like the various "clouds" in use in cyberspace, although neither Sheldon nor Asimov could have imagined them to be so. Amazing 

[wamser_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

The first effectively sets the stage, but the series bogs down as it progresses.

[fordj_3 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Helps define the hard science fiction genre. Excellent read and highly recommended. A little high brow but very entertaining.

[bookmarque · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

For years I had this novel on my shelf, but never read it. I suppose I was put off by the fact that was a supposedly ground-breaking work of science fiction and I lack patience with most of that kind of work. But now I’m glad I read it and found out that while ground-breaking it certainly is, it didn’t try my patience. This review is only for Foundation, not the others in the trilogy which are yet unread by me.

The story is told in chunks, not in detail. Only the seminal events of the 100 years or so it covers are portrayed. That’s what gave it life and momentum. If the author had tried to go into detail, it would have choked on itself within 10 pages. Instead, Asimov gives us the bare bones of the story and lets things take shape in our minds. It works.

Some observations;

The work is filled with that joyous and hopeful technical optimism that permeated the late 40s and stayed through the 50s. Where our achievements in science seemed lofty and worthwhile and would be the saving of mankind. The atomic bomb had recently been dropped and a war ended. That war produced more technological advancements than in probably any other age in history. Our optimism was unbounded and our future bright. The promise of Atomic energy was huge. The fears this power brought were pushed to one side and apparently, in Asimov’s future, they have been dealt with and conquered.

Here, atomic power separates the barbarian from the civilized. It is the means of domination and separation of powers. One of the early leaders of the planet on which the Foundation is housed couched its existence and handling in the mystique of religion. Thereby he kept it strictly controlled and mythologized. Only priests trained by the state were allowed any knowledge of atomic power and were the only ones permitted to handle it. At first this strategy worked and atomic power was not something produced by science, but by priests adept in magic. Clever.

Another thing is the complete lack of female characters in any other role except a shrewish and domineering wife. My generation is used to seeing the future concept filled with women at every level of society. Commanders. Ambassadors. Queens. Captains. The future didn’t have discrimination or bias against women. But here in Foundation, we see it still. The concept of a woman having as much aptitude for command or science as a man seems like it was foreign to Asimov. Women were for decoration and breeding and housework, not for statecraft. Somehow it made for a less than realistic future for me, with only men in control.

Another thing that struck me was the dichotomy in technology we have presented here. Atomic power is all. It is the ultimate. It not only powers starships and creates electricity, but also personal shields like body armor and mundane household items like washing machines and knives that never need sharpening. Atomic power can be wielded like a bat and applied to the personal as well as the civic. But it seems so anachronistic. As a person growing up knowing the limitations and failings of atomic power, this future seems klunky and backwards.

Not helping was the fact that despite “sub-ether” transmission, these people still relied on newspapers (a late edition in fact) for information. Asimov’s immense imagination didn’t encompass the computer or the computer network, which seems so much a part of science fiction to me. While ships and offices had televisors with which to view messages, they still had pneumatic tubes and capsules which were used to send and receive messages. These same had “sub-ether” communications, but somehow only messages delivered in person mattered. Good thing they had “hyperspace”.

Which leads me to another observation; are these the first instances of these terms? Did Asimov make them up and create their meanings? If so, he’s authored a lot of the lexicon we take for granted. I first heard “sub-ether” in the Hitchhiker’s guide. Same as Encyclopedia Galactica - both terms I thought sprung from the head of Adams not Asimov. And hyperspace is a Star Wars term to me (the Millennium Falcon just couldn’t manage the jump all the time), although it appears here in this book. There are probably others that I didn’t catch so ingrained in my consciousness as part of future speak. I’m awed by his imagination if he did invent these terms and concepts.

To me the overall theme of this book is the futility of trying to change the course of events. That humans will arrange and govern themselves in endlessly repeating patterns. A loop we cannot change or escape. So events within this loop must be dealt with and predicted. Hari Seldon does not try to change the future, but tries to lessen the impact of what he knows will occur. In many ways he uses what he knows to be inevitable to shape the work of the Foundation. He builds in these inevitabilities to work for him and his goals and not against him and his goals. The “science” of psychohistory reminds me in a way of the mathematical principle Crichton described as Chaos theory. The predictability of events in a complex system.

There was one phrase with which the leader of a planet described himself. He was the king in all things except in name. An emperor. A tyrannical leader. He styled himself the first among citizens. This reminded me of Sulla and Gaius Marius and, to some extent, Julius Caesar who all styled themselves as the First Man in Rome. The first among equals, which we know is no such thing at all. It’s the work of spin doctors.

The idea of manifest destiny is also apparent in this novel. The idea that the galaxy, even the entire universe is ours by right is stamped all over this story. The idea that the collective knowledge of the human race is worth preserving, and preserving at such by such extreme measures is interesting and arrogant. The Foundation was designed for this purpose. This is its only purpose. I’m sure that there are some things worth keeping that we have discovered or created, but all of it? Everything? Thumbtacks? Is that necessary? Fluffy toilet covers? Is that worth keeping? How about the idea of manifest destiny itself? Now it’s an idea that is very out of fashion. It’s in many ways a deplorable philosophy that crushes other species and other human’s rights in its quest for “god-ordained” domination.

Finally, nowhere in it are there other life forms. I can’t recall many novels of this type or stories of this type without non-human sentient beings. I realize that it’s a novel of a human empire, but it’s kind of telling that there is no interference from other species. In tales of the drive to populate the west and expand the US we have Indians to deal with. But in this tale, humans are untroubled by other species. Perhaps there are no other life forms because we have wiped them out.