Foundation by Isaac Asimov Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Foundation
Book Review: a sane reflection for those thinking about buying this.
Summary: 3 Stars
i am 45, and recently decided to expand my horizons. i have read very little poetry, few mysteries, and fewer works of science fiction. i know that lots of people enjoy these things, and i am jealous of them. so i am trying to get the joy from this stuff that others do. i gave "Foundation" a shot because i know that lots of fine folks consider this to be a SF masterpiece, a great book. well, i have read great books, and this is not one. this is quite mediocre, actually. mildly amusing in spots, at best. not really a novel, it's basically a few short stories threaded together by a premise that i won't bother going into. if you have read this book and loved it, and are just looking for confirmation from others that it's as great as you thought: sorry. my review is more for the person looking into science fiction as a novice, and trying to find works of excellence as a gateway into the genre. to such a person, i say "look elsewhere." there has got to be better stuff than this out there. there just has to be. in my twenties i read a few philip k. dick books, and loved them. so i am not without hope. i really want to like science fiction. this book just did not make me do that.Book Review: what masterpiece?
Summary: 2 Stars
This seems like awfully shoddy science fiction to me. The old complaint about thin characterization isn't even the worst of it, nor are the crazy anachronisms [rampant cigar smoking, newspapers and casual misogyny]. But so much of this plot develops in the form of uninteresting local political maneuvers between slightly AynRandized heroes and buffooning villians, with no sense of place or grandeur whatsoever.
The timeline of the novel is suddenly too breif after introducing the vast concept of a 40,000 year swing through history, and neither the future society Asimov has envisioned nor the apparant brilliance of the plan at the heart of this series are ever portrayed convincingly. Whatever powerful effect this book may have had in its day, it is bereft of it now.