Foundation cover art

Foundation

The Foundation Trilogy, Book 1

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About this listen

WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST ALL-TIME SERIES

The Foundation series is Isaac Asimov’s iconic masterpiece. Unfolding against the backdrop of a crumbling Galactic Empire, the story of Hari Seldon’s two Foundations is a lasting testament to an extraordinary imagination, one that shaped science fiction as we know it today.

The Galactic Empire has prospered for twelve thousand years. Nobody suspects that the heart of the thriving Empire is rotten, until psychohistorian Hari Seldon uses his new science to foresee its terrible fate.

Exiled to the desolate planet Terminus, Seldon establishes a colony of the greatest minds in the Empire, a Foundation which holds the key to changing the fate of the galaxy.

However, the death throes of the Empire breed hostile new enemies, and the young Foundation’s fate will be threatened first.

©2019 Isaac Asimov (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Classics First Contact Hard Science Fiction Jewish Heritage Science Fiction Space Exploration Space Opera Fiction Interstellar Star Wars Robotics

Critic reviews

"One of the most staggering achievements in modern SF." (The Times)

"Isaac Asimov was one of the great explainers of the age...It will never be known how many practising scientists today, in how many countries, owe their initial inspiration to a book, article, or short story by Isaac Asimov." (Carl Sagan)

"Asimov displayed one of the most dynamic imaginations in science fiction." (Daily Telegraph)
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Read these books years ago but this was better than I remembered. Very well narrated too. These stories have stood the test of time well.

Classic and brilliantly narration

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Good food for thought. It addresses power struggles in a way that isn't dependant on real world examples. It's refreshing

Good book

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I read Asimov's short stories as a teenager and his insightful visionary notions have stayed with me: the Voter, the social(-ly distanced) visits by hologram and fear of contact so I was excited to pick the Foundation up after seeing the Trailer of the Apple TV series. The scope of his imagination, the world that he created is fantastic, the issues he teases out through a dissection of knowledge, markets, religion are all as interesting and valid as they were when he wrote them but the characters, oh the characters, it's like stepping into a time warp. Asimov was visionary but a man of his times and so not-woke. All the main characters, apart from one shrewish wife, are male. All the agents of story are men, and manly men at that. The few comments about women are so dismissive that I can not imagine it getting the love and fanbase today that say Red Rising gets. And the writing is also a bit pedestrian and lack lustre. The ideas are the thing though with Asimov and the central tenets of the story, collapse of civilisation and rebuilding, probably modelled on the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages, is interesting enough and I will listen to them all. The narrator does his best with imperfect, 2-D characters that serve the plot. That said, I read the next part of the trilogy. And just listen knowing that the update and rewrite for APple will probably be brilliant because this is good source material.

Some things don't date well

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A classic of science fiction.

Caution: the narrator performs the book as a pseudo-radio play, taking on accents and acting the dialogue. He does a good job of this but it is a strong stylistic choice if your preference is for a straight narration then you may find this distracting or even unenjoyable.

Narrator style

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This was the first book I've read/listened to from Asimov and I must say it completely lived up to the hype. The story was exceptionally well thought through, it kept me engaged till the very end as it was full of clever turns. I especially liked the way the protagonists' arguments were presented by the author: even though they were soundly based on logic, they've always taken the human factor into account, which was a pleasant surprise, we are not computers after all :D . The book is very old though, so the reader must be prepared to encounter some archaic things presented as future technology, but this I think is natural; given just the current speed of our technological development, it is impossible to se even a decade ahead, not to mention millenia. From the narration side, William Hopes was totally up to the task. His presentation of the story was passionate and he did a great job building up the tension for the great reveal of the current protagonist's masterstroke at each and every part of the book. My recommendations.

Great book and fantastic performance

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