June 2018 Group Read - Foundation

[Rosemarie]

I am making progress on Foundation and Empire and enjoying it so far. I last read the series in the 80s, so it is almost like reading it for the first time.

[Oleksandr]

I finished re-reading today, here is my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Rosemarie]

Good review, Oleksandr. I noticed the lack of women too.

[Rosemarie]

I finished Foundation and Empire and feel that this is more like a novel, than a collection of short stories. The plot is more focussed, especially in the Mule section. I gave it three stars, which means I enjoyed it.

[Leo]

Finished Foundation and Empire and liked it too. What almost never happens: a lot of pages before the end I allready guessed right where to find The Mule. And another thing: there actually is a (one) woman really participating in the story. Second Foundation next.

[Ed]

Leo wrote: "Finished Foundation and Empire and liked it too. What almost never happens: a lot of pages before the end I already guessed right where to find The Mule...."

Same here. Liked book 2 more than book 1. The Mule was an interesting character and I made the same deduction that you did.

While it doesn't detract from my enjoyment, I did laugh at the scene where a bunch of people are listening to Seldon speak, then something happens and they all stop to listen whether their wrist watches are still ticking! Come on! Don't they have silent nuclear-powered wrist watches in the future?

Not planning to immediately read book 3. Maybe someday. I suspect I'd enjoy the Robot series more than the Foundation series.

[Jim]

In trying to get the Foundation books from my library in audio format, I was surprised by how popular they still are. I have to put them on hold & wait for a couple of people. They're not new to the system, either.

[Leo]

Reading #3 and also liking it. I do have the whole series at home, and I'm curious for the parts that were written years after the trilogy. Maybe something for the summer holiday.

[Phil]

Leo wrote: "Reading #3 and also liking it. I do have the whole series at home, and I'm curious for the parts that were written years after the trilogy. Maybe something for the summer holiday."

A friend of mine called Second Foundation the "peekaboo Foundation book," as in "Is it over here? Nope, over there? Nope, try again!"

The reviews on the prequels are generally stronger than the reviews on the sequels, so you would be better advised to pick up Prelude to Foundation than Foundation's Edge.

[Leo]

Phil wrote:
A friend of mine called Second Foundation the "peekaboo Foundation book," as in "Is it over here? Nope, over there? Nope, try again!"" :-) it is hide and seek indeed. But entertaining. Thanks for the advise.

[Atlanta]

Phil wrote: "Martinw wrote: "2) I feel that I belong to a minority with my criticism. "

No, you're not. Asimov routinely fails to meet the expectations of character-oriented readers. He has a few beloved creat..."

So that's what it is about! You are the first person that actually has said something about the premise of the book. Thank you! I'm trying to listen to it on Audible and I was having a really hard time grasping the point. Now it makes more sense.

[Atlanta]

Martinw wrote: "When I read Asimov, I sometimes feel like when I listen to the Beatles. I feel two things:

1) I feel like these artists would not get the praise they receive if they worked today. I am aware that..."
I'm only in the second part of foundation, but I hear what you're saying. I had to stop listening to the book and start reading it in order to understand it, furthermore I had to read the wiki.

Asimov wrote this in the 40s. Culture has changed so much since then.

[Ed]

I've been reading a book about John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction. In it, the author says that lots of the ideas for Foundation came from Campbell.

The idea of psychohistory was maybe Campbell's idea.
The idea of writing stories where Seldon's prophecies would start to fail was Campbell's idea, and Asimov initially resisted.
The idea for "The Mule" was Campbell's idea.

Also, the basic idea for Nightfall was from Campbell.

Asimov wrote the stories, but lots of the ideas came from suggestions by Campbell. Asimov offered to give Campbell credit, but he didn't want to take it.

[Marc-André]

I believe the Mule could have been Campbell's idea. He loved psionics and actually believed in it. It is the part I least liked of Foundation. That and the falling prophecies. Seeing Foundation evolve was what made the story interesting. Not the Mule or failures.

[Kieran]

Just bought a copy of this book myself. Looking forward to it.

[Josh]

when I decided to re-read Foundation I began with The Complete Robot, moved onto the four robot novels, then the three galactic empire novels, followed by the prequel foundation books, the original trilogy, then the sequels and lastly The End of Eternity and damn it made an epic read doing it all in that order. my one regret is reading the three.empire books in that sequence. should have just read those last.

[Josh]

Nonfiction Asimov books are insanely well written and can be found on any topic. he barely wrote science fiction at all. His true loves were NonFiction, and Mystery. He didn't even want to do sequels/prequels of foundation... i highly recommend people read his Non Fiction. I've been collecting a lot of them, not always cheap. Just got one on the Dark Ages. And I've got all the popular tomes such as his three.part physics, his new guide to science etc etc. So good, even given their age.

[Oleksandr]

I completely agree that his non-fic was great (some are a bit outdated now) but disagree that he barely wrote science fiction at all - there is a lot of his SF around, not counting sequels by others