Foundation (Foundation, #1) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Jul 17, 2014 Tracey rated it liked it

Shelves: e-text, libraryread-idm

Fan of author - not sure how I've overlooked this for so long! Really enjoyed The Caves of Steel (another classic SF novel I'd overlooked for years) and am looking forward to reading more stories sent in the same general universe.
[later]
Alas - I don't think the Foundation series is going to do it for me. I realize I may have to turn in my Sci-Fi fan card, but interstellar politics & the long game aren't really my thing; at least not without more memorable characters (something Asimov usually ...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Dr M rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I am late to the game. See, I never did read Asimov's Foundation series as a teenager, as many of my fellow geeks did. Considering that in the small town where I grew up, these were not only the canonical science fiction books, but also very nearly what science fiction there was to be had, it seems strange that I never picked them up. Maybe if I had read them at that time, I would have lauded them the same way my high-school class mates did.

But I did not read them then. I read Foundation now, as I am late to the game. See, I never did read Asimov's Foundation series as a teenager, as many of my fellow geeks did. Considering that in the small town where I grew up, these were not only the canonical science fiction books, but also very nearly what science fiction there was to be had, it seems strange that I never picked them up. Maybe if I had read them at that time, I would have lauded them the same way my high-school class mates did.

But I did not read them then. I read Foundation now, as an adult a decade into the 21st century, half a century after its first publication, and after having read considerably more. And so, reading what is undoubtedly a milestone of science fiction, I find myself distinctly underwhelmed.

Quite possibly, Asimov's sketched and patched-together future history of a crumbling galactic empire and the foundation set up to replace it -- all based on the notion that through a mathematisation of psychology and social science, the future can be predicted by statistical calculation hundreds and even thousands of years into the future -- held some intellectual merit. Or else, maybe writing about "atomic power" and galaxy-encompassing empires held enough literary novelty to capture the imagination of the post-war generation.

However, some sixty years later, Foundation falls sadly short on both accounts. Its central premise -- which, by the way, is found in many forms through the science fiction of the 1950s, 60s and 70s -- seems outright ludicrous, and I find myself struggling to maintain my willing suspension of disbelief every time the subject comes up. And as for imagination and sense of wonder, well, Asimov's galactic empire and atomic gadgets do not quite cut it.

True, it would seem, to style and time, Asimov invests little to no effort in his characters. Not one character in the book is given any, well, character. They are all place holders with names, entirely interchangeable and devoid of personal characteristics or even psychology. Only in the character of Hober Mallow takes on a shape of his own, and that not so much by personal traits as by the fact that only through him does Asimov express any kind of interesting thoughts.

And the plot? Which plot? Foundation does not so much have a plot as it has a charter of predicted history. It is not evident that the disjoint events of the short stories that were put together into this novel have a cohesive story to tell, except as to allow Asimov to show us how history is proceeding according to plan. When the book finishes, we are left not so much with an ending as with simply a full stop in the recounting of a particular century of history.

However, the book is not entirely bad. It is a few hours amusement, and it is worth reading for its historical value. ...more

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May 08, 2011 Joey Manley rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Sure, I loved LOTR and Star Wars and all that, but the sf/fantasy series that really floated my boat when I was a teenager was Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. I re-read it not too long ago and enjoyed it all over again, despite its old-fashionedness. Here's an example: any character who smokes cigars is trustworthy. Any character who turns them down is not. Happens over and over again. I read that Asimov's magazine editor was an avid cigar smoker -- maybe that's why this is in there. Until ab ...more

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