Foundation

[Connavar]

No i read in the right order, i dunno why i wrote wrong. Might be that i read most of them one after the other and didnt really focus on thier name, specially on the last two books.


I remember i found Golan Trevize very interesting, its too bad i dont like the hole Gaia thing that ruins the two books he is in compared to the first three.


I liked Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation most cause The Mule.


When i finish the last one. I will go and read his short stories plus some of the Robot ones. I dont wanna read the empire series right now. I wanna read diffrent type of Assimov stories.

[Fried Egg]

What I loved about Foundation & Earth was, along with the long running quest to find earth, there is the running debate between the virtues of collectivism verses individualism. I actually don't agree with the outcome of that debate but I still enjoyed reading it!

[Connavar]

I enjoyed those things too.

I liked it when they were in that wierd planed where there was huge dogs and those wierd people that lived alone. You know the planet they took the child from.

[Fried Egg]

Originally Posted by Connavar of Rigante

I enjoyed those things too.

I liked it when they were in that wierd planed where there was huge dogs and those wierd people that lived alone. You know the planet they took the child from.

Indeed...Aurora and Solaris I believe. The background of those planets is filled out considerably in "Naked Sun" and "Robots of Dawn" by the way. Not to mention that of Daneel...

[CatBar]

Originally Posted by Connavar of Rigante

I enjoyed those things too.

I liked it when they were in that wierd planed where there was huge dogs and those wierd people that lived alone. You know the planet they took the child from.

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

Indeed...Aurora and Solaris I believe. The background of those planets is filled out considerably in "Naked Sun" and "Robots of Dawn" by the way. Not to mention that of Daneel...

Is this 'Foundation and Earth'? I'm particularly wanting to try this one as, supposedly, it features Earth, which I would find reassuring as I like a point of reference, and also Daneel Olivaw.

Taking on all 7 of the Foundation books is a daunting idea for me as I've never really liked the more fantasy side of SF - I've always prefered hard SF - but I'm longing to find out what Daneel will get up to, after the sad ending in Robots and Empire - where poor Giskard 'expires'.

[ghost8772]

I've read the original trilogy, that was apparently a weekly story he published in the fifties and then had slapped together in later years. personally I felt they were too disjointed, but there you go. foundations edge, foundation and earth, prelude to foundation and forward the foundation I've read, and did find them a bit more on the cohesive side. even if Asimov liked to play "I have a secret" more than any other author I've ever seen. (still not over the watch face thing from pebble in the sky)

Catbar, don't let the numbers get to you, books are only words, and its only time. if you've read more than seven books in your life, than seven in a single universe isn't all THAT bad. after all there were 4 robot novels that more than half the foundation stuff. and if you read the m by time in the galaxy you'll run across Daneel and it'll at least keep you going through the foundation trilogy. yes high in Science fiction, non-existant fantasy, but never did like the lack of continuous characters, or story for that matter.

[sarakoth]

I don't if it's just me but wouldn't it be interesting if the Foundation series was made into a movie series. I guess it wouldn't appeal too much to the masses as it doesn't really offer that much excitement or suspense. At least, it didn't give me much excitement or suspense. I read it for the intricate plot and the rich fictional universe.

[GOLLUM]

I've only ever read the orignal Foundation trilogy. I must see about looking into the subsequent books further in the New Year. That was 20 years ago, so I don't remember understanding that much of them then. Hopefully I'll be able to grasp more on a second pass through...

[Dee_hee]

I first read Foundation when I was confined to a hospital many years ago.

I got so absorbed in the great story I clean forgot about my illness.

[AE35Unit]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

, I'd have to rate the Foundation novels, especially, oddly, the earlier ones, as among the best sf to come out of the Golden Age.

Its funny but compared to a lot of golden age material I don't see Foundation as being very science fictional at all! No rockets,no aliens just lots of people politicing.

[j. d. worthington]

There's an enormous amount of Golden Age sf that isn't concerned with those things, however. The majority of work by C. M. Kornbluth, Lester del Rey, Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (together or separately), L. Sprague de Camp, Ray Bradbury (though he was more of a fantaisiste using science-fictional tropes), Theodore Sturgeon, Cordwainer Smith, Frederik Pohl... even a fair chunk of Cordwainer Smith and Robert A. Heinlein, were more concerned with other things rather than space travel and aliens.

Science fiction -- as with any worthwhile literature -- is driven by the concerns of its times, and a lot of sf dealt with earth-bound issues (albeit often in the form of the future of current trends). The Foundation books are (quite rightly, I'd say) considered among the cornerstones of Campbellian sf. Very little of Asimov, by the way, has aliens; and as for "rockets" -- I assume you mean space-traveling vehicles, as rockets proper would severly limit travel... in which case, there's quite a bit of that going on in the Foundation books... a galactic empire, for one thing, which requires an enormous amount of such; not to mention the space chase concerning the Mule, or in search of the Second Foundation, etc. Space battles are in Foundation, there's a fair amount of shiny technology (a type of sf which George O. Smith excelled in, and he was also -- quite rightly -- considered to be one of the great exemplars of Golden Age sf)... all these hallmarks of Golden Age sf are the trilogy....

[Connavar]

Since Foundation was my first ever SF book i think its lucky it was such a good book of Asimov.

I liked the ideas,social story,the normal people characters,Mule. If it was only aliens and robots and not thought provoking i wouldn't be the avid reader of SF i am today thats for sure. The history and sweep of it was the best.


Its funny i barely remember the actions scenes ie what people these days want and demand from modern space opera. I remember the ideas,the history,characters.

[manephelien]

The reason that led to no aliens in Foundation was that Campbell and Asimov got into some heated arguments about humans having to be the most advanced and smartest race in the galaxy. Asimov felt differently, but he skirted the problem by sticking to a completely human galaxy, albeit with some robots at least during some eras, but they don't really count from a psychohistory POV.

[Fried Egg]

Asimov touched on a possible explanation as to why there were no aliens in the galaxy in "End of Eternity". The eternals selected a future which didn't include any in order to protect humanity's future.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by manephelien

The reason that led to no aliens in Foundation was that Campbell and Asimov got into some heated arguments about humans having to be the most advanced and smartest race in the galaxy. Asimov felt differently, but he skirted the problem by sticking to a completely human galaxy, albeit with some robots at least during some eras, but they don't really count from a psychohistory POV.

Campbell had a good point seeing how recent Space Opera are like.

Many more aliens,robots,cyborgs or what not than a human galaxy like Foundation in todays Space Opera. Which makes Foundations galaxy stand out.

Of course not saying humans are the smartest race in galaxy, the others have to be really stupid for that to be true