Foundation (Apple Series Tie-in Edition)

I first read this in the late seventies. Decided to read again after watching the series on Apple+. I was surprised by how much was changed.

Weird how a small collection of stories can be so entertaining. Funny how old the book is where everyone smokes. To bad most of the story does follow our human nature

This is a science fiction classic of the highest order. The whole story of the series spans thousands of years. This is well worth your time to read.

Breathes there a teenager of the md-20th century with a love of science fiction who was not weaned on the Foundation series? All that sweeping drama, testosterone-laden but basically non-violent (all the violence is simply swept into summarizing references to ships destroyed and cities ransacked) marching through decades without concentrating on anything really boring, like character development, emotional entanglements or the trappings of society. Not a single reference to such trash as classical music, or stage shows, or pop music, or romance, just sweeping views of a distant future (or could it have been the distant past?) with the means of traveling between stars in the galaxy in the flash of a gnat's eyelash.And yet . . . revisiting the beloved Foundation, reading through the filter of a lifetime of experience, cracks appear in the plaster, and beneath them one finds that the lath is too widely spaced, the bricks behind that lath are often without mortar, and one can see the trees where bricks are missing. We live already in an age where technology has bypassed this particular Universe. Computers have become infinitely more pervasive than Asimov might have dreamed in his wildest fantasy, for at the time of the writing they were mere collators of stacks of punched cards, the transistor had yet to be introduced or shrunk to the size of a grain of sand, much less a sub-microscopic speck imprinted by the millions on a tiny wafer of silicon.Asimov had enormous faith in the future of Humanity, but he had no idea of how rapidly that future would approach - or how slowly humans would react and adapt to the challenges posed. No Empire can be established when information is instantaneously available to three-quarters of the population. Will an army composed of humans indefinitely repress an entire population composed of their friends, family, relatives? We see the answer in Libya, in Egypt, in Syria, in Africa - where the mobile phone has allowed guerrilla tactics to be employed by any group, whether terrorist or freedom-fighter or mall-invasion gangs or "mothers against the death camps of dog pounds."Human society has been transformed by 24/7 information availability - but the universe of the Foundation proposes a populace of ciphers acting in ignorance of facts that would already be generally available in the 21st century. "Just Google it" or "look it up in Wikipedia" is nowhere to be found. There is a project of the First Foundation to write a "Galactic Encyclopedia" - yet it already exists in 2012.And yet that universe is immensely attractive, reduced to comic book simplicity, perfect for any adolescent (whether 14 or 74) to immerse himself - or very infrequently herself, as this universe is truly misogynist: the strongest female is just a papier maché accoutrement.The psychobabble of "psychohistory" which is the very premise of the Foundations is wholly implausible, of course. The introduction by Asimov of "The Mule" is his admission of the absurdity of such a concept, which he probably didn't consider when the first book was written. Man has mutated more rapidly in the past 10,000 years than Asimov's populace has in 50,000 - a highly unlikely probability in the event that man actually progresses to interstellar colonization.All that said - I downloaded the trilogy on Kindle whilst in America, read it through lovingly, and was again transported to that clean, technologically impossible universe, forgetting all the travails of real life at present, putting the horrors of terrorism, the Hunger Games, the beheadings of "infidels" and the lies of politicians to one side for too brief a span. It isn't great literature, not even great Science Fiction - yet it is riveting to any adolescent male who enjoys reading as opposed to or in parallel with the escapism of cinematic action films like the "Matix" or "Terminator" trilogies.For some reason, Europeans aren't allowed to download the books. No doubt the vagaries of copyright laws, tax authorities and those £%^&* politicians - as well as the accursed lawyers (who are blissfully absent from the trilogy, undoubtedly bred out of existence due to their total lack of humanity).Asimov was the supreme techie of his time - and it shows in his use of language - sparse, precise, technically impeccable, but occasionally impenetrable without a modicum of concentration.I heartily recommend it to you !

I really dislike this novern cover. Readers shouldn't expect the streaming series with the book. Two different things.While I liked this book, I'd rather have read "Prelude to Foundation" and "Forward The Foundation" before this one. Those two deal with the Hari Seldon story, and I think should be read before Foundation instead of later.I thought the characters introduced were interesting, as was the idea. Nice read.

I read this as kid and remembered being interesting. It is still interesting because instead of action adventure it is great people doing great things and the tale then moving on. But it is dated as only men are the main characters.

