Foundation
by Isaac Asimov

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Book Reviews of Foundation

Book Review: First of the ?Best All-Time Series?. A classic.
Summary: 5 Stars

Here is the work of a unique genius at the age of 22. Over the next seven years, he was to complete a period of enlistment in the Army and gain a Doctoral degree; paid for by the publication of these and many other stories, including those of the classic, 'I, Robot'.

32 years and over 150 books later came the next 'Foundation' story. 'Foundation's Edge' published in 1982 won the Hugo Award for the best Science Fiction Novel, hit the New York Times Best Seller list at once and stayed there for half a year. Three more 'Foundation' stories were to follow. Here then is a unique opportunity to compare and enjoy the creation of a Grand Master, at two ends of his long career.

I first read the 'Foundation' trilogy in the Fifties and was enthralled. Fifteen years later, on the next serious reading, the magic was undiminished. Thirty years later after reading the new trilogy, I returned to my old favourite to be spellbound once again. Small wonder that it is regarded as a classic.

The story begins in Trantor, capital of a Galactic Empire spanning 25 million inhabited worlds after 12,000 years of Imperial progress. The Empire seems prosperous, strong and stable. Yet one man predicts its fall and the subsequent 30,000 years of chaos, before a second Empire could emerge. Using his science of Psychohistory, he also developed a plan, which could shorten the 30 millennia of misery into just one! That man is Hari Seldon and the plan becomes known as the 'Seldon Plan'.

The plan requires the establishment of Foundation, a community dedicated to the compilation of all human knowledge in the form of an 'Encyclopaedia Galactica'. The 100,000 Foundationeers are banished to Terminus, an insignificant planet at the edge of the Galaxy. While the encyclopaedists toil with their mammoth task and the Foundationeers struggle to survive in a barren world, civilisation crumbles around them. Soon enough, they face their first major crisis when the warlord of a neighbouring world threatens to take over.

'Foundation' is a story on a stupendous scale narrating the first two centuries of survival and revival. It's a story of deadly conflicts, interplanetary intrigues and galactic gamble. Will the fledgling Foundation survive? Will the Foundationeers live up to the expectations of the prophetic Hari Seldon? How long can the fiercely independent 'Traders' hold off the greedy warlords who act to enslave the 'Foundation' and claim its scientific rewards for themselves?

Read this fantastic book and experience the magic.

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