All I can say, for warm start, is that Isaac Asimov is a genius. Acclaimed Hugo Award winner, he really makes you feel a part of the future, as he proves to be a genius not only in a robot way of thinking, but also in politics, economy, religion, mass manipulation and, of course, in every way that makes a human, human. And I am pretty sure this characteristic of him is really connected to his also great robotics series. Imagine yourself in the future. Now imagine yourself in a further future where you are studying the chronology of the future. Remember your history classes in school? Yeah, that's where he's taking you. Analyzing the Galactic Empire from a distant and omnipotent way of view, he sets a pattern in the development of mankind that repeats itself various and various times, that's why this book could be written set in Middle Age. But it isn't and that's one of the most fascinating things about it. Everything starts when Hari Seldon, a famous psychohistorian - a new science developed by himself based in history, statistics and mathematics - predicts the fall of the Galactic Empire. To save mankind from thousands years of darkness and restart, he suggests setting a new colony at the fringe of the Galaxy - Terminus System - to develop the greatest literacy work of history and regroup all knowledge ever acquired: the Encyclopedia Galactica. Set as a scientific colony and lacking natural resources, the Foundation, as it is called, starts to suffer of politics and diplomatic issues and that's just where all the greatness starts coming. As it's well more developed in technology and science than the rest of Periphery - as they call the region of the galaxy containing the Terminus system - other colonies start trading natural resources, such as gold and iron, for scientific gadgets to control their masses. Based on science, there is created a new religion in which priests are, actually, researchers and technicians. It was Arthur C. Clarke who once said that high level technology is indistinguishable from magic, though it makes perfect sense for this novel, except we are not taking magic in consideration, but religion (although they are equal if you look from a different angle, but this is not to be discussed in this review). To control masses in the Four Kingdoms of Periphery, they sell science. And it works pretty well until there's a crisis, and another, and another. In each of them, those called Seldon Crisis and taken in consideration when the psychohistorian predicted the need of Foundation, he appears and hints a new period of development. But it is not only religion that control masses and it is not only faith that is needed in human race, but also trading, protection, food, gadgets, industry and, of course, a stable economy. Nuclear force moves everything in the future, that's how Asimov puts it and he puts it so well that he really makes us think if isn't it the power we should explore - consider this book was written in the beginning of nuclear power. The book is well-split in five sections: The Psychohistorians, The Encyclopedists, The Mayors, The Traders and The Merchant Princes. In each of those, Asimov explores a deep wound in human civilization, psychology and sociology, based on a few dominating aspects, and shows that it is even easier to overpower an entire society poking only its foundation. It is a masterpiece, well-thought from the beginning to the last word. That's all I have to say.95/100

O livro é bom, é uma impressão inglesa, sustentável, usando papel de fontes confiáveis e energia renovável.Porém é uma capa fina, com uma impressão ruim, essa marcação da Apple tv + é impressa na capa.A impressão das páginas é boa de ler, parece papel reciclado, porém é aqulas folhas de livro barato.Provavelmente vale mais a pena comprar um versão mais barata do que essa, creio que a diferença seja que essa vem da Inglaterra o que causa mais custos. Mas a qualidade é a mesma daquelas impressões de baixo custo.

Have read it when I was a teenager. Re-read again and just as intriguing and fresh

Came back to this series again about 20 years after first reading.Some of the concepts feel like they’ve aged better than others. There’s a lot less emphasis on the science behind the technologies used compared to some of the recent 21st century sci-fi of Reynolds or Banks. But it still feels an incredible vision for a book first published in 1951.Some of the older social mores are cute, like the fact that everyone seems to smoke. Others less so - there is barely a single woman even appearing in the book, let alone performing a role - except for perhaps the Commdora of Korell.In fact, character development in general takes a very low priority. The concepts and narratives come so densely that each episode could probably be fleshed out into a novel of its own.But the majestic scope of this series makes it hard to put down, and the fast-moving pace gives it a quite unique atmosphere.

Very out of the box, and yet, it all makes so much sense. There's politics, philosofy, and of course, science. The pace is fast but not too much, just enough to keep you hooked, all the time. The characters are very interesting, the worldbuilding is great and coherent. I mean, just read it already.

As good as expected! And a pretty edition.But there are too many typos for my taste. Very distracting. I checked some other editions and confirmed that these are typos, not style choices (misspellings (“amost” instead of “almost”) and incorrect punctuation mostly). Not devastating, but a tad bit disappointing.Surprising from such a renowned publisher.Still… a great book. I’m looking forward to the next books in the series.